Cambodians perform traditional ceremonies to obtain health and luck

Siem Reap/Cambodia – Beliefs from the past are still influential as Cambodians perform traditional rituals within religious ceremonies in rural areas seeking luck.

Raising the zodiac and the age is a ceremony that Khmer people celebrate when a person feels that s/he is having a bad zodiac sign, they always find an abbot and invite monks to perform a zodiac ceremony to prolong their life. 

Through religious therapies, some patients have a better life and some do not. 

Priest Mourn Sameth believes that this ritual and monks’ prayer can increase life and protect a person, whereas, Priest Moy Mai said that rituals cannot replace the health sector in providing the necessary care, so the traditional ceremony is only for emotional motivation. 

“After I Predicted for her, I realize that she had three big bad things, so we had to prepare some stuff according to the Khmer tradition for offering to the bad spirit that followed her. And we also have to make three images of that spirit and put them in that stuff.,” said Mai.

The ceremony also showed solidarity between the neighbors and the host, most of which takes place only in rural areas.

People believe that such ceremonies could enhance their lives and cure their diseases along with medical consultation.

“In my observation, after the end of the ceremony with the support of the neighbors, the children of the patients through solidarity, the patients seem to be more relieved before this celebrate happened. The patient was happy and stronger, the disease disappeared and he continued to live,” said Sameth.

 “According to the Khmer religion, the most vulnerable people are between 1 to 75 years old. People in this age group can be killed by past sins,” he added.