Culture

In general, Cambodian communities lack ethnocultural newspapers, magazines, theatres, and culturally specific organizations. In Toronto, for example, several Khmer publications have been started since the early 1980s but have lasted only for a few editions. Cambodian culture in Canada is preserved instead through celebrations connected with traditional religious holidays and family rituals – marriages in particular.

In traditional Cambodian society, Theravada Buddhism inspired Khmer national and cultural celebrations. Practised by the majority of Khmer, Buddhism shaped the Cambodian way of life, guiding the standards of conformity for men, women, and children. Cambodians in Canada continue to address each other with sompeah (placing the palms together in a gesture of greeting and respect) and a small bow. Terms for family-based relationships and recognition of differences in status are used within the extended family and among friends, as well as in more formalized, community settings. Annual cultural celebrations and festivals remain linked to Buddhist ceremonies. Cultural events are held on auspicious Buddhist Tngay Sil (observance) days, such as Penh Bo (Full Moon) and Khe Dach (New Moon).

Bonn Chaul Chhnam (New Year) begins the Khmer ritual cycle in April. In Cambodia it is a three-day observance, beginning 13 April. Family members make every effort to return to their parents’ home and to the pagodas (Buddhist temples) where their ancestors’ relics are stored. On the third day, parents are honoured as Preah Ros (living Buddhas) and are offered money, food, flowers, and a ritual water blessing. In Canada, celebrations last one or two days, on the weekend in April nearest the full moon. The popular traditional games and dances are replaced with an evening of live entertainment, recorded music, and modern dancing inside a rented hall. Ontario’s Khmer communities often stagger their celebrations in order to share the few Buddhist monks and accommodate out-of-town friends and family members who wish to attend the festivities. Despite the absence from Canada of parents and Buddhist relics, Khmer households still prepare for the events with special foods, new clothing, and a variety of materials (candles, incense sticks, paper, flowers, flags, and lanterns) used to decorate the freshly cleaned house.

Visak Bochea (commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha) follows in May; then Chol Preah Vasa (beginning of the three-month monks’ retreat) in July; Bonn Pechum (Feast of the Dead) in September/October; and Bonn Phka (Flower Festival) in November. General ceremonial occasions are the monthly Tngay Sil (observance) days and Bonn Katin (offerings to the temple). Special celebrations to mark rites of passage (marriage, birth, or death), auspicious events, and healing rituals occur throughout the year.

In Cambodia, cultural ceremonies, celebrations, and religious observances would be held at the local Buddhist pagoda. In Canada most Khmer communities rent a hall or school auditorium to accommodate the large numbers that attend. Before the ceremonies begin, mats (kantel) are unrolled; ritual accoutrements, such as the Buddha image, incense, candles, and flowers are set up; and the entire area in front of where the monks will sit is covered with dishes of food, offered either to the monks or to ancestor spirits. Recorded Buddhist music (Pleng pin peat) is sometimes played while the monks recite Pali prayers and give the fifteen precepts (Oy Sil), which lay people request (Som Sil).

After any observance is completed, the community participates in a huge feast. Some food such as ansam or nom (sticky rice cooked in banana leaf) is made only once a year, for the Bonn Pechum. During cultural celebrations, women and young girls wear the traditional Khmer dress of sarong, sampot, and krama (a long scarf in different colours, woven from cotton or silk). Though older men continue to dress in sarongs at home, they tend to wear suits and ties during religious-cultural events.

In the large courtyard of Montreal’s Buddhist temple, Khmer youths can play traditional Cambodian games, such as sei (a team game with a badminton-like birdie that is kicked and kept in the air), chol choung (in which a rolled scarf is tossed back and forth between groups of males and females), leak kansaeng (scarf hiding accompanied by singing), takraw (a Thai game of kicking a hollow rattan ball), rout pong moan (running with an egg), and teanh proat (a rope tug of war between men and women).

Reflecting their desire to preserve and disseminate traditional Khmer music and art forms, most families have several videos of Cambodian folk dances, classical dances, and puppet performances acting out folk tales; live performances in Canada are extremely rare. The dancers wear beautiful, distinctive costumes and are accompanied by an orchestra composed of typical Khmer instruments. Popular Cambodian craft objects are cigarette boxes, musical instruments, tea sets, makeup kits, flower pots, replicas of the great temple of Angkor Wat, and silk items (hol, phamuong, sarong, or sampot); more precious crafts include silver and gold jewellery, ebony and other wood sculptures, and stone carvings.

Traditional Cambodian weddings are an important part of Khmer cultural identity in Canada. Among older youth, marriages are usually arranged, instigated by the boy’s family or a trusted friend, often to children of friends or family (second-cousin marriages are common) in Canada or in the United States. Frequently a boy asks his parents to contact those of a girl who interests him; a delicate approach may follow, encouraged by gifts and visits by the boy and his family or the go-between (often an older woman).

Parents want a daughter-in-law who is respectful and has a good reputation – it is important that no rumours exist about her dating other boys. Khmer parents therefore often marry their daughters young, sometimes just past sixteen, when they can leave school. A boy should be “nice” (no drinking or gambling) and hard working. Some parents make sure that there are harmonious horoscope signs for a prospective couple. When consent to marriage is given, the groom’s family supplies a formal engagement party – an enormous feast of special fruits, cooked dishes, and cakes for friends and relatives of both families. At this time the girl’s family receives a cash dowry, and the girl a wedding ring. The bride’s family pays only for the wedding dresses.

In Cambodia the marriage date was set according to astrological signs, but in Canada, an available weekend date or restaurant booking may be decisive. The wedding continues all day. The first part, in the morning, is a religious ceremony involving several monks and non-monastic religious specialists (achaas). Khmer monks are usually brought in, from the United States or Montreal, at considerable expense. Traditional wedding music is played by a Khmer band on the tro khmer (a three-stringed violin), the chapei (guitar), and two drums called skor sampet and skor kar. A hall may be rented if the local Cambodian temple is too small. Following this ceremony, the groom’s family and friends go through the neighbourhood in a procession, accompanied by the band playing music. They take many dishes of food (cookies, candies, fresh and canned fruits, meats) and gifts (clothing or jewellery) to the bride’s house for a second ceremony with the monks and achaas. After Saut mon (prayer chanting) by the monks, the parents exchange ceremonial offerings and the bride and groom undergo Kat saak (having a lock of their hair cut), symbolic of the Buddhist ritual when heads are shaved for ordination and also to rid the couple of shortcomings or bad luck. The monks are offered food, and an afternoon feast follows for the guests. In the evening, the bridal party, extended family members, and friends go to a restaurant for another meal and entertainment – perhaps folk dancing and the performance of traditional Khmer music. At the end of the evening, the achaa solemnly ties a white cotton string around the wrists of the bride and groom.

Traditional Cambodian weddings in Canada are expensive, sometimes costing more than $20,000. A boy may have to work for at least two years before he can afford a wife. Some young men accordingly enter the job market early, rather than complete high school or postsecondary education. Single-parent families have great difficulty affording a wedding, even though guests donate money generously. Girls from Cambodia require less expensive dowries, but immigration restrictions make this strategy almost impossible.

Cultural continuities are also found in traditional medicine, which is especially popular with older people. Khmer healing techniques include herbal medicines, cupping (choup), coining (kos kjol or choup kchall), skin burning from moxa ignited with incense (oyt pleung or moxibustion), post-partum steaming and “roasting” (ang pleung), humeral applications of hot and cold, acupuncture, acupressure, massage, and wearing amulets around the neck or protective threads on the wrist. As well, monks or traditional healers (Khmer kru) can exorcise malevolent spirits. Several Khmer people have Buddhist prayers and animistic symbols tattooed on their bodies to enhance mental and physical health.