Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Have questions or resources regarding Khmer Culture? This forum is all about the Kingdom of Cambodia's culture. Khmer language, Cambodian weddings, French influence, Cambodian architecture, Cambodian politics, Khmer customs, etc? This is the place. Living in Cambodia can cause you to experience a whole new level of culture shock, so feel free to talk about all things related to the Khmer people, and their traditions. And if you want something in Khmer script translated into English, you will probably find what you need.
Samouth
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by Samouth »

prahkeitouj wrote:At juansweetpotato, you are welcome!
At Samouth, I never heard about number 10.
There are many superstitions. My colleague never cut her nails and hairs while her husband was abroad because she believed that it would bring bad luck to him.
haha, this is really common, most khmer know it. Have you asked your parents yet?
បើសិនធ្វើចេះ ចេះឲ្យគេកោត បើសិនធ្វើឆោត ឆោតឲ្យគេអាណិត។

If you know a lot, know enough to make them respect you, if you are stupid, be stupid enough so they can pity you.
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by Samouth »

juansweetpotato wrote:
Samouth wrote:@JSP, the list continues.....................Thanks for mentioning about cat which led me to think of other

Cambodians believe:

6. Every animals can see ghost especially cat and dog.

7. If the three colors cat jumps across the dead body, that dead body will get up.

8. If you cut your nails at night, it will bring you bad luck.

9. If you hit the nail at night, it will bring you bad luck. In Cambodia's tradition, we only hit the nail on the coffin at night time, so if you hit the nail or something at night time, it is like you hit the nail on the coffin which can bring you a really bad luck.

10. Don't touch or pet children head as it will make him or her to pee at night.

11. Before you eat something especially in the forest, you need to break a small piece of it to offer to the spirit who are looking after that forest aiming that they will protect you.

12. When walking in the forest, you are not allowed to say anything as it might make the spirit mad, so they might do something to harm you.

13. To be continued....................
Do you remember those old Khmer ghost movies from the early 00's I think? I bought a few of them back then on VCD. Are they based on Khmer folk tales and superstitions do you know?
Here are some khmer ghost movies, all of them were made based on the story telling passed by from so many generation. Many Khmer still believe on all these superstitions

1. Banana Tree Ghost (ខ្មោចដើមចេកជ្វា)



2. ព្រាយកន្ទោងខៀវ



3. Neang Neath (True ghost drama story in Battambang 1800)

1/3


2/3


3/3
បើសិនធ្វើចេះ ចេះឲ្យគេកោត បើសិនធ្វើឆោត ឆោតឲ្យគេអាណិត។

If you know a lot, know enough to make them respect you, if you are stupid, be stupid enough so they can pity you.
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by Samouth »

Anchor Moy wrote:@Samouth. I can understand that doing certain things at night are believed to be dangerous - hammering nails or cutting your nails in the dark can lead to accidents. :o

What about fertility ? I'm sure there must be at least 100 different ways to make sure you have a baby ? (Whatever they are, they seem to be working. :D )
This explanation is really reasonable, but most of Cambodian would not think that way. It is more about believing in superstition. They all believed that this is something that can bring bad luck.
បើសិនធ្វើចេះ ចេះឲ្យគេកោត បើសិនធ្វើឆោត ឆោតឲ្យគេអាណិត។

If you know a lot, know enough to make them respect you, if you are stupid, be stupid enough so they can pity you.
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by Samouth »

Mr. Yan wrote:Samouth, if you think of any more I would love to hear them. They are very interesting to me. This also got me thinking about the whole reincarnation thing. Do Khmer's generally believe that when a baby is born it can only have been a Khmer or Buddhist in the previous life, or does it not specify between races/origins? I was just wondering as I brought this up with my girlfriend, and she was unsure. Just wondering what the feeling is when a barang is thrown into the mix. Pretty strong feelings about other pregnancy things, but this didn't seem to bother her in the least.


@Kampong Spooner, I feel your pain brother.
I will post more if i could think of other. I am not sure about this one.
បើសិនធ្វើចេះ ចេះឲ្យគេកោត បើសិនធ្វើឆោត ឆោតឲ្យគេអាណិត។

If you know a lot, know enough to make them respect you, if you are stupid, be stupid enough so they can pity you.
Khla
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by Khla »

I heard that women should not whistle at night. But I am not sure if the whistling thing in general is something that is considered to be "rude" for a woman to do.

Also, we once have been on a trip to a mountain, unfortunately I don't remember the name (was is the Phnom Kuleen??) and I was told it would make the mountain spirits angry if you use cursing words and something bad would happen as soon as we entered the way leading up to the mountain. It was very exciting and steep and I think it also rained, but I also was really frightened that something would slip out my 8 year old's mouth, lol.

Also, the Khmer ghost stories are super scary, especially for kids.
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frank lee bent
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by frank lee bent »

the girls just stopped me eating soup with bamboo in it due to the cut on my leg that required stitches.

they say because bamboo is sharp and cuts people it would be bad for the cut on my leg.

so i ate the other soup.

on my rice.
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by Khla »

frank lee bent wrote:the girls just stopped me eating soup with bamboo in it due to the cut on my leg that required stitches.

they say because bamboo is sharp and cuts people it would be bad for the cut on my leg.

so i ate the other soup.

on my rice.
My Dad told me that Bamboo is a natural blood thinner, this is why they say you should not eat too much bamboo if you have wounds. So if that's true, it actually makes sense.
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by Khla »

Khla wrote:
frank lee bent wrote:the girls just stopped me eating soup with bamboo in it due to the cut on my leg that required stitches.

they say because bamboo is sharp and cuts people it would be bad for the cut on my leg.

so i ate the other soup.

on my rice.
My Dad told me that Bamboo is a natural blood thinner, this is why they say you should not eat too much bamboo if you have wounds. So if that's true, it actually makes sense.
Logically, this also applies if you have, say, inner wounds. So if someone has problems with his gut/stomach they also try to avoid bamboo because it simply slows down your natural healing process.
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frank lee bent
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by frank lee bent »

interesting!
there are often good reasons behind these stories.
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Re: Traditional Khmer beliefs, treatments, superstitions?

Post by Khla »

frank lee bent wrote:interesting!
there are often good reasons behind these stories.
Yes I think so, too :)
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