Santa Ana Gathering : Cambodians Celebrate the Year of the Ox

They knelt at the five piles of sand to pray for the dead and honor the five gods of their Buddhist religion.

They gave offerings of food to the four Buddhist monks who led them in more than an hour of chanting.

They piled rice on a long table set with candles, hoping for a bountiful rice harvest in their homeland.

Then, during the afternoon and evening hours, hundreds of Cambodians who gathered Saturday at the Corbin Community Center on west McFadden Avenue in Santa Ana danced and ate in celebration of the Cambodian New Year.

In Cambodia, April 13 signifies the end of the Year of the Mouse and the first day of the Year of the Ox.

Tables were set up to collect money for a temple where Cambodians can practice their religion. They currently attend services at a rented house in Santa Ana. For each contribution, an elderly man clasped his hands together and said, “Thank you. May you have prosperity, longevity, good health and strength.”

Hundreds of Worshipers

Dishes of rice, fruit, sausages and other Cambodian delicacies surrounded the monks, who led hundreds of worshipers in morning chanting. Buddhist monks are only allowed two meals a day and are prohibited from eating after noon.

“They are chanting for longevity and prosperity. They are chanting to chase out the bad things of the old year and for good things for the year to come,” said Sophon Chhoeng, chairman of the Orange County Cambodian Buddhist Organization and a member of the board of the Cambodian Family, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Ana. “But mostly they are chanting to wish all a happy new year.”

The older Cambodians believe celebrations such as that held Saturday are becoming more important because they serve to teach the young Cambodians the traditions of their native country.

6,000 in County

Virtually all the Cambodians at Saturday’s celebration left their homeland in the wake of the triumph of the Communist Khmer Rouge forces in April, 1975, in the midst of the New Year’s celebration 10 years ago. There are about 110,000 Cambodians in the United States, about 6,000 of whom live in Orange County.

Most Cambodians in the United States regularly contribute to rebel forces trying to win control of their country from the Vietnam-backed government now in power. But there were no collections taken during Saturday’s celebration.

“We decided there should be no politics,” said Cheate Lim, a Cambodian student from Santa Ana. “This would be for celebration only.”