Throw Seeds is a traditional Khmer New Year game that’s played with the large, glossy seeds of what Cambodians call ‘Forest Tamarind’. These large seeds are called Angkunh. Angkunh seeds have the same lacquered feel as domestic Tamarind seeds but are magnitudes larger and have a flattened shape. The game is played played between two…
Tag: Holiday
ល្បែងវាយក្អម | Smash the Pot
One of the most popular traditional Khmer New Year games is – quite simply – called Smash the Pot. It involves hanging thin clay pots filled with flour (or, in the city, baby powder) and a prize of some sort (usually tamarind candy) on a rope. The aim of the game is to smash one…
Charlotte’s Typing Practice
If I lived in Antarctica… If I lived in Antarctica, I would have special slot googles that would cover my eyes. I’d have huskies to pull the sled. The huskies would have special coats. I’d live in an igloo. For food I’d go fishing in holes in the ice. Everything I know about lizards Lizards…
Christmas in Cambodia 2021 & 2022
I just realized that we never shared photos from Christmas 2021. I was wondering why until I looked back on the photos and saw my face – then I remembered, that’s right I had Chikungunya. So here are some photos from then, better late than never! I haven’t been immune to health issues this holiday…
Preparing to host another International Thanksgiving
I learned a decade ago that in order for me to enjoy any part of guests coming to dinner, I needed to prep. This is more true of holiday meals than any other event. There is always a bit more to do the day of and to be present with people, I need to have…
Pchum Ben
Pchum Ben is the second most significant public holiday in Cambodia after Khmer New Year. The pronunciation of Ben here is somewhere between the name ‘Ben’ and the word ‘Bun’, phonetically ‘Bĕn’ is most accurate. Pchum means ‘to come together’ and Ben means ‘ball of food’, usually a rice or meat ball used as a…
Khmer New Year 2022
To paraphrase the artist formerly known as Prince, “So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 2,565.” That’s right. This week is Khmer New Year, celebrating the start of the 2,566th year of the Buddhist Era. In Thailand, the official calendar is BE and you might be surprised to see your phone automatically shift from 2019…
Christmas 2020 preparations
It doesn’t feel like it but Christmas 2020 is just next week! Since Thanksgiving, the girls have enjoyed decorating the house, making holiday crafts, and baking cookies. And, of course, lots and lots of dress up! In November and early December there were two new outbreaks of COVID-19 in Cambodia. So things have been locked…
Thanksgiving 2020
We celebrated Thanksgiving on the Saturday after Black Friday this year. It was a small gathering of MCC Cambodia expatriates. This included our services workers – Rory, Marcia, and Clivia – as well as our SALTers – Isabelle and Andy. We also invited Max Ediger a long time MCC alumni now living in Phnom Penh…
Sick, again, over Pchum Ben
Pchum Benh is a long series of ceremonies honoring the dead. The week long holiday is actually the conclusion of these ceremonies when most Cambodians travel back to their ancestral homelands and perform ceremonies to honor their ancestors. I’ll write a more detailed post on this another time but in Phnom Penh it is the…