History of Pchum Ben and Kan Ben
Kan Ben is a ceremony that is held from the 1st day of the lunar month to dedicate the fruit of the priest to the person who dies to the afterlife. The ceremony lasts for only half a month. In the lunar month, the sky is overcast with water clouds, while the moon’s rays, which radiate at night, are getting darker and darker, making the night a little darker. It was then that the Yom Reach (King of Death) released the beasts of hell once a year to ascend to their relatives in order to receive the merits of the festival they were dedicated to.
Because the beasts of hell are afraid of the light, the locals prefer to keep them in the dark. Some say that it is time for the beasts to be released and try to find their relatives in all seven pagodas. It is celebrated for half a month in that month, it is called “Kan Ben”. The word Ben comes from the Pali word “Ben” which means “stone”.
In the inscription of King Sovarman, who reigned between AD. From 889 to 910, we know that in many of the shrines that he built, Bai Ben was sacrificed to the dead in battle and to the helpless ghosts every month.
Nowadays, Bon is a traditional rice dish that is cooked with coconut paste and mixed or mixed with other ingredients according to local customs. They prepare Bai Ben around Bai Bat Bo. Bai Bat Bo also acts like Bai Ben, just a large pot with a sharp top and covered with a cone of banana leaves and incense sticks decorated with flowers. Traditionally, on the first day of Kan Ben, only one bowl of rice is placed.
They only add one piece a day, until all 15 pieces. But there are some districts that have a different tradition, some villages, they make rice to make rice Ben only 5, which is considered a symbol of the five Buddhas in our world. In some villages, around the foot of the rice bowl, there are 8 boxes of rice, and each box contains from 1 to 15 pieces of rice. The eight bowls were set aside around the church in all eight directions.
Traditionally, rice is left at the pagoda, and Bai Ben is brought home to be used at the end of the festival. In addition to Bai Ben and Bai Bat Bo, they also make Ben flowers with a bouquet of flowers shaped like a pyramid. Phka Ben has a central bone made of bamboo, about 1 m high. There are round wooden wheels in a large shape under the small slender up. In the rows of bicycles, there are flower buds made of copper and colored paper, and the ends of the flags are made of wire. The flower frame has a small wooden figure on the back of the swan with a candle. In some pagodas, the goddesses change the candle every night. They make flowers to dedicate to the Cholamani Stupa at the Trinity, the place where the head of the Buddha was cut when he went out to build the temple. .
From the full moon day of the lunar month, the grandmothers and grandmothers come to the meeting at the pagoda hall, where they are already preparing for the festival to listen to the monks pray and give sermons. At the end of the sermon, they returned to their respective homes until the next day, then got up at night from the town at the pagoda. Other pagodas. When they heard the pagoda drum signal, they hurried to bring Bai Ben, Bai Pat Bo and other food to the pagoda.
When they arrived, they walked around the temple for three rounds and then went in to listen to the monks. There are two dharmas that the monks recited at that time, one for dedicating offerings to ghosts, and the other for urging the sun to rise early. Take back both Bai Ben. When it was almost noon, they brought the food to the monks again. They do this for up to 15 days. This is the 15th day, which is the most important day.
Ceremony at the Royal Palace:
At the Royal Palace, the Khmer kings have always performed the royal merit of Kan Ben since the 11th of Roach.
At this time, we would like to briefly present the Royal Ceremony, because apart from the glory in organizing the ceremony, there is not much different tradition about the people’s tradition. Traditionally, the king made a lot of flowers in other places because they replace our usual rice bowls.
The flowers used in the royal ceremony are also large, with a sharp bottom, but in between the carvings there is a shiny carved figure attached to the cane, because at the bottom there is a crocodile and a dragon flag made of copper. Graph. The royal ceremony is always held in Preah Deva Vinich, on one table, a Buddha image, which was married last year, is placed, and on the last day of the festival, a new Buddha image is to be married.
On the 11th day of Roch, which is the beginning day of the monk Chamroeun Preah Parit festival in Preah Tina Tevavinich. Tomorrow is the 12th day of Roch, the monks have to go from 4 am to pray until 10 o’clock, then the group of monks prepares food for the monks, the curry prepares food for the monks. In the afternoon of the same day, it is the turn of the other monks to perform their duties as on the first day, as we have already mentioned. The kings, especially the five kings who died last, were King Duong, King Norodom, King Sisowath, King Monivong, and King Suramarit.
On the 14th of Roch Preah Karuna, the royal family came out as the king with all the princes and officials.
Then the summoning of the monks is a consideration of the futility of humanity and a good deed for the souls of the dead to be liberated from suffering. While the monks were reciting, they took a piece of raw yarn, gave it to each monk, and placed one end of the abdomen in a magic water bottle. Which is placed in front of the chief monk and the other end is placed around the crematorium. The abdomen remains a symbol of the transmission of religious power from the living to the dead.
After that, His Majesty took a bouquet of flowers and presented it to the statue. Next, the Barku group went to bless the statue, the director of the Royal Palace team, and the royal merit to the statue to wish him happiness in the afterlife.
At 9 pm, His Majesty came to meet with the royal family, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren again to hold the “Ben Meeting” ceremony. On that occasion, the four warring kings of Preah Khan were also invited to attend the ceremony.
Ancient times, but when the kingdom was growing, he appointed a royal family as a warrior king to rule the area near the border. At that time, there were only four warring kings in the four directions of the kingdom. He gave one crown, one khan, and one seal to each of the warring kings.
But the crown and seal are gone, leaving only Preah Khan, a group of Baku at Wat Baray in Kampong Thom province, still preserved to this day. The four khans have the same shape, on the face of the khan are magic carvings, and on the poles are four kinds of animal carvings. These four animals are likely to represent that rectangle. Because in the past, the four warlords had to go to the capital to worship the spirits of their ancestors, so the four warriors, who were the representatives of the warlords, had to be kept in the royal ceremony for the royal merit.
In addition, there are two tables in front of the statue. A table made of pure gold is an offering to the Father for the body of the King. The other table contains all the silverware as offerings to the Father for the souls of the royal family. Next to the table was another small table with a glass of coconut water.
And it came to pass, when he was come into the city, that he lighted a candle, and laid it in the midst of the statue. Nine baroks prayed for victory, poured zinc water on the palms of the hands of the king, and offered zinc, and then offered a young leaf, which the king received on his left hand for glory.
After that, the director of the Royal Department of Prayers prayed for the Father to support the King and the people, large and small, rich and poor, who live in the whole Kingdom of Cambodia, regardless of race, may all be prosperous. .
At the end of the prayer, His Majesty went to worship the idol, and then he poured out the heart. After that, all the nobles and officials also came in four at a time, as before.
After that, the Queen went to pour coconut water alone, and then the group of queens, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and the wives of all the officials poured coconut water four times in a row.
After the ceremony of pouring coconut water, they invited the monks to talk about the history of Buddhism and then married a Buddha image that same night. In the pagodas of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the same ceremony is held, which we will preach in the future.
However, please note that the ceremony of pouring coconut water and the wedding ceremony of the Buddha is always held at the Royal Palace 24 hours before the tradition of the people in the kingdom.
The monks chant the Buddha’s wedding against the light. When it was light, the agents took a small wooden container that looked like a dock and carried it to the port, where they transferred it to a banana raft. They took a boat and dragged it to the middle of four rivers before releasing the raft to float along the river and send the spirit of the Father back to the country.
When they return, the agents prepare for the birth and provide the priest with food. At the same time as the royal Kan Ben and Pchum Ben ceremonies, the Barku group also performs rituals to worship idols at the Royal Palace. They invited the idols to come out with the rain.
Traditions:
The most important day in the Ben season is “Prachum Ben” or “Pchum Ben”.
Before Pchum Day, the day of Pchum Thom, in every Cambodian family, they make Ansam Nomkom cake to take to Wat Aram to share with their close friends and ancestors who have passed away. At the pagoda, they clean and decorate the school hall properly, because at 14 o’clock in the evening, the monks have to recite the Dharma and preach until dawn, and they have a birth and marriage ceremony of the Buddha image, as we have already said in the Buddha. Royal Ceremony.
Legend has it that at that time the Bodhisattva was terrified of old age, disease, and death. He suffered for six years until he became very thin, but after a while he realized that what he was doing could not be successful, so he started cooking again. From then on, Preah Ang accepted the food that Socheata had made with all his heart for him.
He attained enlightenment when he was lying under a Bodhisattva tree, but before he attained enlightenment, Marathi Raja, his long-suffering enemy, had longed to divert his heart. Down about the throne. The Bodhisattva relied on Neang Kong Hing, the earth was the place of Neang Kong Hing, she wished her hair to grow out of the water, drowning when the devil failed at that time.
As for the tradition of celebrating the wedding of the Buddha image, it is a tradition reminiscent of the story of the Buddha’s history in which he defeated the Marathi king. That is why in the Buddhist ceremony, a virgin child sits, threshes rice, cooks wheat, and cooks matubayas with dong water and candles, representing Socheata. At dawn, many young people, the symbol of the devil, came to act as if he was threatening him.
In the early morning, the grandparents return to their respective homes to rest for a while before returning to the pagoda at noon.
The time has come for the villagers of Cheung Wat to bring rice bowls, rice bowls, and other delicacies made to the monks for the benefit of the ancestors who were not allowed to visit at that time. In some districts, a nun is also used to light a torch.
In the evening of the same day, the villagers gathered relatives at their respective homes to pay homage to their ancestors. They spread a mat, put a white skirt on top, and a pillow. When the time is up, an elderly person in the family, lighting a candle, invites the grandparents, relatives, and friends of the deceased to come and eat the food prepared and to greet the children and relatives.
The next day, the first day of the lunar month, they got up at night, brought a raft of banana trees loaded with food, rice, and all kinds of cakes, and floated them along the river, and said, “Let your ancestors go back to their homeland.” .
In some villages near Phnom Penh, on the same day, they also perform Tisen or offer to the village. They prepare mats, pillows, rice, water, and other offerings, such as ancestral offerings from the evening, and invite the earthly villagers to dine and ask for abundant fruit. Sometimes, after the sacrifice and the wound, the children in the basement would shout and beat the pillars of the house, saying, “Oh! The villagers of the earth have come for us to be well. ”Then they laughed happily.
Then take the raw belly to tie the hands of the owner of the house, men and women want to tie the poles, tie the horns of cattle, plows and rakes. This thread is a symbol of a strict bond between the guests and the family. The horns were smeared with oil, and the animals were apologized for not using a machete and beating the animals in the fields. Then the farmers take the bundles and plug them in one by one.
The hut was made of a piece of bamboo, and one end was cut into thin strips, and the vines were spread out so that the ends of the hive were as large as a lizard. The farmers take the basket and plug it in the northeast of the field, and then sit back and pray for a while to make the field more productive. In other places, rice is dumped in the fields to get more fruit.
Excerpted from 5000 years
