Cambodia's Cambodia's most important holiday is the Khmer New Year which is calculated by the Buddhist lunar calendar but takes place in April by the western calendar. The holiday officially lasts for three days and for the festival every home is decorated, shrines are filled with food and people enjoy the break by playing special traditional holiday games. On New Year's Eve itself people set out offerings of food, drink and incense in front of their homes and wait for the precise time of the year changing. This is not necessarily at midnight.

Famously, the New Year is also celebrated by throwing water or coloured powder in friends and passers-by. This is not encouraged in Phnom Penh, but around Wat Phnom is still practiced. The custom comes from the tradition of washing Buddha statues for the New Year and spread to 'washing' anyone within range.

Although not an official holiday, many people also celebrate the Chinese New Year, due to the high number of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants to Cambodia. The celebrations include the traditional lion dances and people crowd into the pagodas to make offerings for a successful New Year.

The second most important Cambodian festival is the Water Festival, which is sometimes confused with the water throwing antics of New Year. The Water Festival also lasts three days and is celebrated by holding boat races. The festival originates in competitions held to help the king choose the best and most powerful warriors. Races are held in various places including at Angkor Wat and Siem Reap, but the real deal is in Phnom Penh on the Tonle Sap River in front of the Royal Palace. Dozens of boats compete and there is a real carnival atmosphere. In the evenings there are fireworks and a parade of lighted barges.

A uniquely Cambodian festival is held around May at the start of the planting season. This is known as the Royal Ploughing Ceremony. The King or a high ranking representative leads the ceremony in which sacred cows plough a furrow and are then led to trays containing foods such as rice, corn, beans etc. From how much and in which order the cows eat this food, it can be deduced how successful or not the next harvest will be. Cambodian farmers place great store by these predictions and plan their agricultural year around the results.

Another important event which Cambodian Buddhists celebrate takes place around early February. This is Meak Bochea Day which commemorates a great meeting of Buddha and monks where the principles of Buddha's teaching were laid out. Another Buddhist holiday takes place in May – Buddha's birthday is celebrated with people making offerings and engaging in charitable work at the many pagodas.

Held n September, Pchum Ben is a holiday to remember and care for the spirits of ancestors. Offerings of food, incense and paper money are made to ease the ancestors' path in the next world. This is similar to the Chinese festival, Qing Ming.
Throughout the year there are various political holidays. January 7th is Liberation Day which remembers the fall of the Khmer Rouge on that date in 1979 and honours all those lost in the genocide. Ceremonies are held at the Independence Monument.

November marks Independence Day on the 9th with a ceremony at the Independence Monument usually attended by the King. This dates from 1953 when Cambodia won its independence from France. You can visit Indochina Odyssey Tours to get more information about Cambodia`s Holidays and Festivals.

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