The PEPY Team Journal

Happy Khmer New Year!

by Mandy Gatewood 

Sok sapbai ch'num t'mai! Happy Khmer New Year!

It's the Year of the Rat, which heralds the birth of industrious, adaptable, ambitious children for many Asian communities. In Cambodia, the royal fortune teller makes predictions about the coming year. This year, he foresaw a failed crop and food shortages for the poor, while the government officials will have a victorious year in every endeavor. Under no circumstances should anyone get married this year, so lovebirds should hold off until next April. At sunset, the Cambodian New Year Spirit came in the evening to eat four figs and give blessings to the people for a happy year.

At Wat Phnom, those who didn't go to the countryside to visit their families congregated for a festival. Kids ran around, throwing baby powder and water on one another (and on any stranger they could reach), while twentysomethings stood in a circle playing flirty games that involved pairing with strangers and switching partners. Everyone wore their new New Year's clothes, and teens circled the wat, eating numba'chuk and drinking sugar cane juice, hair shellacked into Elvis bouffants or crimped into long waves. There was live music, steamed corn, and a lot of socializing – the party of the year!

The PEPY interns scattered for the new year, heading to Singapore, Thailand, the countryside, the coast, or – as in Daniela and Maryann's case – the office, where they spent time hammering out more PEPY program plans and enjoying the traffic-free city. But we're all back safe and sound and refreshed, ready to PEPY-fy the new year!

So sok sapbai ch'num t'mai to you all, and have a happy, healthy Year of the Rat!