Cambodian woman praying, By: Paul Stocker
Pchum Ben, which is also known as Ancestors’ day and the Khmer Festival of the death, encourages the Khmers in Cambodia to make offerings to dead ancestors, visit pagodas and light candles to guide them. Besides these rituals, observant Khmers throw seeds onto temple grounds to feed the spirits of ancestors who are hungry after a year without food. The event is quite painful for the family and descendants of the people who were killed by the Khmer Rouge. At pagodas, which house remains of this horrible time, these people pray.
