Tradition
Leak Kanseng
ល្បែងលាក់កន្សែង
Leak kanseng (ល្បែងលាក់កន្សែង, Lbaeng Leak Kanseng) is a Khmer circle game of hiding a knotted scarf behind a seated player.[1][2] It is played above all at Khmer New Year. Leak means "to hide," and the kanseng is a towel or scarf twisted into a short club.[3][4][2]
Practice
Players sit close together in a circle, facing inward with their hands on their knees. The kanseng is a krama, towel or handkerchief rolled and knotted tight, with a small tail to hold. One player walks or runs around the outside with it and tries to drop it behind someone in the ring without being noticed.[1][4][2] The seated players may not look or reach behind them while the hider circles, and breaking the rule can bring a penalty such as sitting with eyes shut.[1][2]
If the chosen player does not notice, the hider comes around again, picks up the kanseng and chases that player around the circle with it. If the player notices first, he or she grabs the kanseng and chases the hider, striking until the hider reaches the empty seat.[1][4] The new holder becomes the hider, and the game goes on until the group stops.[1][3] In some places the seated players sing and clap while the hider circles.[2][5]
Local rules differ. In one form the finder strikes the player on his or her right, and in another the finder only taps the hider on the back.[2][3] Groups range from five players to about twenty.[4][6]
History
In 1964 leak kanseng was counted among the children's games of olden times. It was played on moonlit nights in the New Year season or in rests from work, and it was said to train players to stay alert and quick.[1] At New Year it is played alongside teanh prot, bos angkunh and chol chhoung.[7]
Community
Sambo Manara, a professor at Paññāsāstra University, recalled leak kanseng and bos angkunh as the most popular New Year games of his childhood, games any villager knew and could learn easily.[6] Older people once gathered young people at sunset in the month or two before New Year to play games such as leak kanseng, a custom that has faded.[8]
The first New Year event of the Sangkranta high school group, founded in 2016, drew more than 10,000 students to games including leak kanseng.[9] For New Year 2026 the national events committee urged the public to play leak kanseng and other folk games, and it was on the program at tourist sites that April.[10][11] Khmer families in Canberra played it at their pagoda in 2024.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Khmer Customs Commission, Khmer popular games, pages 16 to 18 (Buddhist Institute, 1964; in Khmer)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 IntoCambodia.org, Leak Kon Saeng (scarf hidden game) (undated)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cambodianess, Leak Kon Saeng: a traditional Khmer New Year game (April 6, 2026)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Khmer Institute, Khmer festival games (2004) (archived December 21, 2004)
- ↑ Kiripost, Traditional games for Khmer New Year celebrations (April 5, 2024)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 VOD, Traditional games delight ahead of Khmer New Year (April 8, 2022)
- ↑ ICHCAP, Teanh prot in Cambodia: context and background (2013)
- ↑ Cambodianess, Opinion: culture lost as traditional games forgotten (April 15, 2022)
- ↑ Cambodianess, Sangkranta High School perpetuates Khmer New Year's traditions in schoolyards (April 3, 2023)
- ↑ Cambodianess, Khmer folk games urged ahead of New Year celebration (March 12, 2026)
- ↑ Agence Kampuchea Presse, Khmer traditional New Year celebrations kick off (April 14, 2026)
- ↑ Cambodianess, Finding home away from home: Cambodians in Australia rediscover cultural roots during the New Year celebrations (April 14, 2024)