Holidays

Today is the Jewish New Year, so to anyone who celebrates: I hope the new year is a sweet and wonderful one for you. On Friday, I got to participate in a sort of Jewish New Year's celebration. There were no prayer books and no one really knew what to say or sing. Our Israeli host said the blessing over wine, we sang a few non-religious songs about peace, ate some apples with honey and other sweet food, and just hung around and talked. Very laid back and altogether a good way to bring in the new year.

Meanwhile, country-wide, the holiday of P'chum Ben day is being celebrated. During this 15-day period of the Khmer lunar calendar, Cambodians go to the pagoda and pray to all the souls and spirits that, due to bad karma, have not been reincarnated and are stuck in limbo/hell. Everyone brings food to the pagoda to feed the spirits. I am not sure if the food pacifies them because they are very hungry or angry. I suppose if you were trapped in hell without any food you'd probably be both.

Cambodians pray that the spirits do not remain in hell and that they do not torment the people still living. Cambodians have a special obligation to their own ancestors, so as a result, they try to go to the pagoda where their ancestors were burned to get a more direct line of communication. If you are a good Cambodian Buddhist, you will travel to many pagodas in the hope of not giving any ancestor the cold shoulder. Since P'chum Ben day happens only once a year, people go to great lengths "to speak with their grandmother."

Once the spirits have had their chance to eat the food, the monks claim the rest. But just like the spirits are unable to finish most of the food, the monk pass most of the food along as well. So after you contribute some food, the monks usually invite you to stay and have something to eat. It's not necessarily the food you brought, but in the big Karmic wheel, everyone gets to eat.

Being so far away from home, I have the tendency to simplify holidays to their basic form. Most holidays can be described in the following way: The past is important; your ancestors are important; so let us gather together and celebrate the present; let's toast to the future; everybody grab something to eat. (Except Halloween, which goes straight to the last part.)

I wish I could celebrate the New Year or P'chum Ben day with all my friends and family. Best wishes to all and happy holidays.