Cambodian New Year Traditions

Cambodian New Year Every country celebrates New Year in its own unique tradition. Khmer, “ Enter the New Year”, is the name of the holiday that Cambodians celebrate their New Year. It is celebrated each April and the dates are determined by the lunar calendar. It is consider as one of the most important holidays of the year in Cambodian culture. Traditionally, the celebration usually lasts three days and each day has its own meaning and tradition. The 2010 Cambodian New Year was celebrated in Long Beach, a city that has most Cambodian population outside of Cambodia. The event included parade, stage performance, and food. The parade started with an interfaith blessing at Anaheim and Junipero Street and ended with a festival stage at MacArthur Park. I was very fortunate to be able to attend this spectacular event and personally experienced the celebration and also learned the Cambodian culture. While I was having a hard time finding a parking spot at the event, I ended up having a chance to take a quick look at the place. The streets were packed with people and cars. There were many polices around because they were trying to control the crowd and also blocking the streets so the parade could go through. Many buildings and signs had Cambodian language written on it, which surprised me because I have never seen that much Cambodian language around before. After twenty minutes driving around the city, I finally parked at a restaurant’s parking lot. Before I got down the car, I knew that the event would be amazing just by looking at the amount of people who were standing on the streets. When I was walking down the streets, the parade and the crowd’s enthusiasm dragged me in to the holiday mood. People seemed happy and excited and they were yelling at some words in Cambodian, which I did not understand, but I assumed that the words meant happy New Year. People who were standing on the streets were also waving the