Tradition

Boat racing at Bon Om Touk

ប្រណាំងទូក

Boat racing at Bon Om Touk (ប្រណាំងទូក) is the race of long Khmer pagoda boats at the Water Festival in Phnom Penh.[1] Village crews race the same boats at home from Pchum Ben to the end of Buddhist Lent, and boats that win there go on to the royal races of Bon Om Touk.[2]

The boats

A racing boat, the tuk ngo, belongs to a pagoda and is the shared property of its village. It is named after the pagoda, its neak ta or its guardian power.[2] Many boats carry women's names, such as Srey Khmao or Srey Keo, because the spirit that guards the boat is thought of as female.[2] The boat is kept in a shed beside the vihara, traditionally to its northeast with the bow facing east, and offerings are brought to it on precept days and festival days.[2] When a boat grows old or breaks, its hull or pieces of it are kept in the shrine of the neak ta.[2]

People treat racing boats as spirits, embodied by a female spirit called a preay. Some boats are given hair or eyes as well as a name.[3][2] Pregnant women are told to keep away from the boat and its shed, for fear of miscarriage or the mother's death.[2][3]

Village races

Each year, from Pchum Ben until the day Buddhist Lent ends, villagers put their boat in the water to race the boats of other pagodas.[2] Before the season they repair the boat and hold a launching rite, in the morning or the evening, with offerings of rice, bananas, alcohol, a pig's head, boiled chicken and sweets, and with music. Sometimes the boat's eyes are fitted at the rite, and monks sprinkle blessed water to ask for the well-being of the crew and the village.[2]

In the old custom, crews raced for three days during Pchum Ben and met again for a final race, the phdach prot, on the day Lent ends.[2] While racing, the crew must not use coarse words or urinate on the boat. A flag showing Hanuman or a prasat (temple tower) flies at the stern, and one crew member calls out for victory.[2] A dancer at the bow keeps the rowers in time; in some boats a senior man instead moves his oar in a set pattern while chanting.[3]

Ang Choulean, an ethnologist at the national authority that manages Angkor, says villagers long raced their everyday fishing boats at the end of Lent, when the monks, many of them villagers' sons, came out of their three-month retreat. They called it bon chenh vassa, not a water festival.[3] The village races are also a way to choose a winning boat to send to the royal races. Today many follow the Phnom Penh format, with numbered boats, paired heats and set distances, but without the closing ribbon.[2]

The royal races

The royal races were created under King Norodom (reigned 1860 to 1904), after he moved the capital from Udong to Phnom Penh. Ang Choulean suggests that the king combined the end-of-Lent races with ok ambok, which falls a month later. The four rivers that meet at Phnom Penh, the Tonle Sap River's yearly change of flow and the Royal Palace all played a part in placing the festival there.[3] In the past the palace Brahmans, the Bakou, cut a ribbon from a boat in mid-river on the last day to mark the water's return to the sea.[3]

The festival grew under the Sangkum Reastr Niyum (1953 to 1970), when boats held a little more than 30 rowers.[3] Some people link the races to the naval battles carved in Angkor-era bas-reliefs. Ang Choulean says that as a researcher he does not believe the link, though he does not argue with those who do.[3]

The festival falls in the lunar month of Kattik, so its date changes from year to year. In 2023, when it returned after three years, it was set for November 26 to 28, with about 300 boats entered for the races in front of the Royal Palace. Some boats are more than 30 meters long, and the largest carry nearly 80 rowers. Each boat races two legs a day over 1,700 meters. On the third day the King presents the awards, and an official representing him cuts a ribbon tied between two boats in mid-river to close the festival. Siem Reap holds races on the Siem Reap River at the same time.[1]

Khmer races abroad

Khmer communities in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam race ngo boats at the Ok Om Bok festival, under the full moon of the 10th lunar month. The boats are sacred property of a pagoda and its village, about 30 meters long, with 55 to 60 rowers.[4][5] Sóc Trăng province's 2023 race on the Maspero River drew 40 men's teams and six women's teams from Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu, Cà Mau and Cần Thơ.[5]

In the United States, the Southeast Asian Water Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts, was first held on August 23, 1997, and drew about 10,000 people. It is believed to be the first water festival of its kind outside Asia. It is held on the third Saturday of August, with a boat race on the Merrimack River.[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cambodianess, Boat races, floating lanterns, boxing: what to expect from the Water Festival (November 24, 2023)
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 AMS Khmer Civilization, Hieng Sovannmorokat, Racing boats and local customs, part 2 (November 1, 2022; in Khmer)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Cambodianess, The origin of the Water Festival (November 26, 2023)
  4. ↑ VOV World, Ngo boat race of the Khmer (November 2, 2020)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Viet Nam News, Sóc Trăng hosts Ngo race to celebrate Ok Om Bok festival (November 22, 2023)
  6. ↑ UMass Lowell Library, Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival, Inc. collection, 1997 to 2014 (undated)
Retrieved from "https://khmerconnection.com/w/index.php?title=Boat_racing_at_Bon_Om_Touk&oldid=12733"
This page was last edited on 8 October 2026, at 13:21.