Introduction to Pchum Ben
Pchum Ben is one of the most important and largest religious festivals in Cambodia celebrated every year across the country. It is the public holiday that all people have a few days off so most of the people in the city, Phnom Penh, go to their hometowns to get together with their family members and relatives. Pchum Ben festival lasts within 15 days starting from Day 1 (Ben 1), Day 2 (Ben 2) …… until the final day that can also be called Pchum Ben. On, Pchum Ben Day, Cambodian people typically come together from all over the places in Cambodia to meet one another especially their parents. They bring foods such as rice, soup, sweet, fruit to pagodas to offer to the Buddhist monks.
The history of Pchum Ben
The name Pchum Ben is a combination of the word Pchum and Ben. Pchum literally means putting together and Ben mean rice balls. So, putting these two words together, we have Pchum Ben which obviously means the putting all the rice balls together or a collection of rice balls. According the records of Cambodian history, Pchum Ben festival has been celebrated since the ancient time.
Reasons to celebrated Pchum Ben Day
All Cambodian people view Pchum Ben as a religious ceremony celebrated to dedicate merit to their parents, brothers, sisters and relatives that passed away and they do not know where those spirits go to in their next life. There are 3 more main reasons why Pchum Ben is celebrated based on an article. Dedicate the merit to Bret (A type of ghost that suffers every day in the hell because when they were humans, they did a lot of killings.) To get happiness prosperity from the good deed they do. To foster national unity since people across Cambodian come together on Pchum Ben day to make different type of cakes such as Nom Korm and Nom Ansorm and bring them to the pagoda.
In the ancient time, Pchum Ben was celebrated to help support the monks with food and other necessities. During the entire three-month long rainy season, monks are not allowed to go out of the pagoda to ask for food because during this season, there is a lot of rain, the ground is too wet making it difficult for the monks to Ben Bat – getting out to the villagers’ houses to get food offering from the people. This is the reason why the Buddhists have to celebrate this ceremony to help support the monks with their basic needs from the beginning to the end of the rainy season.
Pchum Ben and Jol Vosar Festival
In the ancient time, after Buddhism was introduced to Cambodia, all Buddhist monks had to roam around the villages to Ben Bath on daily basis regardless it was rainy season, dry season, winter or spring.
Until the reign of the "Jayavarman" dynasty, he was sincere in his devotion to Buddhism and supported the monks who practiced Buddhism in four ways. There are food, shelter, drink and chivor. Later, he realized that during the rainy season, the monks went to Ben Bath, encountering great difficulties such as rain, thunder, lightning, wind, which caused some monks to fall on the mud, leading the king to make a clear decision to allow all the monks to stay in the pagoda and not to go out to Ben Bath for 3 months and the Buddhists will take turn supporting the foods and other necessities.
Pchum Ben Season
From ancient times up to the present day, the Pchum Ben festival is always celebrated in the rainy season, because in this season, the ghosts may have more opportunities to find food than all other seasons. On the other hand, during the monsoon season, the ghosts' food, such as mud, phlegm, corpses, and wastes are more abundant to find than other seasons.
During the 15-day Pchum Ben festival, all types of ghosts who had been starving for months in the detention in hell were released. This allows them to look for their relatives at various pagodas who bring variety of foods for the monks to dedicate to them. On the other hand, according to the ancient sayings telling from generation to generation, during the15 days of Pchum Ben festival, BRETs (ghosts who have been detained in hell) will search for their relatives at seven pagodas, if they cannot their relatives, they will be very mad curse their relatives and children.
Pchum Ben Celebration
Pchum Ben, also known as Ancestors’ Day or the Festival of the Dead, holds significant importance in Cambodian culture. Pchum Ben is a two-week Buddhist holiday, with three days designated as a Cambodian public holiday. During these 15 days, families create offerings for their departed ancestors, primarily consisting of food. These offerings are brought to temples or pagodas, where monks receive them. Monks chant throughout the night without sleeping and then perform a colorful and intricate food offering ceremony.
Alternatively, family members can leave food offerings at the pagoda or cast them into fields for the departed to find. Pchum Ben also extends to deceased individuals without living relatives or those whose relatives live far away.
Origins and Beliefs
Traditionally, Pchum Ben is the time when “hungry ghosts” (known as Preta) roam freely. These unsettled spirits have the chance to receive offerings of food from their relatives.
Some hungry ghosts may permanently leave their purgatorial state and begin a peaceful journey to the afterlife, while others return to purgatory after the 15 days.
Celebrants believe that their offerings bring blessings from ancestors or curses if they fail to honor them.
For this Ben Pchum festival, our Khmer archaeologist has organized for 15 days, starting from the 1st of Roach to the 15th of Roach, as a ceremony to dedicate Kosal (merit) to the relatives who died and became BRETs.
During the 14 days of Dak Ben or Kan Ben, all the Buddhists surrounding the pagoda are divided in to smaller groups and each group need to take turn bringing food to the pagoda from day 1 and until day 14, which is the last and most important day.
True/False statements.
- Pchum Ben festival lasts within 1 week.
- Pchum literally means putting together and Ben mean meat balls.
- Pchum Ben festival has been celebrated since the ancient time.
- Breth is a type of angel that suffers every day in the hell because when they were humans, they did a lot of killings.
- One reason to celebrate Pchum Ben is to help support the monks during the dry season.
- Ben Bath means roaming around to collect food offerings from the Buddhists.
- During the Jayavarman dynasty Buddhist monks were allowed to stay in the pagoda during the rainy season.
- Day 1 until day 15 is called BEN.
- The final day is called Ben Bath.
- Brets are released during the rain season because the food is abundant.
