over here they have a celebration called Khmer New Year whereby it's celebrated according to the date in Khmer calendar. we had no idea though how they select the date but they said it will varies for each year. and this year, they're celebrating in on 13th to 15th April.
we would say that the festival is pretty much similar like Chinese New Year that we have in Malaysia whereby they'll be praying on the first and last day of the festival. setting up a shrine at the door house to welcome the good spirits, beside offering them with some food and other form of gift.
well, that would be the traditional way of celebrating it. modern people come idea by brightening it up with a party like what they did at RUA.
started up early at 8.00am, they have opening ceremony at the hall officiated by Dr. Ngo Bunthan. but unfortunately though, by the time we arrived they already finished with all the speech and gimick.
once we get to the hall, they're watching a musical drama performed by a group of high school kids in front of the hall entrance.
what a very classic show that they have. the story is about a very smart deer that escaped from the hunter, bad witch and demon. the show continued by a traditional dance performance by a group of young girls. wearing the classic traditional attire, they dance together with the rhythm of the music.
upon finished, Dr. Bunthan hand over some gift to them as token of appreciation and that close the opening ceremony. but the celebration is just about to start.!
everyone head over to the car park next to the rector office where they have set up a stage for anyone to karaoke, some dance floor decoration and few traditional games.
they started by playing some classic game that we thought we would never see again. they played 'lari dalam guni'.!~ what a very traditional game.! bringing back all those childhood memories. everyone tagged along including lecturers and other staff.
what a very happy moment that they're having.! once finished, they proceed with another classic game. walking from a distance while carrying an egg with spoon. they hold the spoon with their mouth and walk as fast as they can.
everyone cheering for their friend to walk faster and win the game.! what a joyful time that we had. it's still early to stop, so they continued with the another game.
someone later brought fruits and compete with their friend to see who can finish the whole plate first.
after getting tired of laughing, they 'relaxed' by dancing along the singing performance of RUA students. what an honor given to us when Dr. Bunthan announced to everyone to invited us to join them to dance.
all the student were very friendly.! we tagged along with some from VM Faculty(Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine).
just when we thought that they're about to finish, they head up to their own faculty to have their own celebration. students set up their own audio system and stage. played some dance song and playing games with each other.
its pretty much amazing to see people with serious faces that we meet every day wearing a school-alike uniform, now were laughing hard enjoying among the happiest moment of their life.
what surprised us the most is, this kind of party are being celebrated everywhere around town. they been playing the dance song with their big speaker every night in front of the house.!
its pretty nice to see the differences that they have in here. despite not having much luxuries and other things, small thing like this can brighten up their life and tighten the bond between each other.
enough with the long stories, enjoy the pictures taken around RUA during the celebration. till then, Suey Sday Chanm Thmai!(Happy New Year.!)
No comments:
Post a Comment