Tradition

Meak Bochea

មាឃបូជា

Meak Bochea (មាឃបូជា, Meak Bochea) is the Buddhist festival of the full moon of Meak, the third Khmer lunar month.[1][2] It recalls the day 1,250 disciples gathered, unsummoned, to hear the Buddha teach, and it usually falls in late February or early March.[3][4]

Names

The name comes from the Thai Magha Puja. Meak is the third lunar month, and Bochea means to venerate or honor.[1][5] The festival is a day for honoring the Buddha and his teaching on that full moon.[1] Elsewhere it is known as Māgha Pūjā or Makha Bucha Day, and also as Saṅgha Day, after the Buddhist community.[3][6]

The story

Buddhist tradition places the gathering at the Veḷuvana bamboo grove near Rājagaha, in what is now Bihar, India, some ten months after the Buddha's enlightenment.[7][8] It is called the Fourfold Assembly after four marks of the meeting. The 1,250 disciples came without being summoned; all were arahants, enlightened disciples; all had been ordained by the Buddha himself; and they met on the full moon of the third lunar month.[3][1]

To this assembly the Buddha gave a summary of his teaching in three principles: stop doing evil, do good, and cleanse the mind.[2][1] In Cambodia the festival is remembered as the day of his last sermon.[1] Tradition also holds that on this day he foretold his own passing, his parinibbāna, three months later.[3][1] Cambodians mark that later day, on which he is believed to have been born, gained enlightenment and died, as Visak Bochea.[1][9]

Practice

In Buddhism the full moon is a holy day, a time for repentance and for making merit.[1] On Meak Bochea, Khmer people go to their local temples and pagodas to make merit and to purify the mind. They give alms, food, flowers and other necessities to the monks, listen to the teachings, meditate and chant.[1][4][2] Devotees keep the Buddhist precepts, among them refraining from alcohol, killing, stealing and lying.[1][3] In the countryside, families prepare offerings together, decorate the local pagoda and invite monks to bless their houses.[10]

Temples and pagodas are decorated, and incense is burned.[4] In the evening the temples fill with people listening to the monks' sermons.[5] Monks and nuns in orange and white robes lead a procession, and worshippers carry candles, incense and lotus flowers three times clockwise around the temple. The first round honors the Buddha, the second the Dharma, his teaching, and the third the Sangha, the monastic community.[1][5] Offering light to the Buddha, called Bochea Broteab, is an important part of the evening. Candles are set before the Buddha images and along stairs and paths, and lotus flowers are placed in the Buddha's hands.[11] Some celebrations end with lanterns released into the night sky.[9]

Pagoda celebrations of Meak Bochea have no dances or concerts; the day is kept as a purely religious occasion.[6] At Kampong Thmor Pagoda in Santuk District, Kampong Thom Province, candles are lit from the gate to the inner compound in the evening, followed by a night of prayer, worship and Dharma teaching.[6]

Places

The government holds a Meak Bochea festival at Preah Sakyamoni Chedi on Phnom Preah Reach Trop, commonly called Oudong Mountain, in Ponhea Leu District, Kandal Province. Members of the Senate and National Assembly, government officials, scholars, students and other devotees gather there to make merit.[6] Visit Angkor calls it the largest and most important Meak Bochea ceremony in Cambodia, where hundreds of monks and officials perform the rites.[1] Oudong, a former capital, lies about 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Phnom Penh. Its hill is 110 meters (361 feet) high and has been a holy place since the seventh century.[1] A stupa on the hilltop holds relics of the Buddha, variously said to be ash, an eyebrow hair, fragments of teeth or bones.[1][9] Alms are offered on the hill during the festival, and lanterns are released there at night.[2][9]

In Siem Reap, two large processions begin at about 3 p.m., one around Angkor Wat and one around Wat Damnak, with 1,250 monks walking to recall the Buddha's last sermon.[1] On February 12, 2025, the main Siem Reap ceremonies were held at Wat Damnak and Wat Bo.[11] Pagodas across the country hold their own ceremonies.[6][12]

History

In Thailand it became a holy day only in the nineteenth century, through the reforms of King Rama IV (reigned 1851 to 1868).[7]

Under the Khmer Rouge, Buddhist practice in Cambodia was severely suppressed, and many sacred texts and traditions were nearly lost.[11] The government removed Meak Bochea from the list of national public holidays in 2020.[12][1] The observance continues for its cultural and spiritual meaning.[6] Kong Sam Ol, chairman of the National Committee for Organizing National and International Festivals, instructed ministries, institutions and local administrations to keep the day in solemn Buddhist tradition.[6] In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival went ahead as usual, and the government asked those attending to take precautions.[9]

Dates

The date moves with the full moon.[1] Recent dates were January 31, 2018; February 19, 2019; February 16, 2022; and February 5, 2023.[5][1]

Community

Meak Bochea is kept by Cambodian Buddhists: lay devotees, monks and nuns, who reflect on their conduct and make merit.[6] In 2019 the Ministry of Cults and Religion urged young Cambodians to engage fully with their cultural heritage on the day.[13] The festival is also observed in neighboring Theravāda Buddhist countries, where it is called Magha Puja, and its date differs among them.[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 Visit Angkor, Meak Bochea: memorial day to the last speech of Buddha (February 5, 2023)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Wikipedia, Magha Puja
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Wikipedia, Māgha Pūjā
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Tourism Cambodia, Meak Bocha (November 29, 2023)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Siem Reap Shuttle Tours, Meak Bochea Day (August 17, 2020)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Phnom Penh Post, Meak Bochea urges mindful actions (February 22, 2024)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Buddhistdoor Global, BD Dipananda, The Magha Puja Festival: A Time to Make Merit for Southeast Asian Buddhists (March 27, 2015)
  8. ↑ Nalanda Buddhist Society Malaysia, Māgha Pūja Day (March 6, 2023)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Honorary Consulate of the Kingdom of Cambodia in Osaka, What's on in Cambodia (January 28, 2021)
  10. ↑ Le Petit Journal Cambodge, Pascal Médeville, Māgha Pūjā au Cambodge : une journée d'unité et de réflexion bouddhistes (in French, February 4, 2026)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Angkor Photography Tours, Meak Bochea: celebrating Buddha's final teaching (August 30, 2026)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Radio Free Asia Khmer, Khe Sonang, Buddhists hold Meak Bochea although the government cancelled the holiday (in Khmer, February 8, 2020)
  13. ↑ The Cambodia Daily, from The Phnom Penh Post, Buddhists across Cambodia gear up for Meak Bochea day (February 20, 2019)
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This page was last edited on 9 October 2026, at 04:43.