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

Same in Vietnam, except the cat has to be black.

Re: 3 people in a picture, I wonder, why is/were are all the CPP posters featured with 3 people?

AE86 wrote:

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

Same in Vietnam, except the cat has to be black.

Re: 3 people in a picture, I wonder, why is/were are all the CPP posters featured with 3 people?

Because there are only three highest leaders in the party.

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.

Cambodian believe that Bamboo shoot has toxic so it is not good for people to eat, even normal people. There some specific illnesses when people have them they are not allow to eat Bamboo shoot.

I don't eat Bamboo shoot. Maybe because I don't like it and I think it's not good for health too.

Ten superstitions Cambodians believe and maybe you don’t know

Most people around the world have superstitions even in industrialized countries where reason and science seems to be the king of home. For this reason it is not possible to measure which country or people is more superstitious than other. Probably you have secret superstitions for any reason. For example, I use to make sure that the first feet I put on earth every morning when I wake up is the right one… But if you are living in Cambodia, it is right to know about the Cambodian superstitions, because they can make you understand some of the behaviors of your friends. Here ten most common superstitions that Cambodians believe and probably you don’t know:
1. The ancestors really eat

When we are talking about the ancestors, we are referring to the death. As many Asian cultures, the respect to the ancestors is very strong in Cambodia. It is possible to see it specially during the Pchum Beng in October. But one thing that is very important is that food is offered to them, because Cambodians believe that their souls can feel hunger. It has a big contradiction with the reincarnation doctrine, of course. But you can see food in the ancestors altars in more homes, as well as food put at the side of the coffin in every funeral.
2. Some death people don’t know they are dead

Some Cambodians believe that some persons could die but they don’t know they are death. A description of this strain believe is very well illustrated in the 2011’s film of Alejandro Amenabar, The Others (watch it on Youtube) and in the 1999’s film of M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense (on Youtube.) In those films, some of the characters are dead, but they don’t know it – as well as the spectator until the end of the movie. The reason some Cambodians think that some persons don’t know when they left the world of the living has to see with materialism. Persons too much attache to material things or too busy with worldly things, could fail to recognize when they are dead. The consequence is that the person would continue their daily life, scaring others on the way…

3. Don’t eat Trey Domrey (Elephant Fish)

The Marble Goby (Oxyeleotris Marmorata) is an Southeast Asian river fish. It is very common in the Mekong and Chao Praya basins, as well as in Malaysia, Singapore, Indochina, Philippines and Indonesia. In Cambodia it is known as the Trey Domrey or Elephant Fish. But for some Cambodians, it is actually a person. The believe comes from the legend of a man that killed his wife and through her body to the river, where she was transformed into a fish. Eating this fish is actually a curse…
4. Ask permission to the spirits of the land

When you build a house, you have to ask permission to the spirit of the land. Cambodians believe that there are spirits everywhere, a remembrance of their ancient pantheism through Brahmanism. Nobody goes to live in a new house if there is not a previous ceremony to honor the spirit of the land. The ceremony includes food for the spirit, incense and holy water spreading.
5. Bad spirits know persons by their name

Some Cambodian mothers do not give name to their babies for many years. The reason is that spirits get to know their babies by their name and can come to disturb them. In some occasions, Cambodians change their own name if they have bad luck in family or work. The purpose is to confuse the spirit that is coming to produce the bad luck. When the spirit comes, it uses to call your soul by your name. If you change your name, your soul will not answer to the spirit and the spirit will go away.
6. Count the gecko’s croak

If you live in Cambodia you get use to the gecko’s croak. The presence of a gecko in a house is seen as a good luck for that house. However, Cambodian women use to show panic before a gecko. But single young people count the gecko’s croak to know how their future spouse will be. To the first croak they say “single”, the second croak they say “widow – widower”. Then, the last croak should reveal if they will marry a single or widower person.
7. Don’t turn over the fish

When you eat a big fish, you eat first the part that is up. When you finish, you flip the fish to eat the other part… don’t do it: Cambodians believe that turning the fish, you will cause the boat of the fisherman that got that fish to turn on the water…
8. Tattoos are for protection

Many Westerners like to use Cambodian tattoos for cosmetic. But most Cambodian tattoo users don’t use it for cosmetic, but for protection. Specially men that are in war affairs like policemen, soldiers or others, put tattoos with magical meaning on their skin, specially in their chest and back, to be protected from bullets and knives. When Cambodians see you wearing a tattoo, most of them think that probably you have many enemies that want to hurt you, so you choose such tattoo…
9. The Khatha

The Khatha means a Spell. It is a big design written in Pali language with Khmer letters (even in Thailand is like this.) The Khata must be designed by a holy person, usually a Buddhist monk or a wiser. It is used as protection, in the same way of the tattoos. Some persons tattoo the Khata in their own skin.
10. Others

There are many others. For example, if you sing while you are cooking, you will marry a widow or widower. If your friend smell the same flower you smell, both of you will share the same spouse…

https://cambodia1.wordpress.com/2015/05 ... dont-know/

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2017 9:54 am 7. Don’t turn over the fish

When you eat a big fish, you eat first the part that is up. When you finish, you flip the fish to eat the other part… don’t do it: Cambodians believe that turning the fish, you will cause the boat of the fisherman that got that fish to turn on the water…

not heard or seen this one before, ive often seen women flipping over the fish at weddings and parties once one side is eaten

the gecko one is interesting though will listen out for that one lol

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2017 3:01 pm

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2017 9:54 am 7. Don’t turn over the fish

When you eat a big fish, you eat first the part that is up. When you finish, you flip the fish to eat the other part… don’t do it: Cambodians believe that turning the fish, you will cause the boat of the fisherman that got that fish to turn on the water…

not heard or seen this one before, ive often seen women flipping over the fish at weddings and parties once one side is eaten

the gecko one is interesting though will listen out for that one lol

Our resident gecko says F'k you F'k you, I kid you not.
Remarkable command of the English language for a gecko. tongue

And yeah, thats how I eat my fish too. What to do ?

Username Taken wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2017 10:06 pm Surely no-one flips a whole fish. You eat the meat off the upper half, then you pull out the spine and eat the lower half meat.

That's just good sense. Got nothing to do with fishermens' boats capsizing.

yeah and when your at a wedding/birthday etc. what do you do with the fish head + skeleton? chuck it under the table? lol

In Thailand there are days when you cannot risk a hair cut, do Khmers have this one? In our culture we were taught never to swim on a full stomach or you will drown.
I know there are a lot of customs in Cambodia around pregnancy and childbirth. the mother must be kept hot including with a hot rock on the stomach and she must drink rice wine. Both terrible customs as dehydration and alcohol are the worst things for a new mum and her baby. The whole spirit and ghost thing is very powerful and I respect it. I have lived with ghosts and poldergeists in Australia.
I used to know many Khmer superstitions when I lived with a Khmer but I forget them now. It's good to be reminded of them by Khmer posters.
I know that not so long ago in England they put coins under building foundations and a dead cat, you would know about this Jamie. Coins and cat skeletons are often found when demolishing old buildings.