Bon Om Touk

The following day, as promised Somoeurth messaged me to let me know the blessing for the canoe had moved forward to the moment I got the message.

"Celebrate prayers now...Enkosa Pagoda"

and apologised for the short notice.

"Sorry because head of the Monk he is busy, he going to Angkor Tom that make busy."

Luckily, I'd prepared my small array of recording equipment the night before, and only need sling my shoulder back over my head and jump on my dirt bike to zip through the bumpy earthen back streets to the temple. The blessing was being attended by the crew, monks, sponsors (police), other dignitaries and local onlookers.

The canoe took centre stage,

where there were several speeches,

after which the prayers began,

followed by traditional dance and dowsing of holy water, before all stood for a final salute and prayer beside the canoe.

Somoeurth seemed pleased with the proceedings and let me know all would be well since the canoe had received such high blessings of protection. He informed me that the canoe would be brought to the river the following day.

"I'll be there"

I said as I waived him goodbye.

I arrived early at the temple the next day to be sure to catch the crew placing the canoe into the river. I found that candles had been set on the seats of the canoe, apparently part of the temple's blessing and protection services carried throughout the night.

I made a personal note to self,

"I mustn't miss any further important activities like that again",

and turned to the chaps hanging around in the garden chatting over the official passes for their crew.

It's at moments like these when I wish I could listen in on the conversation, perhaps they were debating on the strategies of the competition or maybe just what else needed to be done next. I'll never know, yet they did accept me into their circle as their enthusiastic but silent "barang" photographer.

There was not much time to wait before the crew arrived in all their kit and were soon transporting all 22 meters of the touk ngor canoe out of the temple,

and minutes later lowering it from the roadside down the banks into the Siem Reap river.

Not long after we got to see the team in action as Somoeurth and I waited at the VIP pavilion for their arrival.

The crew had expended a great amount of energy, but they knew they could do better and elected to switch some of the squad in hope of a superior lap time. Somoeurth consulted with the squad on their intentions minutes after their first run.

All in all, Somoeurth and the crew seemed to be happy with their efforts for the day and were in high spirits on their return to the temple. Some last-minute touches were made to the paintwork before setting the canoe to rest for the night.

Later that night I returned to the temple to witness some team accounts being drawn up under a parasol at candle light. The parasol represents status and power of the team, whilst the candles form part of the protective blessing bestowed on the canoe.

Somoeurth explained, to Khalla and I, the various aspects of the Bon Om Touk festival and why it has such cultural importance. "Bon Om Touk" is actually just one event that is part of a greater festival which has a much longer title, called:

"ព្រះរាជពិធី បុណ្យអុំទូកបណ្ដែតប្រទីប អកអំបុក និង សំពះព្រះខែ"

"Preah Reach Piti Bon Om Touk, Bondet Bratip, Ak Ambok ning Sampeah Preah Khae"

The translation of which means; Royal water boat festival, floating offerings, beaten rice and salute to the moon. During the 3 days of the festival, all these different parts are included in the celebration.

Royal Boat Race (Preah Reach Piti Bon Om Touk)

The Bon Om Touk boat races themselves are considered to represent the achievements of great naval battles won by Khmer kings;

1. 1182 CE Jayavarman VII and his victory over the invading Champa.
2. 1528 CE An Chan I for his conquest over a province of Vietnam.

The "dragon" style canoes used in the races are the same structure and crew formation that might have been used in the time of a battle.

Illuminated Floating Food Offering (Bondet Bratip)

Bondet Bratip are the candle lit boats with food seen floating on the water at night during the festival. After An Chan I conquered the Dai Viet, he made an offering to Preah Mae Kongkea every year with a procession of floating candle lit boats containing food offerings. Today the festival also sees royal boats lit in prayers to Preah Mae Kongkea in Phnom Penh, but the same tradition is performed in other cities such as Batambang and Siem Reap where the public send small candle lit boats with food to float on the water as offerings to the god Preah Mae Kongkea for peace.

Beaten Rice (Ak Ambok)

Ak Ambok is a traditional food eaten over the festival period and is important enough that its name appears in the name of the festival. The ak ambok recipe is simply toasted unhusked rice that is then beaten until the rice is completely flat until each grain could be mistaken for an oblong fish scale. The rice flakes are then placed in a bowl in which banana, coconut or other fruit can be dipped into the flakes. The flakes stick to the fruit which are then consumed. The flakes add a crunchy but also chewy texture to the experience of eating the fruit.

Salute To The Moon (Sampeah Preah Khae)

Sampeah Preah Khae is an important Buddhist prayer during the festival that coincides with a full moon in the Khmer calendar. Somoeurth's abbot explained the legend to us:

"The Buddha, once in the form of a rabbit called Pouthesat, would offer his life to someone who wanted to become a Buddha. The god Preah Ean learnt of this and wishing to benefit from the charitable offer, disguised himself as an old man and went to visit Pouthesat. The rabbit Buddha offered his body as food to the old man and jumped into a fire to be cooked, but just before this selfless act he made a wish that he could later be united with the moon after his death."

and

"Today the shape of a rabbit can be seen in the moon and so an important prayer is made to Pouthesat, the rabbit form of Buddha. That is why our prayers are important during this festival, to thank Buddha for his sacrifice"

On the first day of the festival, the squads of touk ngor canoes all met at the river pavilion to listen to messages from the state governor and other notables for the festival's inauguration. The oarsmen would quietly chat to their fellow competitors as they waited patiently for the speakers to finish.

Following the speeches, the teams paddled up river in preparation for the first races. Meanwhile the spectators were treated to some further cultural representations of their traditional round woven coracle fishing boats.

Though women were not the traditional oarsmen in these dragon boats designed for battle, they have taken up the sport in great numbers. It seemed as if there were as many women competing as men.

At the pavilion there were many monks enthusiastic about the teams in the races and certainly seemed to enjoy the proceedings.

Somoeurth was at the pavilion with his fellow monks, but was required to make many visits to the squad and other participants to make sure everyone had everything they needed. In passing he would often update me on the successes of the team. By the end of the day his squad had won all 4 of their races. I managed to find the squad during a break to find they were in high spirits and were looking very confident of their chances to win the regatta.

The second day Khalla and I met the team before they set off and managed to get a short video interview with Heng, the head oarsman. He was 99.5% confident his team would win. He had good reason to believe in his team who had won all their races in this canoe in recent memory.

We took note of other teams competing, the extreme effort expended in the first moments at the start line,

and how they needed to be careful to negotiate the low hanging bridge arches.

That afternoon we saw each team's attention to the religious details, with offerings at the head of the canoe,

and how pensive team members were as they waited at the river banks before they were called up.

As the day wore on, we could see all the excitement had taken its toll on some of the younger spectators,

and as we waited at the finish line, we gleaned how exhausted teams had become after two solid days of intense paddling,

but perhaps the most anguish could be seen on the face of Heng as they lost their final race to the winners of the festival.

The "Bayon" temple and library built by Jayavarman VII, is a popular tourist destination.

It can be difficult to view or photograph the iconography for the swathes of tourists that move through the site almost contstantly. However, very few people can brave against the furnace of heat around midday, so that was the best time for me to visit. The most famous story told across these walls is that of a naval battle on Tonle Sap lake.

There is some contention on which specific battle the images refer to, but I'm going with the camp of scholars that attribute it to the Khmer victory over the Cham in the year 1182. There are some wonderful details on the south east outer wall. There are the canoes and warriors aboard brandishing their weapons and armour of course,

but below deck there are some fallen heroes or foes that fall victim to the jaws of readily waiting crocodiles.

These bas-relief and other representations around the inner wall are also a rare glimpse into everyday Angkorian life, as we see various scenes of daily activities of commoners. Of particular note are the scenes of monks healing people hospitals,

of which Jayavarman built 102 as part of a gamut of initiatives to serve his desire to "alleviate the suffering of his people", but also to further his deeds of compassion that were required of Buddhist wishing to fast track their way to enlightenment.

There is a veritable treasure trove of fragment legends waiting to be assembled at the Bayon temple. Whilst many pass these piles of unordered stone jumble without a second thought, I stand and stare in wonder of what they will revealed next.

Further reading around the subject of Jayavarman's life brought to light a number of contested theories on how he came to power, what drove him to rule so successfully and in such a different way to his predecessors. I formed a preferred theory of my own.

In the 12th century the Khmer empire, though very successful, had suffered much feudal turmoil and repeated invasions from the neighbouring Cham people. Jayavarman, a Khmer prince, now in his fifties, had been living with the Cham to the east for some time. Through his royal espionage, he had gleaned much about Cham military tactics and naval prowess. It is also significant that Jayavarman was strongly influenced by his wife, Jayarajadevi, and her elder sister, Indradevi, in the ways of Mahayana Buddhism. Jayavarman broke away from centuries old Hindu tradition, as he became inspired by and devoted his life to merited Mahayana deeds of compassion. Adopting this new religion would later help Jayavarman bring his people together to fight against a common Hindu foe. Jayavarman returned to Angkor at a time when the Khmer throne was at risk of falling under permanent control of the Cham people. But finally, after a few years planning, in 1182, an opportunity presented him with a chance to unite the Khmer empire under Mahayana Buddhism against the Cham. With his intimate knowledge of Cham military and naval tactics, Jayavarman planned a strategy to confront the enemy on the lake of Tonle Sap with his own canoe flotilla. Once his flotilla had been constructed, armed and fully blessed, he was ready for a successful outcome over the Cham. Now, with the gods on their side and knowledge of many Cham military secrets, the navy fought to save the Khmer empire. With a resounding defeat of the Cham, the prince, now in his 60s, proclaimed himself Jayavarman VII, king of the entire Khmer empire. Following the Mahayana Buddhist virtue of compassion, Jayavarman set his sights upon creating an earthly paradise alleviating the suffering of his people. With great haste, Jayavarman not only built multiple temples, but also a network of raised highways with rest houses erected every 15km, connecting all corners of his kingdom, along with over 100 hospitals managed by his ever-growing force of Buddhist monks. Jayavarman's empathy had woken his subjects to the way of Mahayana Buddhism, breaking away from the cycle of feuds, helping to expand the Khmer empire's influence further than ever before or after his long and prosperous reign. When he died in his mid-90's the Khmer empire had grown to its largest extent and strengthened its culture to withstand centuries of erosion.

Each touk ngor canoe is carved from the korki, a very special hardwood tree. In Jayavarman VII's time, he would have requested his retinue of Buddhist monks, to select the optimum holy days to commission the cutting and construction of these vessels. With so much riding on the battle on lake Tonle Sap the monks would have given daily blessings for the canoes, the warriors and the aspiration of the entire Khmer empire's survival.

Over 800 years later, the monks are still performing this service. Only the monks are permitted to commission the cutting of korki trees for the sole purpose of constructing touk ngor canoes. The monks then become caretakers, storing the canoes under the protection of their holy temples, continually blessing the canoes and their squads. During events such as Bon Om Touk, the monks will make blessings for all activities surrounding the canoes for which they are responsible. The monks believe that if prayers are not made at the correct moments and places for the canoes and squad, efforts can result in failure.

Whilst there is over 800 years of tradition in the monks' charge of these canoes, there is something at odds with my understanding of Buddhist sentiment and competitive sport. Today there is a lot of money involved with Bon Om Touk and the monks derive funding from various sponsors, to aid in their endeavours of to winning a sporting event. Even if the monks themselves somehow separate the competitive aspect from the cultural and religious ones, their sponsors are probably more materialistic in their goals as there is a lot of betting that takes place.