Cambodians Gather to Renew Hope : Celebrations: About 500 people join in observing new year at Santa Ana center.

Sarun Pich joined about 500 other Cambodians Saturday to do what her parents before her have done and what she hopes her children will do in years to come--offer flowers and rice to Buddha as a gesture of renewing hope for the coming year.

“This is a time for us to ask (Buddha) forgiveness for the past and blessing for the future,” said Pich, 49, of Riverside.

The Cambodian New Year’s celebration, one of two major holidays in Cambodia, is based on the lunar calendar. It is observed after the Chinese or Vietnamese New Year’s Day because long ago the Cambodians moved it back a few weeks to coincide with the end of harvesting season, said Chea Lim, who helped coordinate Saturday’s event at the Cambodian Family center.

People in Cambodia usually take off three days to commemorate the new year, with visits to the homes of friends and relatives as well as Buddhist pagodas. But in the United States, Cambodians couldn’t afford to take off from school or work, so they “combined the three days of celebration into one,” Lim said.

Sokhak Chocum, 17, a senior at Century High School in Santa Ana, said it is “one of only a few occasions when the community unites to be a part of each others’ lives.”

Chocum and his family sat listening to six Buddhist monks who chanted in their native Khmer to the beat of a drum. The monks sat in a row behind an altar filled with lilies, roses and chrysanthemums surrounding a Buddhist statue. Incense permeated the air.

“These monks represent a bridge between our ancestors of the past and us of the present,” Lim said.

Tom Harrison, Chocum’s former teacher at Sierra Intermediate School in Santa Ana, said although he doesn’t understand Khmer, he enjoyed the festivities.

“Many of my students are Cambodian and I want to show an interest in them and their culture,” he said. “I’m very attached to my kids.”

After the Buddhist ceremony, families gathered around tables set up in makeshift tents and on straw mats in the center’s activity room to eat a lunch prepared by the center’s volunteers. It included jackfruit and tapioca soaked in coconut milk and nom an sam , sticky rice and a bean paste wrapped in banana leaves.

“The monks eat first and we eat later,” said Chantha Som, 15, of Santa Ana. “But you have to hurry, the food goes fast.”

After lunch, dozens of people crowded into a dimly-lit room to watch traditional dances performed by the center’s youth group. About 10 teen-agers practiced 30 minutes a day, six days a week for three months to prepare for the show, said Phalen Lim, 21, a Cal State Fullerton art major who coordinated about six numbers.

The first performance was the “Wishing Dance,” which tells the story of three angels who came down to earth to bless the people during the New Year’s celebration. As three girls in hot pink and peacock blue sarongs began their dance, some parents hugged their children a little closer.

“This is like a vacation for me,” Harrison said. “I mean, how often do you get a chance to take a few moments to step into another culture?”