#22: Bon Om Touk, the River Festival of Cambodia
This week we’re looking at the Bon Om Touk festival held in Cambodia every year at the end of the monsoon season, this year occurring in mid-November. The official name for this event translates to English as “The Royal Boat Racing Festival, Lanterns Floating, Taste the Ambok and Worship the Moon”. It’s commonly referred to as the Cambodian Water Festival, so let’s dive in and take a look at this local event.
Monsoons in South-East Asia are a part of the regular annual weather cycle, and many sites across the region hold celebrations as the monsoon season (June-October) comes to a close. The Bon Om Touk festival is one of the festivals dedicated to the happy change in weather, but it is significant for another reason: the Tonle Sap River. The Tonle Sap River is one of four recorded rivers in the world to reverse its direction of flow on an annual basis. Due to the high levels of rain brought on by the monsoon season, the neighbouring Mekong River directs so much water into the Tonle Sap’s riverbed that it forces its direction to swap. This change in the river’s direction is hugely beneficial for biodiversity in the river delta & plays an important role in Cambodia’s economic structure.
The Cambodian capital city Phnom Penh is situated on the Tonle Sap river and is the heart of celebrations for Bon Om Touk. The celebrations attract millions of people every year, but its celebration has been disrupted in recent history due to the COVID-19 pandemic and due to the totalitarian rule of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. A core piece of the celebrations is the Royal Boat Race which takes place over the first day of the festival. Festivals of this kind have been held in Cambodia since the 12th century, and boat racing has always been a core component of any celebration. Originally the inclusion of boats is thought to have been arranged to celebrate the Khmer navy’s victory over the Champa Kingdom (of central & southern modern-day Vietnam) in 1181; these celebrations are thought to have been arranged by Jayavarman VII.
The boats aren’t just there to be raced however; since the 16th century a spectacle of dancing on boats has been a popular part of the festival’s roster of events. The dancing is typically done by a woman in the bow of the boat and it is said to represent the soul of the boat or of the boat’s creator. The boats are designed to resemble a dragon slicing through the water with painted-on eyes visible attempting to capture the dragon’s stern gaze.
Other celebratory events such as lantern lighting, fireworks, performances, and night markets are standard, but much of the specific celebrations are concerned with the worship of local gods and of nature itself. On the second day the Og Ambok takes place, which is a celebration and occasion of worship for the Moon. It takes place a few minutes after midnight and involves a game of trying to make other people laugh; whoever laughs for the longest is declared the winner and gets to select the loser. The loser then has to eat ambok with banana for the rest of the day, which seems like an easy-going, light-hearted punishment. Another focal point for worshippers at the festival is the goddess Ganga, who is viewed as the goddess of seas, lakes, creeks, and rivers. She is inherited from the Hindi religion, with the name stemming from the all-important Ganges River of north-east India and Bangladesh (where it is known as the Padma river). Worshippers thank the goddess for allowing the river to provide life for humanity, and they regard the river itself as sacred.
So all in all, Bon Om Touk is a celebration of local culture as the weather starts to improve. Cambodia generally flies under the radar when it comes to recognisable cultures, and if you ask most people what they know about Cambodia you’ll probably get an answer that involves the Vietnam War or the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime. These events no doubt hang heavy in the memory of Cambodians of all ages, but it must be said that Cambodia didn’t pop into existence the moment it started to be involved in headlines during the 1960s & 1970s. The hills & valleys of that land have been inhabited for thousands of years, and subsequently unique cultures have flourished to the joy of all. That being said, much as I want to learn more about Cambodian culture, I think I’ll let them enjoy the deep-fried tarantulas without me.