Cambodians Honor Ancestors
Wearing their finest silks and satins and bearing lavish food dishes and bouquets of flowers, about 10,000 Cambodians gathered to pray for their ancestors in Long Beach on Friday during one of the most cherished Buddhist celebrations of the year.
In honor of his dead parents, Sinith Prum arrived at the Khemara Buddhikaram temple with their favorite treats--cat fish soup for his mother; a cigarette for his father.
“We come out of gratitude to our parents,” said Prun, whose parents were beaten to death in 1976 by Khmer Rouge revolutionaries.
Friday’s collection of family offerings, Bonn Phchoum Ben, was the culmination of a 15-day festival known as Bonn Dak Ben.
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