Bonn Phchum Ben

This annual festival honours the Buddha's exhortation to remember the dead. During the 15 days, offerings are presented to Buddhist monks, mostly of food but sometimes clothes are given.

On the final day of the festival, which is always the Full Moon, every family makes their way to a temple to make offerings to the deceased. It is especially important to give offerings to the deceased a year after a person has died, and the festival is similar in this respect to the Japanese festival of Obon. In both festivals, the Buddha's exhortation to honour the dead and present them with offerings is observed. To ignore these familial duties to the dead has disastrous consequences, for if the spirit does not receive the obligatory offerings, then it will be cursed, and in retaliation will plague those still living, bringing them bad luck.

The Silver Pagoda of Phnom Penh is built in Italian marble with 5000 inlaid silver tiles. It is also famous for the 300 year old Emerald Buddha statue and the even more spectacular golden Buddha which live inside. The golden Buddha is encrusted with nearly 10,000 diamonds. Even the Khmer Rouge didn't dare to tamper with this awesome temple, so on festival days it would definitely be worth a look.

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