Culture

People offering food and money to monks

People offering food and money to monks in the annual Meak Bochea ceremony held at the Oudong mountain

In vans and on trucks, thousands of monks, officials and members of the public made their way toward Odong mountain yesterday morning to commemorate the day that the Buddha announce to his followers he would die in three months.

While Meak Bochea day is little recognized among the public, for the most serious devotees of the religion it remains a key holiday in the Buddhist calendar.

Falling approximately three months before the widely celebrated Visaka Bochea, informally known as Buddha’s Birthday, Meak Bochea commemorates they day that the spiritual leader Gautam Buddha announced his future; the death and accompanying nirvana into which he would enter. [Read full article…]

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Royal Ploughing Ceremony

May 25, 2011 Culture

Farmers have expressed concern after the Royal Palace fortune teller predicted that horses, buffalos and oxen could be hit by disease in the next year, while corn and bean crops would flourish. The predictions, made by Kang Ken, were made at the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony which was held in Phnom Penh on Saturday. The [...]

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Government Calls For The Protection Of Ethnic Cultures

October 20, 2010 Social

Government officials yesterday called for the protection of Cambodian traditions, including endangered minority cultures, under a legally binding international convention. Samraing Kamsan, secretary of state at the Culture Ministry, said the government “would like the public, especially the youth and indigenous people, to promote the diversity of cultural expressions, which are necessary elements in society [...]

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Festival Promises Plenty For Film Fans

October 20, 2010 Culture

The first annual Cambodian International Film Festival opens up three days packed with 120 films from 28 countries tomorrow at Chenla Theatre with the Australian-Iranian film My Tehran for Sale. It closes with the world premier of Cambodian filmmaker Chhay Bora’s Lost Loves on Saturday night, also at Chenla Theatre. The “basic concept” of the [...]

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Office Apsaras

October 20, 2010 Culture

Apsara dancers perform at a ceremony yesterday marking the official inauguration of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s new office. King Norodom Sihamoni attended the inauguration, which came one day after a blessing ceremony. In prepared remarks, Hun Sen said the five-storey building, at 50,790 square feet, was larger than the adjacent Chinese-funded building currently occupied by [...]

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Ministry Plans Manual for Mirant Workers, Recruiters

September 3, 2010 Economic

The Ministry of Labor plans to release an instruction manual for migrant workers and the recruitment companies that send them abroad, officials said this week, as allegations of mistreatment and abuse continue to dog the sector. “Test Migration,” a manual aimed at better preparing workers to move abroad, will be published either this month or [...]

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Cambodia Lacks Reading Culture, Experts Say

August 27, 2010 Education

Participants in a forum in Phnom Penh organized by the National Library of Cambodia and the Australian Embassy said yesterday that Cambodia lacks a culture of reading. “Cambodia society is a society whose people do not like reading very much, and we have some reasons for this problem,” said Pal Vannrirak, director of the development [...]

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