The Water Festival takes place each year, at the time of the full moon.
That’s why this festival may be celebrated in October or November. In Cambodia, Water Festival is the most merry-making celebration in Cambodia, because it is the time of national reunion (up to a million); people from all walks of life and every where in the country, come to Phnom Penh to participate in the three-day festival, in Phnom Penh. What are particular about the Water Festival?

Three days of traditional boat-racing on the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, brightly colored boats (Bandet Pratip in the Khmer language), nightly firework displays, along with other modern music stalls. The festival is celebrated to remember the power of Khmer empire in the ancient time.

The festival lasts from April 13th to 15th, but sometimes it falls on 14th to 16th. This time of year represents the end of the harvesting season. The farmers enjoy the fruits of their harvest and relax before the rainy season begins. The three-day celebration all owns different names; Maha Songkran for the first day; Vanabat for the second day; Thgnai Loeung Saka for the third day. During this time, Phnom Penh residents usually go to their hometowns in the province to celebrate with their parents, grandparents and other relatives.

Traditionally, there are five kinds of game played in the three days. Tres: A game played by throwing and catching a ball with one hand while trying to catch an increasing number of sticks with the other hand. Chlo Chhoung: Played especially on the first nightfall of the New Year by two groups of boys and girls. Chab Kon Khleng: Played by imitating a hen as she protects her chicks from a crow. Bos Angkunh: Played by two groups of boys and girls.

Each group throws their own “angkunh” to hit the master “angkunhs”, which belong to other group and are placed on the ground. Leak Kanseng: Played by a group of children sitting in circle. Someone holding a “kanseng” (Cambodian towel) twisted into a round shape walks around the circle while singing a song.

It is described as: feeding-the-dead-ancestor festival. It is celebrated in the fifteenth day of the tenth month of the Khmer calendar. It is believed that the spirits of dead people are released to the human world to get feedings from their living relatives. The festival is totally “religious.”

At four A.M., people gather at the temple (Wat in the Khmer language) with offerings of rice, which they toss on the ground, feeding the deadancestors.

Many throw the sticky rice with pig fat and bean, which apparently is easier to the spirits to consume. At eight A.M., people return to the temple with offerings for the monks. At ten A.M., they return to the temple with more food, which can be shared between the monks and the poor. Between 5:00-7:00 P.M., there are more prayers for the dead and at 8:00, the monks go to bed.

Due to flood-in of Chinese people, many of their cultures are conducted here in Cambodia; one of the most important is the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, on a date between January 21 and February 20. Like that in China, the Chinese New Year here is celebrated with very similar programs and other displays.

Cambodia has other national events, such as Independence Day, 1 January, 7 January, Women’s Day and other national holidays, but the foregoing fours are the major one.