Khmer Traditional Game

Khmer Traditional Game and Entertainment
Cock Fighting, Old Khmer Traditional Game
Games and play made ordinary days more enjoyable for Khmers living in the countryside during ancient times. During festivals, holidays, or after a long rice harvest, people in the countryside especially would unpack their games to release the stress of daily living. Before its great political instability throughout the last several decades, Cambodia had been known as a civilized country, a cultural center full of tradition and entertainment.
Cock fighting, still popular in rural communities today, has been a favorite pastime for centuries. Sculpture of men and their angry cocks are carved into the stone of the Bayon temple, bearing witness to the timelessness of this tradition. Men in particular love the flying feathers, and women who turn their eyes away from a fowl game are said to commit a sin against the cocks.
The elephant terrace at Angkor Thom also has been decorated with carvings of elephant fighting, indicating that the crowing cock was not alone. Duels between beasts like buffalos, elephants and pigs have fallen from popularity, dying with the men that incited them.
Cock Fighting is old gaming in Cambodia. The Games and play has made ordinary days more enjoyable for Khmers living in the countryside during ancient times. During festivals, holidays, weekend or after a long rice harvest, people in the countryside especially would unpack their games to release the stress of daily living. Before its great political instability throughout the last several decades, Cambodia had been known as a civilized country, a cultural center full of tradition and entertainment. Cock fighting, still popular in rural communities today, has been a favorite pastime for

Cambodia Cock Fighting
centuries.
Cockfighting was not always centered on gambling, however. In ancient times, participants used the tradition as a kind of warm exchange, bestowing winners with a small bottle of rice wine. After the duel, opponents would cheerfully share the wine as a sign of camaraderie. This sportsmanship has faded with time, and presently more people turn to the sport not for friendship but for money. Still, others simply love the prestige and respect that accompanies a solid victory.

Entertainment

Cinemas
Since the encouragement from the Ministry of Fine Arts and Culture and the Cambodian people strongly support to the Khmer films, most abandoned cinemas have been re-open. Recently, the Khmer films is very popular for Cambodian people not only in city but also provinces. The Khmer movies can be seen around the city at the main street - such as Kirirom Cinema - Sihanouk blvd., Luxe Cinema - Norodom blvd., Vimean Tip - Monivong blvd...

Movie Houses
English language movies shown in private viewing rooms at Movie Street Video Center, #116, Sihanouk blvd., The French Cultural Center (Street 184) hosts French films at 6:30PM every few days. The Russian Market (Toul Tom Pong) carries the most recent movies CDs.

Nightclubs
Phnom Penh is the place for disco nightlife. There are several clubs that see a good mix of locals and foreigners, like Rock, Spark, U2... Nightlife in Phnom Penh tends to begin fairly late - an 9 pm start is usual, after a leisurely meal and some drinks at a bar. Drink prices can be steep, but you can always pop outside and get a swift half from a street seller.

Outside Phnom Penh, nightlife is dominated by Khmer nightclubs. These are basically 'hostess clubs' aimed at men, but it is no problem for foreign women to enter. They have a live band and are a good place to learn a bit about Khmer dancing.

Traditional Dance
Public performances of Khmer traditional dance are few and far between. The places to find are at few hotel in Phnom Penh and most local restaurants in Siem Reap. Check the local English-language newspapers for news of upcoming events.

Pubs & Bars

Phnom Penh and Siem Reap is best place for pubs and bars. Elsewhere around Cambodia, drinking takes places at street stalls, in restaurants and in nightclubs.

Events in Cambodia

Events in CambodiaJanuary 01: International New Year’s Day
January 07: Victory Day Over Genocide Regime

February 09: Meak Bochea Day - Buddha's preaching
March 08: International Women's Day
April 14-16: Cambodian New Year
A three-day celebration after the end of harvest to mark the turn of The New Year according to the Khmer lunar calendar. Every home is seen with attractive decorations. shrines are full of food and beverages given as offerings to God.. Other people attend Buddhist temples where traditional games are also performed. Click here for more details about Khmer New Year.
May 01: International Labor Day
May 08: Visaka Bochea Day - Birthday of Buddh
May 12: Royal Ploughing Ceremony

It is culturally celebrated to alert the nation of the commencement of rainy season, and farmers to be ready for farming rice by starting to plough. The venue is a field at a wing of Royal Palace, Phnom Penh. The scene is interesting as it depicts real ploughing activities where cows are given a variety of crops to eat. Based on the choices of crops eaten by the cows, prediction are made for the coming year. Click here for more details about Ploughing Ceremony.

May 13-15: Birthday of King Sihamony
During king's birthday, a giant firework display is held close to the riverbanks in front of the Royal Palace.
June 18: Royal Birthday of H.M Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk
September 24: Constitution's Day

September 18-20: Pchum Ben Day - The Soul Day
A religious festival to bless the souls of ancestors, relatives and friends alike who have passed away. Household members attend Buddhist temples.
October 29: Royal Coronation of King Sihamoni
October 31: Birthday of King Father Norodom Sihanouk
November 09: Independence Day
November 01-03: Water Festival
Not only it marks the reversing flow of Tonle Sap River
but also ushers in the fishing season. The Highlight of the event is boat races over three days. As night falls, fireworks light the sky and a lighted flotilla of boats sail under full moon to whom household worships. Some analysts say the celebration is also a thanksgiving to the Mekong River for providing the country with fertile land. People from all walks of life gather on the bank of the Mekong River for days and nights. Click here for more details about Water Festival.
 
December 02: Angkor Half Marathon
International Half marathon. Held at the world renowned Angkor Wat an event which attracts competitors from all over the world. With thousands of spectators and the wonder of Angkor Wat, it is a spectacular setting. Click here for more details about Angkor Half Marathon.
December 10: International Human Right's Day

Mid December: Angkor Festival
This festival is a showcase of performing arts with Angkor Wat as a backdrop. Performers from all over Asia attend this festival performing great epic stories from myths and legends, including the Ramayana, with their own national dance costumes and musical and rhythmic interpretations. Former King Sihanouk often attends when he is in residence in Siem Reap and other dignitaries come to witness this wonderful spectacle.

Khmer Traditional Wedding

In Khmer wedding, it has a lot of ceremonies held in chronological orders. They show the historical roots related to the Buddha’s period which existed ages ago. According to a book “Khmer Wedding Rules” of Oknha Nov, it puts that in ancient Khmer wedding laws, people perform a song describing God Vesandor Borom Pothisat arranging the marriage between his children – Chealy and Kroesna. And some other songs are about the marriage arrangement of God Ream and Seda. Oknha Nov wrote that the current wedding preparations are arranged according to the rules drawn up by King Preah Chey Chesda Thebdey.

According to the king’s book, it puts that all ceremonies in Khmer wedding are related to mythical stories such as a story “Som Sla Kanseng”. It is told that there were two men who went to feed their buffalos in the field would like to make friends with each other and wanted to be relative by marriage with each other because one had a son and the other had a daughter. In order to prove their words, they ask for betel nuts packed in krama from each other to show their promise that their children would marry to each other. Another story is “the three betel flowers”. It describes that there were four men who had different skills – swimming, shooting, fortune telling, and magic. After completing their study, they returned home. Along the way back near a stream, the fortune teller said that day they were going to meet a girl and become their wife. Then a big bird swooped down on a girl, Khemry, who was having a bath. Right away the shooting man took his bow and shot the bird down back to the stream. The swimmer then swam to bring her to the ground but she was just dead. After that the magic man helped her be alive again. All four men felt in love with the lad, so they were judged by the Buddha that she would become a wife of someone who swam to help her because he was able to touch her body first. And the fortune teller, magic man, and shooting man would become the father, mother, and brother respectively. Since then in all weddings, the bride and the groom must have three betel flowers in order to show gratitude towards their parents and brothers/sisters.

Setting-the-date ceremony and the groom holding the scarf are told that Prince Thaong was married to Princess Tevtey, a daughter of the sea dragon king. After setting the date already, Tevtey had to bring him to her father at dragon world, so the sea dragon’s daughter asked the prince to hold her scarf in order to dive into the dragon world. In the meanwhile, the dragon king commanded his man to kill the prince at the gate in order to test the prince’s ability. But the daughter had known this; hence, she disguised herself as the prince by changing her skirt and it was put on the prince instead so that the killer was not able to kill the prince. That is why in the current Khmer wedding it was seen that there is clothes change between the groom and the bride, and the groom holding the bride’s scarf in to the room, accompanied by “Phat Cheay and Neang Neak” songs, etc.

The ceremony called “Chey Haong Sousdey Haong Men Haong” in wedding

Cambodian People

Ethnic Composition

The population of Cambodia today is about 10 million. About 90-95 percent of the people are Khmer ethnic. The remaining 5-10 percent include Chinese-Khmers, Khmer Islam or Chams, ethnic hill-tribe people, known as the Khmer Loeu, and Vietnamese. About 10 percent of the population lives in Phnom Penh, the capital, making Cambodia largely a country of rural dwellers, farmers and artisans.

The ethnic groups that constitute Cambodian society possess a number of economic and demographic commonalties- for example.
Chinese merchants lived mainly in urban centers and play middlemen in many economic cycles, but they also preserve differences in their social and cultural institutions. They were concentrated mostly in central and in southeastern Cambodia, the major differences among these groups lie in social organization, language, and religion. The majority of the inhabitants of Cambodia are settled in fairly permanent villages near the major bodies of water in the Tonle Sap Basin-Mekong Lowlands region. The Khmer Loeu live in widely scattered villages that are abandoned when the cultivated land in the vicinity is exhausted. The permanently settled Khmer and Cham villages usually located on or near the banks of a river or other bodies of water. Cham villages usually are made up almost entirely of Cham, but Khmer villages, especially in central and in southeastern of Cambodia, typically include sizable Chinese communities.

The Khmer Loeu
The Khmer Loeu are the non-Khmer highland tribes in Cambodia. The Khmer Loeu are found namely in the northeastern provinces of Rattanakiri, Stung Treng, Mondulkiri and Crate. Most Khmer Loeu live in scattered temporary villages that have only a few hundred inhabitants. These villages usually are governed by a council of local elders or by a village headman. The Khmer Loeu cultivate a wide variety of plants, but the man crop is dry or upland rice growth by the slash-and-burn method. Hunting, fishing, and gathering supplement the cultivated vegetable foods in the Khmer Loeu diet. Houses vary from huge multi-family long houses to small single family structures. They may be built close to the ground or on stilts. The major Khmer Loeu groups in Cambodia are the Kuy, Phnong, Brao, Jarai, and Rade. All but about 160,000 Kuy lived in the northern Cambodia provinces of Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, and Stoeng as well as in adjacent Thailand.

The Cham

The Cham people in Cambodia descend from refugees of the Kingdom of Champa, which one ruled much of Vietnam between Gao Ha in the north and Bien Hao in the south. The Cambodian Chams are divided into two groups, the orthodox and the traditional- base on their religious practices. The orthodox group, which make up about one-third of the total number of Chams in the country, were located mainly in Phnom Penh - Oudong area and in the provinces of Takeo and Kapot. The traditional Chams were scattered throughout the midsection of the country in the provinces of Battambang, Kompong Thom, Kompong Cham, and Pursat. The Chams of both groups typically live in villages inhabited only by other Chams; the villages may be along the shores of watercourses, or they may be inland. The inhabitants of the river villages engage in fishing and growing vegetables. They trade fish to local Khmer for rice. The women in these villages earn money by

Cambodia traditional Music instruments

Musical instruments for popular tales and educational

There are two kinds of traditional music: one is the Pin Peath with stringed and percussion instruments and the other the Mohory with only stringed instruments. The different instruments are: Pin Peath is a group of instruments which have Roneath (xylophone in metal or bamboo), Kong (percussion instrument surrounding the player), a pear of Skor Thom (a very big drum, which has two faces, for making the rhythm), Sampho (a big drum,which has two faces, for making the rhythm), Sro Lai (a big recorder),Chhoeng (percussion instrument hitting each other for making rhythm).

This kind of music is used to accompany dances, praying to God or spirit and other ceremonies. Mohory is a group of instruments, which have Khoem (with 35 horizontal strings instrument), Ta Khe (with 3 horizontal strings instrument), Tro (with vertical strings instrument), Skor Dai (a small drum for making rhythm), Khloy (recorder) and Chhoeng.

This kind of music is used to accompany dance, theatre, wedding and other ceremonies. There are 4 to 6 % of children attend these courses and they start learning all the traditional Khmer instruments, and choose one they prefer to form the group.

Khmer Dancing

Classical Dance of Cambodia The epic poem of Rama (Ramayana) is believed to have been revealed to a Hindu holy man named Valmiki by Brahma, the god of creation. This religious literary work, dating from about ad 4, is known in various versions throughout India and Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, the story has been set to music and dance and performed by the Royal Ballet since the 18th century.
         Although the epic is also known in the villages, where it is translated orally or dramatized in the popular shadow puppet theater, the ballet was traditionally a courtly art performed in the palace or for princely festivals. The music of the ballet is performed by the Pinpeat orchestra, which is made up of traditional xylophones, metallophones, horizontal gongs, drums, and cymbals.

History 

Khmer classical dance derived from Indian court dance, which traces its origins to the apsarases of Hindu mythology, heavenly female nymphs who were born to dance for the gods. The traditions of Thailand and Java (in Indonesia) also influenced the music and dance of Cambodia. In classical Cambodian dance, women, dressed in brightly colored costumes with elaborate headdresses, perform slow, graceful movements accompanied by a percussive ensemble known as the pinpeat. Pinpeat orchestras include drums, gongs, and bamboo xylophones.
       In Cambodia's villages, plays performed by actors wearing masks are popular. Shadow plays, performed using black leather puppets that enact scenes from the Reamkern, are also enjoyed. Folk dancing is popular in rural Cambodia and is performed spontaneously to a drumbeat.

Khmer Traditional Apsara Dance
At the heart of classical form is the Apsara, the joyful, almost wanton dancer whose images are everywhere. Princess Buppha Devi, who currently serves as the Minister of Culture, is a master of Apsar dancing, which dates to the 1st century. The graceful movements of the Apsara dancers, adorned with gold headdresses and silken tunics and skirts, are carved on the walls of many of the temples at Angkor.
Estimates are that there were 3,000 Apsara dancers in the 12th century court of King Jayavarman VII.
Over the centuries Khmer dancing lent its influence to the classical ballet of neighboring countries, and some of its postures and movements are similar to other Southeast Asian dance forms. But according to Princess Buppha Devi, "The Khmer kingdom started its traditions in the 8th century, 500 years before Thailand." In 1400, with the sacking of the Angkor Empire, the Apsara dancers were seized and taken to Thailand. Apsara dancing is one of two elements of classical ballet, the other being "today" dancing, the depiction of early
myths. Many of the dances involve performing a fragment of the Ramayana, the ancient Indian epic that is one and a half times as long as the Odyssey. Others are based on the legendary battles and mythical sagas carved in bas relief on the walls of the temples of Angkor-including the Churning of the Sea of Milk, the great battle between gods and demons for the holy liquid that gives immortality. There are 100 dances and dramas.

Stung Treng Province

            In the dry season, larger islands are used for agriculture, harvesting of natural resource and hunting.

History
It was first a part of the Khmer Empire, then the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang and later the Lao kingdom of Champassack. The province
was ceded back to Cambodia during the period of French Indochina, in 1904. Its name in Laotian is Xieng Teng.
Owing to its border location and forested mountain areas in the northeast of the province, there was much communist guerrilla activity in
Stung Treng during Cambodia's recent past. The insurgency lasted from the Vietnamese infiltration in the 1950s until the late Khmer Rouge years.

Site description

Stung Treng is located in the upper Cambodian reaches of the Lower Mekong River. Declared as a Ramsar site in 1999, the site extends 37 km along the Mekong River from 6 km north of Stung Treng town to 3 km south of the Lao boarder. The site encompasses the entire Mekong River, its islands and channels, to the terrestrial boundary 150 metres to the landward side of the riverbanks. In some areas the river is very broad with numerous channels between rocky and sandy islands. In others, the river forms a single channel with fast flowing current. Seasonal variation in water height is up to 10 metres. In the dry season rapids can be seen where bedrock is close to the surface.
There are 10,000 people living within, or close to the site boundaries. This number is expected to increase with the improved security situation in this remote part of Cambodia. Three of the islands within the Ramsar site are permanently populated with established villages.


A unique seasonally inundated riverine forest habitat, which has yet to be described, is a globally significant feature of this site. This forest is found in the flowing water on the edges of islands and rivers and on rocky outcrops and is described in more detail below. This stretch of the Mekong is important for the migration of over 100 species of fish between Lake Tonle Sap and the upper reaches of the Mekong above Khone Falls. The site and its immediate tributaries is also an important breeding site for fish species that can not migrate beyond the Khone Falls and may be an important habitat for fish breeding and offer shelter for fish during period of peak flow. By law, commercial fishing lots are not allowed to operate in Stung Treng Province.

The main habitats within the Stung Treng Ramsar site include:
• Riverine inundated forest growing on the sandy and rocky islands comprising tree species identified tentatively as Barringtonia sp., Eugenia sp., and Arcacia sp.. Visually strange, the trunks of these trees are mostly bent almost horizontal in the direction of the river flow with branches and leaves swept in the same direction (giving the appearance of being swept away). In some cases trees are supported by large buttress roots (1-2m. high) protruding downstream to support the trunks against the current. Many of the trees have reduced, narrow leaves reminiscent of rheophyllic trees and there are many epiphytes or parasites particularly of the fig Ficus sp..
• River channels run the length of the site. The bottom substrates include alluvial deposits, varying from fine mud to larger pebbles and stones. Bedrock occurs in some areas of swiftly flowing current. The depth of the river varies from very shallow to over 18 metres during the wet season. These channels are important for the migration of over 100 species of fish.
• Deep pools have been scoured by the swift currents in this section of the Mekong River. In the dry season these areas provide refuge for seasonally quiescent fish species and Irrawaddy dolphins. The invertebrate fauna of the walls of these pools is not known.
• Sandbars are common on stretches of the Mekong in Stung Treng. Submerged in the wet season, these areas provide dry season roosting and breeding habitats for sandbar nesting waterbirds.

Attraction sites in Stung Treng