New Year's Day in Cambodia

For three days from today, Cambodian people celebrate New Year's Day. People believe that a heavenly maiden of the New Year comes down to the ground at noon, so they arrange ornaments for the maiden by the front door of each houses.

Spots that the maiden ought to come down are decorated with ornaments made of trunks of banana trees, incense sticks, candles, and flowers.

People also place flowers and fruits around it. Since yesterday, the elder women living in the institute have been busy with the preparation, and they go to the market to buy materials for the ornaments in this morning.

They usually buy a bunch of banana for 500 riels, but today they have to pay double the price. Although people already know the raising price owing to the New Year’s Day, they go to buy the materials on this particular day at Cambodia.

In addition to the decoration for New Year’s Day, people display the ornament, which is in the shape of stars attached colored lights, and in some cases it is bigger than one meter. This decoration creates an atmosphere such as Christmas night.

Source: iktt.esprit-libre.org