Cambodia
Culture
Name
Cambodian
Alternative
Names
Kampuchean, Khmer
Orientation
Identification. The
name "Cambodia" derives from the French Cambodge, which
comes from the Khmer word Kâmpuchea, meaning "born of
Kambu." During the socialist regimes of Democratic Kampuchea (DK)
(1975–1979) and the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) (1979–1989), the
country was known internationally as Kampuchea, but more recent governments
have returned to using Cambodia, and the official name in English is now the
Kingdom of Cambodia.
Khmer as a noun or adjective can refer to the Cambodian language,
people, or culture and thus suggests an ethnic and linguistic identity more
than a political entity. From 1970 to 1975, the country was known as the Khmer
Republic (KR).
Location and Geography. Cambodia
lies between Thailand and Vietnam in mainland southeast Asia, with a smaller
stretch of the northern border adjoining Laos. The most central region
culturally and economically is the lowland flood plain of the Mekong River and
Tonle Sap Lake. The Sap River meets the Mekong at Phnom Penh, where the river
soon divides again into the Bassac and the Mekong, which flow through southern
Vietnam to the South China Sea. Although Cambodia also has a coastline on the
Gulf of Thailand, the coast is separated from the central flood plain by
mountains; only since the 1950s have railroads and roads provided ready access
to the coastal port towns.
The economy is dominated by wet rice agriculture. The iconic image of
the countryside is one of rice paddies among which are scattered sugar palms.
Until recently, much of the area outside the flood plains was forested.
The ancient capital of the Khmer Empire was at Angkor, close to
present-day Siem Reap. In the fifteenth century, the capital was moved to the
area of the intersection of the Sap and Mekong rivers, near present-day Phnom
Penh, perhaps to enhance trade. The most densely populated areas now are along
the rivers in the provinces near Phnom Penh.
Demography. According
to a 1998 census, the population is 11.42 million. There are no reliable
statistics for ethnic populations, although the Khmer population is certainly
the largest. A 1993 demographic study estimated that Khmer represented 88.7
percent of the population; Vietnamese, 5.2 percent; Cham, 2.5 percent; Chinese,
1 percent; and others (Thai, Lao, and smaller minority groups in the north and
northeast), 2.6 percent.
Linguistic Affiliation. The
dominant Khmer language belongs to the Austroasiatic language family and is
related to Vietnamese, Mon, and a number of other Asian languages. Khmer
writing, derived from Indian systems, may have begun as early as the third
century C.E. ; the first dated inscriptions in Khmer are from the
seventh century C.E. While Khmer is closer to Vietnamese than to
Thai, a shared literate tradition related to a common religion and centuries of
cultural contact has resulted in much vocabulary being shared with Thai. As in
Thailand, Laos, and Burma, the language of Theravada Buddhist scriptures, Pali,
often is studied by young men during temporary periods as monks and is an
important influence on literary Khmer.
A scarcity of written materials resulting from the colonial dominance
of French and later periods of political turmoil had left the educated
population highly dependent on second languages, and in urban areas there is a
great desire to learn English and French. Despite the efforts of France to
promote the continued use of French as a second language, it is probably giving
way to English. Vietnamese, Chinese, and Cham, who are often bilingual, freely
use their own languages, and Vietnamese and Chinese newspapers are published in
Phnom Penh.
Symbolism. The
most important cultural symbol is the ancient Khmer temple Angkor Wat, along
with the ancient Khmer Empire and its monumental antiquities. Pictures and
bas-relief carvings of the four-faced tower of the Bayon at Angkor Thom and
of âpsâras (celestial dancing girls) are ubiquitous in homes
and public buildings. Since independence, every flag except the one used by the
United Nations when it administered the country in 1993 has featured the image
of Angkor Wat. Classical dance, also an important national symbol, consciously
tries in costume and gesture to recreate Angkorean bas-reliefs.
The institution of kingship, which was reestablished in 1993, is an
important national symbol, especially in rural areas, where devotion to the
king never died out during the socialist period. It is not clear to what extent
the symbolism of kingship can be separated from its current embodiment in
Norodom Sihanouk.
In the 1980s, the government promoted the memory of the atrocities of
1975–1979 DK period, also known as the Pol Pot regime, including holidays to
commemorate bitterness (20 May) and national liberation (7 January). However,
the DK atrocities symbolize Cambodian identity much less for its people than
they do for foreigners. Nevertheless, many Cambodians express a sense that
their culture has been lost or is in danger, and this cultural vulnerability
stands as a kind of national symbol.
National identity sometimes is mobilized around the idea of hostility
to Vietnam. This derives in part from the ways in which national identity was
defined by resistance groups during the PRK period, when there was a strong
Vietnamese military and cultural presence.
History
and Ethnic Relations
Emergence of the Nation. The
roots of the nation lie in the systematization of wet rice agriculture and the
gradual development of a more extensive political organization that climaxed in
the Khmer Empire in the period 802–1431. The Khmer Empire was not a nation in
the modern sense and varied in size from king to king. However, at different
times the empire ruled large parts of what is now Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.
The population of the empire included Siamese and probably other Austroasiatic
peoples who gradually assimilated to the Khmer. Khmer culture and language were
clearly dominant during that period, and the Khmer population extended well
beyond the current boundaries.
The rise of Siam (now Thailand) as an empire and nation and the gradual
expansion of Vietnam drastically decreased Khmer territory and led to a period
when Cambodia was dominated by those kingdoms. It is generally accepted that if
Cambodia had not been colonized by France, it would have been swallowed by its
neighbors.
National Identity. True
national identity was created during the French colonial presence. The French
fixed boundaries, systematized government and ecclesiastical bureaucracies,
promoted the empire as a national symbol, encouraged an increasingly elaborate
ceremonial role for the king, and introduced secular education.
Ethnic Relations. There
are significant populations of ethnic Khmer in Thailand and Vietnam. The Khmer
in Thailand are well integrated into the Thai state, with few significant links
to Cambodia. The Khmer in southern Vietnam, called Khmer Kraom, have historically
had much stronger ties to Cambodia proper, and several important Cambodian
political leaders have been Khmer Kraom. There continues to be migration of
Khmer Kraom to Cambodia, including young men who come as Buddhist monks; many
Khmer Kraom have a strong sense of identity with the nation. Their role in
Cambodia is complex in that while they are glorified as a symbol of lost
territory, they are sometimes distrusted as being Vietnamese.
Large numbers of the Cambodian refugees who fled to camps in Thailand during
the DK period and the early PRK period resettled in the United States, France,
Australia, and New Zealand. The largest ethnic minority population is
Vietnamese, whose numbers range between 500,000 and a million. However, those
numbers are hotly contested for political reasons. Tension between ethnic Khmer
and Vietnamese is strong. Scholars disagree about whether this hostility has a
long history or is a recent political construction. State-sponsored killing and
forced expulsion of Vietnamese occurred during the KR and the DK periods. Since
the 1991 Paris Agreements, there have been two well-publicized massacres of
Vietnamese villagers and numerous smaller incidents of violence against
Vietnamese, mostly attributable to Khmer Rouge guerrillas. Other new political
parties employ strong anti-Vietnamese rhetoric.
Vietnamese influence in Cambodia dates at least to the seventeenth
century. A significant Vietnamese population in Phnom Penh predated French
colonialism; however, the pattern of migration increased when the French
brought Vietnamese to Cambodia as administrators, plantation workers, and urban
laborers. As rice farmers, Vietnamese have often been in direct economic
competition with Khmer. There are also large fishing communities of Vietnamese,
and in urban areas, Vietnamese engage in a number of small trades, including
construction work, another area where they compete with ethnic Khmer.
The Cham, a predominantly Muslim people, began migrating to Cambodia in
the fifteenth century from the South China Sea coast as that area came under
Vietnamese political domination. Their population is between 240,000 and
300,000. Many Cham live in riverfront communities and engage in fishing, small
business, and raising and slaughtering of livestock (an occupation avoided by
Khmer Buddhists for religious reasons). Cham suffering during the DK period was
especially severe, when resistance to Khmer Rouge communal discipline led to
brutal pogroms. In recent years the Cham have cultivated links to Muslims in
Malaysia, Indonesia, and Arabic countries.
A recent estimate of the Chinese population is 100,000, although
because of the numbers of Chinese who have historically lived in Cambodia, the
numbers of persons with some Chinese blood, and Chinese cultural influence, the
impact is much greater. There has traditionally been much more intermarriage
between Khmer and Chinese than between Khmer and Vietnamese, and ethnic
relations are considered much better, although there has been periodic
discrimination. There has been a Chinese presence since the time of Angkor, but
immigration increased dramatically during the colonial period. Chinese are
particularly associated with urban areas; before 1970, there were more Chinese
and Vietnamese than Khmer in Phnom Penh.
Urbanism,
Architecture, and the Use of Space
Phnom Penh, the capital and the only major city, is relatively small,
but rapidly increasing in population. At the time of the 1998 census, it was
997,986. A lack of political and economic integration with rural Cambodia and
peasant resentment of the urban population probably influenced the decision of
the DK government in 1975 to evacuate the entire urban population to the
countryside. Since 1979, Phnom Penh has experienced only a gradual rebuilding.
Architecturally, the city is a mixture of pre-1975 French colonial, Chinese,
and modernist styles alongside the simple socialist styles of the 1980s, garish
new buildings, and shanty towns.
The Royal Palace compound and the nearby National Museum lie on Phnom
Penh's park-lined central riverfront and form a prominent cultural focal point
of the country and city. Norodom Boulevard, lined with embassies, government
buildings, and villas, runs between Independence Monument and the Wat Phnom
temple. Several key markets, Buddhist temples, and luxury hotels serve as major
landmarks. City streets are full of people, evoking a sense of social flux with
no clear boundaries. Communication is easy and natural.
Provincial capitals have compounds of government buildings, large
central markets in pre-1975 modern buildings, and several Buddhist temples. At
the district and subdistrict levels, there are more modest temples, makeshift
markets, and simple school buildings. Distinctions between public and private
buildings tend to be free-flowing.
Food
and Economy
Food in Daily Life. The
staples are rice and fish. Traditionally, a home meal is served on a mat on the
floor or with the diners seated together on a raised bamboo platform. Meals are
eaten in shifts according to status, with adult males and guests eating first
and food preparers last. Breakfast typically consists of rice porridge or rice
noodles. Lunch and dinner may be a combination of a spiced broth with fish or
meat and vegetables, fish, fresh vegetables eaten with a fish-based paste, and
stir-fried vegetables with chopped meat. A strong-smelling fermented fish paste
called prâhok is the quintessential flavoring of Khmer food.
Fruit is savored, and its display is considered a mark of abundance. It often
is given as a gift. Teuk tnaot, a liquid tapped from sugar
palms and drunk in various degrees of fermentation, generally is not taken with
meals.
The tradition of Khmer cuisine in restaurants is undeveloped, and
restaurants typically serve what is regarded as Chinese food. There are no food
taboos, although devout Buddhists refrain from alcohol. Monks also cannot eat
after noon and are enjoined to eat whatever they are given without making
special requests.
Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. During
festivals, elaborate and painstakingly seasoned dishes are prepared, such as
curries, spiced fish sauces, complex stir fries, and a variety of sweets. At a
temple festival, each family brings dishes that are ritually presented to the
monks. After the monks have eaten, the remaining food is eaten by the lay
community.
Basic Economy. The
basis of the economy continues to be rice agriculture, and much of the
population farms at a subsistence level, linked by a relatively undeveloped
market system for rice, fruits, and vegetables, and using the riel for
currency. Rice farmers are vulnerable to market fluctuations and to drought and
insect infestation. State-owned rubber plantations dating back to the colonial
period have remained a peripheral part of the economy.
Land Tenure and Property. Radical
attempts to communalize property during the DK period and more modest attempts
to encourage collective agriculture under PRK met with strong cultural
resistance. Cambodians have a strong sense of personal property shared within
the domestic unit. Constitutionally, the PRK recognized only three kinds of
economic organization: state, cooperative, and family. Only after 1989, with
the conscious shift to a market economy, did corporate enterprises and foreign
investment become legal.
Commercial Activities. Cambodian
artisans are known for silk and cotton weaving, silver work, silver and gold
jewelry, and basketry. Handmade pottery is sold from oxcarts that travel from
city to city. Straw mats made by hand at local workshops are available in
markets; they also are made for personal use. In rural areas, plows, machetes, looms,
fish traps, and winnowing trays are often made for personal use, although
imported factory-made products now are used more often.
Tourism is an important part of the economy, but it was hindered by
fear of political unrest during most of the 1990s. It increased dramatically in
1999 and 2000.
Major Industries. Industry
is undeveloped. State-owned sawmills, soap and cigarette factories, and small
workshops for the construction of aluminum products, together with larger
state-owned textile and rubber tire factories, have been privatized, and new
breweries and cement factories have opened. After 1994, foreign-owned garment
factories began to appear, employing mostly female laborers at extremely low
wages. The economic role of those factories has expanded rapidly.
Trade. The
government lacks effective controls over cross-border trade. In the 1980s,
resistance groups near the Thai border financed their activities by trading in
gems and timber. Illegal timber exports to Thailand and Vietnam are
uncontrolled, and the country is rapidly becoming deforested. Illegal sales of
rice to Thailand and Vietnam are also considerable and in 1998 resulted in
domestic shortfalls. Besides rice and wood products, Cambodia exports fish
products, cement, brewery products, and handicrafts to nearby Asian countries.
The garment industry is linked to markets in the United States and the European
Union.
Social
Stratification
Classes and Castes. Ideas
about status and the display of wealth have changed dramatically since 1991.
Under socialism, the state promoted an ideology of egalitarianism, and personal
wealth was not easily detected. Since 1991, extremely wealthy individuals have
emerged among high-ranking government officials and well-placed businesspersons
in a country where the population remains very poor. Cambodians have
traditionally cultivated the practice of exaggerated respect for a small class
of civil servants and other "big men," perhaps defined in terms more
by influence than by wealth. There is great sensitivity to degrees of relative
wealth, especially in decisions about marriage partners. A relative status
hierarchy figures conspicuously in personal relations.
Symbols of Social Stratification. There
is a general assumption that degrees of wealth can and should be publicly
known. In the absence of banks, wealth was traditionally worn on the person as
jewelry, which still is an important marker of status. Folk categorization
distinguishes between the poor family's house of bamboo and thatch, the more economically
secure family's traditional wood house on stilts, and the richer family's house
of stone or cement. In Phnom Penh, the wealthiest families live in villas as
opposed to apartments or wood houses. More contemporary markers involve cars
and consumer goods.
Political
Life
Government. The
1993 constitution established a constitutional monarchy devoted to the
principles of liberal democracy. The national government consists of a
120-member National Assembly, a Council of Ministers, and a Constitutional Council.
In 1999, the Assembly voted to create a Senate. At the beginning of the
twenty-first century, the government was still in transition from the one-party
system of the 1980s to a liberal democracy. Although 1993 United
Nations-sponsored elections instituted a multiparty system at the national
level, and multiparty elections determined the membership of the National
Assembly and the choice of prime ministers in 1993 and 1998, there have not
been local multiparty elections. While provincial governorships and ministerial
positions were decided by negotiations between the major parties after the
national elections, officials at the district level and below were usually
persons who had been in office since the socialist 1980s. Local elections were
tentatively scheduled for early 2002.
Leadership and Political Officials. The
Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is an outgrowth of the People's Revolutionary
Party of Kampuchea (PRPK), which through the 1980s served as the single party,
providing discipline and leadership for the socialist state. It is not clear to
what extent the transition to a multiparty democracy has taken place.
Social Problems and Control. There
is much dis-trust of the police and judicial systems, which are believed to be
corrupt. Traffic disputes and claims to property often are negotiated outside
the legal system. Common criminals are dealt with brutally, and there is a
widespread assumption that persons with wealth and political power are
effectively outside the law. There have been many cases of violence against
opposition politicians and journalists.
Military Activity. The
military continues to dominate the national budget despite the collapse of the
Khmer Rouge insurgency. In 1997, defense and security represented 53.9 percent
of government expenditures. Fighting on the streets of Phnom Penh at the time
of a 1996 coup is remembered with resentment. Individual soldiers often break
the law with impunity. The military is not a particularly cohesive social force
and has not threatened to seize power.
Social Welfare and
Change Programs
While a basic government framework to address the needs of widows,
orphans, veterans, and those handicapped by war has been in place since the PRK
period, those programs have been plagued by a lack of funds. International
organizations (IOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) played an
important role in the emergency reconstruction of the country in 1979–1982,
providing food and helping to rebuild the agricultural infrastructure. The
issue of aid was complicated in the 1980s by an international embargo. Some aid
organizations chose to provide relief to Cambodians on the Thai border; other
organizations were restricted from working in the provinces. A small number of
international NGOs continued to offer assistance in health care, rehabilitation
for mine victims, food relief, and agricultural training and assistance. After
the beginnings of a negotiated political settlement at the end of the 1980s,
rapidly increasing numbers of NGOs and IOs have played a role in the country.
Nongovernmental
Organizations and Other Associations
Local NGOs usually are funded by IOs, donor countries, or international
NGOs. In 1999, there were over two hundred local NGOs, all but two formed since
1992. Given a traditional absence of associations outside the state and
religious institutions, NGOs represent a significant development. Some have
focused on rural development, welfare, education, and women's issues. Perhaps
the NGOs with the greatest immediate impact have been local human rights
organizations, which have established extensive grassroots networks to document
human rights abuses.
Gender
Roles and Statuses
Division of Labor by Gender. In
most spheres, there is some flexibility in gender roles. Most tasks performed
by men occasionally are performed by women, and vice versa. Traditionally among
villagers, men fished, plowed, threshed rice, made and repaired tools, and
cared for cattle. Women transplanted seedlings; did washing, mending, and
housecleaning; performed most of the child care; and did the everyday shopping.
Women are traditionally responsible for a family's money and engage in
small-scale marketing.
In the DK period, communal work further broke down gender barriers, and
in the post-DK period, when conscription created a shortage of men in civilian
life, women were forced to do more hard physical labor. This gender imbalance
meant that a small number of women played important roles in civil service and
politics. The numbers of women in civil service and politics decreased somewhat
in the 1990s, but new foreign-owned textile factories employ almost exclusively
women laborers. Only men can enter the monkhood. While women assume ascetic
lifestyles and take up residence in temples, they are considered part of the
lay population.
The Relative Status of Women and Men. Bilateral
kinship and a strong tendency toward matrilocality leave women in a position of
relative strength. The fact that women control family finances may not be
regarded as a sign of superiority but represents real power in practical terms.
However, women have much less access than men to the highest positions of
political and economic power.
Traditional codes of behavior for women are more elaborate and strict
than those for men. Their role is often marked symbolically as inferior. While
traditional art and contemporary media images of women show them as active
agents, they often are depicted as physically vulnerable to men. Domestic
violence against women at the village level is widespread, and those women have
little legal recourse.
Marriage,
Family, and Kinship
Marriage. Marriage
traditionally is arranged by the parents of the bride and groom or by someone
acting as their representative. Ideally, the groom originates the courtship
process by asking his parents to approach the parents of a woman to whom he is
attracted. Neither the groom nor the bride is forced to take a marriage
partner, although parents may have considerable influence in choosing a
partner. Considerations of the benefits to the two families often figure more
prominently in the choice of a marriage partner than does romantic love. It is
not unusual for decisions about marriage to be made before a couple has had
much contact. Specialists in reading horoscopes typically are consulted about
the appropriateness of a wedding, although their advice is not always followed.
The groom pays bride-wealth to the family of the bride; this money sometimes is
used to buy jewelry or clothing for the bride or defray the cost of the
wedding.
Although polygyny was legal before 1989, true polygyny, sanctioned by
ceremony and both wives living in the same house, was rarely practiced outside
of royalty in modern times. However, a mistress is referred to as a second
wife, and even though bigamy was prohibited by the 1993 constitution, the
practice of keeping a second or third wife does not carry a social stigma.
There is strong social pressure to marry and for those who marry to have
children. Divorce is a socially recognized option, although there is social
pressure against it and some reluctance to grant it.
Domestic Unit. The
domestic unit is classically a nuclear family consisting of parents and
children; however, there is much flexibility in allowing other arrangements.
Residence after marriage is ideally neolocal but often, for practical reasons,
with the parents of one of the spouses. The preference is for matrilocality,
although this is not a rigid rule. Aged parents often live with their adult
children. Major family decisions are shared by the husband and wife.
Inheritance. An
inheritance is ideally divided equally among children without regard to gender
or age order, although the child who supported the parents in their old age may
be favored and a child no longer living in the village may receive less
property.
Kin Groups. Kin
groups larger than the family have no socially prescribed role, although they
can be a source of emotional bonds and personal alliance.
Socialization
Infant Care. Infant
care is characterized by almost constant attention to the child, who is rarely
left alone. The child is carefully observed to determine the character it is
believed to already possess; it is considered from birth an active agent and
its wishes, such as who should hold it, are observed and respected.
Child Rearing and Education. Children
are socialized early to respect the authority of parents and older siblings.
There is a strong cultural value of "study," but little sense of
study as oriented toward a specific goal or profession. Schools in Cambodia
emphasize the copying of texts and memorization. Since the DK period, education
has been plagued by the poor condition of buildings, lack of books and trained
teachers, and the inability of the government to pay teachers. Boys sometimes
enter the monkhood as an alternative to state education.
Higher Education. Tertiary
education has only gradually been re-instituted since 1979 and is still on
unsteady foundations. Over the course of the 1980s, different universities were
reopened: The Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry in 1979, teacher
training schools in 1980, a technical school in 1981, an Institute of Economics
in 1984, and the Agricultural Institute in 1985. The University of Phnom Penh
was not reopened until 1988. Tertiary education has been very dependent on
foreign aid, foreign faculty, and overseas training of students.
Etiquette
Khmer has a complex system of pronouns and terms of address that
distinguishes between people of formal rank, people with whom the speaker is in
everyday interaction (further distinguished by relative age), and those with
whom one assumes a marked informality, including people of clear inferior
status and those with whom the speaker shares a long-standing familiar
equality. Those addressing monks or royalty are expected to use even more
complex linguistic systems, which, in addition to special pronouns and terms of
address, include special vocabulary for sleeping, eating, walking, and, in the
case of royalty, for body parts. Relative rank is also distinguished by the
order by which traditional greetings, palms together raised in supplication,
are made, the degree of the hands' elevation, and the consideration of whether
this greeting or a Western handshake is used. A major part of etiquette
involves knowing these systems and how to negotiate their ambiguities; the
systems were partially abandoned during the socialist periods, but since 1991
have been revived with new emphasis.
There is a much stronger taboo against public touching between men and
women than in Western countries, but same-sex touching is more accepted than,
for example, in the United States. Conventional wisdom holds that the head is
the highest part of the body and the feet the lowest, and it is rude to touch
another adult's head, just as it is rude to point one's foot at another person.
However, a certain kind of intimacy among equals is characterized by the
breaking of the norm, with friendly cuffs to the other person's head.
Religion
Religious Beliefs. Theravada
Buddhism spread in the later years of the Khmer Empire and is traditionally
considered the religion of ethnic Khmer. Animist practices and what are called
Brahmanistic practices are also part of the culture and are deeply intermingled
with the everyday practice of Buddhism. They are not considered separate
religions but part of the spectrum of choices for dealing with moral, physical,
and spiritual needs. Buddhism is a national tradition, with a bureaucracy and a
written tradition. Brahmanist and spirit practices are more localized and are
passed on from person to person rather than as a formal institution.
All religious traditions were weakened by the banning of religious
observances by the DK and by the religious policies of PRK, which restricted
religion and emphasized a Buddhism consistent with socialist modernity. Since
restrictions were lifted in 1989, religion has enjoyed a revival. Christian
converts returned from refugee camps and foreign countries, and Christianity
has established a strong foothold among ethnic Khmers. A number of other
religious movements draw on the appeal of powerful traditional cultural icons
and funding by overseas Khmer.
Religious Practitioners. Theravada
Buddhist monks can be seen in saffron robes walking in procession in the early
mornings, when they go from door to door asking for food. A lay specialist, the
achar, also plays an important role as the person who leads public chanting and
an expert in the formulas for different rituals.
Outside the formal sphere of Buddhism there are other practitioners.
The krou (or krou khmaer ) specializes in
traditional medicine and magic, including the making of amulets, and
negotiating with certain kinds of spirits; the thmuap is a
kind of krou specializing in black magic. The roup orroup
arâkk is a spirit medium through whom special knowledge can be
obtained.
Rituals and Holy Places. The
Buddhist temple complex, or vott, is central to community
life, as is the calendar of Buddhist holidays, which is linked to the seasons
and the agricultural cycle. Monks must reside in a single temple for the length
of the rainy season, and ceremonies mark the beginning and end of the retreat.
The period around the end of the rainy season, after rice has been transplanted
but before the harvest takes place, includes two major holidays: Pchum Ben (a
two-week period of rituals in honor of the spirits of the dead) and Kâthin (a
day for processions and the ceremonial presentation of monks' robes). The day
of the Buddha's birth and enlightenment (May) and the day of the Buddha's last
sermon (February) are also important holidays. The beginning of the Buddhist
lunar calendar occurs in April and has both religious and secular aspects.
Death and the Afterlife. Cambodian
Buddhists believe in reincarnation, although this may include temporary periods
in realms resembling heaven or hell. The dead usually are cremated after an
elaborate procession. Ceremonies in memory of the dead are held on the seventh
and hundredth days after death.
Medicine
and Health Care
Western and Chinese medicine and health care coexist with traditional
Cambodian practices that partly derive from Ayurvedic tradition, under the
guidance of krou khmaer. Western medicine enjoys great
prestige, but there is a lack of professionals. Widespread use of imported
western drugs, including intravenous serums and other injections, involves the
role of semi-skilled professionals. Even when the medicine is
"western," its practice is deeply shaped by Khmer folk
categorizations of the nature of illness and the properties of medicine.
Secular
Celebrations
In Phnom Penh the most popular secular holiday is the Water Festival,
21–23 November, with its colorful longboat races and the nighttime display of
illuminated boats. Spirit practices also associated with the boat races mean
that the holiday is not completely secular.
Independence Day (9 November) and the King's Birthday (31 October) have
in recent years involved large government-sponsored celebrations. However these
holidays, and other smaller ones, like Constitution Day, the Day of the Royal
Plowing Ceremony, and the Victory Day over Genocidal Crime, do not have the
widespread cultural resonance of more religious celebrations such as New
Year's, Pchum Ben, and Kathin.
The
Arts and Humanities
Support for the Arts. Since
1979, there has been a governmental effort to restore aspects of traditional
culture destroyed during the DK period. Most state and international funding
has gone toward the restoration of Angkorean antiquities, but there also has
been support for classical dance and for recording traditional music and
setting up workshops for making traditional instruments. In recent years, there
has been NGO support for preserving and developing marketing strategies for
traditional weavers. Some musicians, singers, and theater groups earn money by
performing at village festivals and weddings. The most successful perform on
radio and television and market their work on cassette tapes. Overseas
Cambodian musical groups and video producers also sell their work in Cambodia.
Literature. There
is a long tradition of the use of writing, with important religious texts,
royal chronicles, and epic poetry, but modern literature is undeveloped. Oral
traditions are strong: domestic storytelling and a genre of narrative singing to
a banjolike instrument play important cultural roles.
Virtually no literature was produced during the DK period, and many
writers were killed or fled. Literature in the 1980s had a socialist
orientation. Since 1991, there has been greater freedom to publish pre-1975
literature but little money to publish new books. Small newspapers have
flourished, and some satirical writing has appeared. Pre-1975 authors living
overseas and younger writers have published Khmer books in their countries of
resettlement.
Graphic Arts. While
much work in graphic arts is produced, it often is seen as mere artisanship and
has received little attention. Some art is produced for tourists and the
decoration of homes and offices. Since the early 1990s, the most important
project for painters has been the restoration of murals in Buddhist temples.
Graphic art is rarely seen as the individual expression of the artist.
Performance Arts. Classical
dance and music, originally associated with the court, enjoy great prestige,
although live performances by the national companies are not frequent. Less
professional musicians, singers, and theater artists keep alive local
traditions. Virtually every village has musicians who play at weddings. A pop
tradition has revived since the end of socialism.
While filmmaking was revived in the 1980s, the output remains small and
the budgets are low. Television is dominated by films and soap operas from
Thailand and Hong Kong, dubbed into Khmer.
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