The Bonn Om Touk Festival

The specific date of the free festival is always changing and depends on the full moon, but it usually takes place in November on the Mekong riverfront in Phnom Penh. It is important to wait and celebrate the festival during a full moon so that Cambodians can give thanks to the moon (which is a good sign for the coming harvest).

The river reverses because the Tonle Sap empties into the Mekong River most of the year until the rainy season in June, when the Mekong rises. This reverses the flow and dumps water into lake. In November, when the rainy season is over, the Mekong drops, which empties the excess water of the Tonle Sap back into the Mekong-reversing the current again.

A major part of the three-day festival is boat racing. The boats are kept inside the Buddhist temple prior to the races. Each boat is beautifully decorated and the boats’ prows (front part) are carved into serpent heads (symbolic figures in Hindu and Buddhist mythology) that represent rainbows, fertility, and water amongst other things. On the first day of boat races, eyes are painted onto the serpents so that they will race better.

Each boat contains forty rowers who are kept in time by a Skipper who uses a ceremonial paddle to beat out the rhythm. “Fools” are also on board boats to entertain viewers with funny faces and satirical jokes. Over one hundred boats race in pairs for three days until there is a winner.

There are three major ceremonies during the three-day celebration: Loy Pratip (a parade on the river with illuminated boats-each sponsored by a government institution), Sampeas Preah Khe (a salutation to the moon), and Auk Ambok (participants eat flattened rice in temples at midnight).

At sunset on the third day of the festival, the Grand finale occurs. All of the boats line up on the Mekong River, and the most beautifully decorated boat sails out to the center of the river for the cutting of the ribbon ceremony, signaling that the year’s floods are over. There is also a beauty pageant, as well as other ceremonial events.