Chol Chnam Thmay 2024 (or Chôl Chnăm Thmây, Chaul Chnam Thmay) is the traditional Cambodian New Year celebration according to the ancestral calendar. Additionally, it is also a significant celebration of the year for over 1.3 million Khmer compatriots in Vietnam. The festival shares many similarities with the Lao New Year – Pi Mai, Songkran in Thailand, or Thingyan in Myanmar.
Exploring the largest festival of the Khmer people
What is Chol Chnam Thmay?
Chol Chnam Thmay is the New Year festival of the Khmer people. “Chôl” means “enter,” and “Chnăm Thmây” means “New Year.” Each year, the festival takes place around mid-April according to the solar calendar, featuring various traditional ceremonies and popular games.
Origin and history of Chol Chnam Thmay
There are many legends about the origin of the Chol Chnam Thmay festival, but they are generally related to the transition from Brahmanism to Buddhism. Besides Buddhism, the Khmers also believe that every year, a god in heaven will descend to earth in turn to protect the people and grant them a year of peace and good harvests. The day the deity descends to earth is considered by the Khmer people as the first day of the new year.
When is Chol Chnam Thmay celebrated?
For the Khmers, April marks the transition from the dry season to the rainy season. At this time, vegetation becomes lush again, and nature is reborn. The Khmers consider this change, this rebirth of nature, as the beginning of a new year. The celebration of the Cambodian New Year 2024 aims to request the swift return of the rainy season to start the new agricultural season.
The Chol Chnam Thmay is also the ideal opportunity to visit the best temples in Cambodia. During this great festival, you can experience traditional cultural activities in Khmer temples.
Chôl Chnăm Thmây
Due to its importance in welcoming the rainy season and the new harvest, this festival, which once lasted for 10 to 15 days, has been reduced to 3 days in recent decades (excluding the preparations that take place several days before).
These three days are calculated according to the Cambodian Khmer calendar. The Khmers, influenced by Indian astronomy, determine the beginning of the year in two ways: “Chôl” based on the moon’s movement and marked by the twelve zodiac animals, and “Chnăm” based on the sun’s movement. “Chôl” is calculated in April of the solar calendar, while “Chnăm” varies depending on lunar phases.
What is the date of the Chol Chnam Thmay – Cambodian New Year in 2024?
Chol Chnam Thmay – Cambodian New Year 2024 will take place from April 13 to April 16, 2024. Keep this time to experience this special occasion during your Cambodia travel.
What do the Khmers do during Chol Chnam Thmay?
Chol Chnam Thmay is divided into 5 stages: preparation, New Year’s Eve, and 3 main celebration days. At each of these stages, the Khmers have their own activities.
1. Preparation
Before the Cambodian New Year 2024, all daily work will be interrupted to prepare for the holidays. To pray for a better new year, people will prepare new and clean clothes for the first days of the year. Houses are also renovated and decorated. Food is prepared in advance with a variety of attractive dishes.
2. New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve for the Khmers is the moment when fairies descend to earth, so to know the time of New Year’s Eve, an A Cha (a monk, having a high position in society and always respected by the Khmer people) is present at each pagoda. A ceremony will take place, and announcements will be made to the population.
On New Year’s Eve, altars are placed in the most solemn places to welcome gods and ancestors. On the altar, the Khmers offer offerings. Family members sit in front of the altar, bowing with hope and conviction that they will receive blessings during the new year.
3. First Day (Chôl Sangkran Thmây Day)
Moha Sangkran: This activity aims to drive away the bad things from the previous year and express wishes for new things, luck, and happiness for the new year. Moha Sangkran takes place at a chosen auspicious time, whether in the morning or afternoon.
People take a bath, wear elegant clothes, and go to the pagoda. Moha Sangkran is placed in a golden basin and carried in a procession around the temple three times, marking both the celebration of the New Year and the anticipation of omens for the new year, depending on whether the procession is completed or not, then it is brought back to the temple for the ceremony. Then everyone attends the Buddhist ceremony, reciting prayers to celebrate the new year.
Moha Sangkran
4. Second Day (Wonbof Day)
Rice Offering Ceremony: The Khmers bring rice to the pagoda to offer to the monks. The start of the rice offering ceremony is marked by prayers and speeches from the A cha, followed by monks reciting teachings and performing a thanksgiving ceremony for those who produced the food and to offer food to the souls of deceased loved ones. Then, the monks enjoy the food and recite prayers to bless the owner and seek deliverance for the deceased souls.
Sand Mountain Building Ceremony: This ceremony shows the efforts and sincerity of the participants in building sand mountains. Every grain of sand added to the mountain liberates a person from their sins in this world. Thus, the Khmers are very enthusiastic about building sand mountains, hoping that Buddha will grant them blessings.
Sand Mountain Building Ceremony
Today, the construction of sand mountains is only organized in years when temples are under construction, with sand brought by the residents being used to build the temple. Some pagodas replace sand mountains with rice or wheat mountains. Rice and wheat are used to provide food for the monks or to help the poor.
5. 3rd day (Long Sak Day)
Bathing Ceremony of the Buddha Statue: This activity usually takes place in the afternoon. The ritual aims to express gratitude to Buddha, wash away the misfortunes of the previous year, and wish for good luck in the new year.
The Achas place the Buddha statue in a large basin filled with fresh flowers and pure water scented with perfume. The Achas read sutras, and the monks use flower-soaked branches in scented water to bathe the Buddha statue. After the bathing ceremony of the Buddha statue at the temple, when back home, the Khmers continue the bathing ceremony of the Buddha statue at their homes.
Bathing Ceremony of the Buddha Statue
Requiem Ceremony: The Khmers place an offering tray on a mat in front of the tower, burn incense, and listen to the monks chant sutras. While reciting prayers, the monks sprinkle scented water on believers and around the tower to spread happiness among them and their families, similar to the “water splashing culture” during Songkran in Thailand. This is also the last activity of the Cambodian New Year 2024 festival.
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