Cambodian villagers organize traditional ox-cart racing to celebrate Khmer New Year
Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-07
KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian villagers on Sunday organized a traditional ox-cart racing here to celebrate the Khmer New Year, which will start from April 14 to 16.

Sem Sam Ol, head of cultural development office of the Kampong Speu Provincial Department of Culture and Fine Arts, said 26 pairs of oxen took part in the 2-km race, which was held at rice fields in Kraing Svay village in Samrong Tong district, about 35 km southwest of Phnom Penh.

He said the annual race, attracting hundreds of local spectators, was aimed to preserve the old-age tradition, and to mark the end of rice harvesting season and the start of Khmer New Year.

"According to the history, the tradition of ox-cart racing has existed here for a long time, since our ancestors," he told Xinhua.

Ox-cart racer Snguon Chhim, 52, said his participation was to contribute to preserving Cambodia's ancient tradition and to creating a happy atmosphere for locals ahead of the New Year.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-0 ... 957816.htm

2 traditions that appear in the papers after Khmer new year evry year are:
lets knock the geezers off their bikes and take pictures for facebook
and
hack the wife because she took too long fetching beer/food for your mates

Kampot gets wet. 14 April 2019.



Photos Huy Bunleng Facebook

Kampong Speu To Host Ox Cart Racing this Weekend
AKP Phnom Penh, March 31, 2023 --

Kampong Speu will organise its annual ox cart racing on April 2 to cheer the in-coming Khmer New Year. The traditional event will be organised in Roka Thom commune, Chbar Mon city of Kampong Speu province.

Kampong Speu Provincial Department of Culture and Fine Arts will lead the organisation of the event in cooperation with the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia (UYFC) for Kampong Speu province.


This year marks the eight of the ox cart racing, and the event is expected to showcase local tradition, especially after the harvest season and before the celebration of the Khmer New Year.
By Phal Sophanith
AKP

Sangkranta High School Perpetuates Khmer New Year’s Traditions in Schoolyards
By Te Chhaysinh April 3, 2023 3:20 PM

PHNOM PENH – As Khmer New Year is approaching, celebrations and games begin to flourish across Cambodia. To keep bringing traditional festivities to the courtyards and bring together students from different schools and backgrounds, a group of young Cambodians started to organize special events in some of Phnom Penh’s high schools.

Their group, called Sangkranta, was founded in 2016 by 11 students of HE Champuvoin High School, in Chom Chao district. They wanted to foster unity among high school students, promote Khmer culture, and guide juniors' event management skills.

Their first Sangkran attracted more than 10,000 students from different schools, coming to play traditional games, such as Leak Kon Saeng (the hidden scarf game) or Sdech Jang (the king game), and share a piece of Khmer culture together.

Based on such a success, the Sangkranta High School team decided to continue organizing festivals in the following years and started to set up bigger events, not only at HE Champuvoin High School but also at other facilities in town.
https://cambodianess.com/article/sangkr ... choolyards

PHNOM PENH CELEBRATIONS 2023

Happy New Year !
Cambodia News, Phnom Penh: As of April 12, 2023, the Khmer New Year will be celebrated under the guidance of Mr. Khuong Sreng, the Governor of Phnom Penh, who has decorated some important places in Phnom Penh, especially at Wat Phnom and on Norodom Blvd.





Phnom Penh Capital City Administration calls on people and tourists from all walks of life to come and enjoy the Wat Phnom celebrations for the New Year 2023, held at the cultural resort of Wat Phnom for 3 days from April 14-16, 2023, from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM each day. Large numbers of visitors are expected and everyone is welcome.
Photos from Rasmeikampuchea

“Troddi”, a Folk Dance on New Year Day
AKP Phnom Penh, April 13, 2023 --
“Troddi” (Troddi) is one of the much-liked Khmer folk dances performed most often on the occasion of Cambodia’s traditional New Year “Chaul Chhnam Thmei” to drive out all bad lucks in the old year and wish for the good in the new year, and on some big festivals.

It also used to be performed at praising-for-rain rite when long spells of drought struck a locality.

Actually, nobody knows when and where ‘Troddi” first appeared in Cambodia. According to one hypothesis it might be linked to people’s belief that if a wild animal got in the village, it would take from them good lucks, so they gathered, sprayed some kinds of fragrance and spread pigments on the animal asking it to give them back good lucks. Maybe in this process “Troddi” dance was created with performers, representing different animals such as red deer, bull, peacock, who would appear before the villagers for being sprayed with fragrance and painted with pigments. In so doing, the people believed that if a real animal comes, no harm will be done to them. From then on, the dance was performed every year.


Yet, according to some documents, the “Troddi” dance took origin in ‘Samre’ national – an ethnic group – living together with the Khmers on the old land of “Sovannaphum” (golden land) when it was not influenced by Indian civilisation (from the 1st century).

Then, the dance has become a heritage of the Cambodian people, worthy of note is that now a small number of ‘Samre’ people are still living in the northern part of Tonle Sap Lake.

In the former time, the “Troddi” dance was brought to perform on every New Year occasion before the kings and royal families to wish them the Happy New Year. This also explains why “Troddi” is still very popular particularly in Siem Reap province and the vicinity of the former capital city of “Angkor Wat” which was built from the 9th to the 13th century.


The number of dancers varies according to the people’s wish, but usually about 16, including four main dancers, two female and two male, one as a stag which represents evil forces, a ‘Dangdol’ (a person who carries some kind of musical instrument), four ‘Kanhche’ (person who clowns here and there), two giants, two monsters, two drummers, a hunter and some others.
- AKP

General View at Pagodas in Phnom Penh on First Day of Khmer New Year
AKP Phnom Penh, April 14, 2023—





- AKP Photos: Kul Renny & Sous Savy

Some random photos of New Year celebrations in Kampot, Kep and Sihanoukville taken from social media:
Happy New Year!