Never did we imagine a year when ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples and a southeast Asian New Year celebration would threaten to crowd out our family's Easter celebration. But 2017 has been a year filled with surprises.
Khmer New Year is the king of all holidays in Cambodia. The official celebration lasts for three days but unofficially starts well before then. School gets out for two weeks. Children play games unique to this season, and traditional Khmer dances can be seen at many public gathering places. The capital city becomes a ghost town, as the locals head to the provinces for large family gatherings. We did not want to be left out of the fun, so we brought a family gathering of our own (thanks to Thais' parents, who hopped a rather large pond to be here). Our traveling party of seven made its way to Siem Reap, the Times Square for Cambodia's Khmer New Year celebration.
Siem Reap is a quaint and lovely tourist town of 230,000 people. It is famous for its proximity to the ancient temples of the Angkor empire, including Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, and dozens of others. More than a million tourists descend upon this area to celebrate Khmer New Year, with the temples serving as the main draw.
We quickly learned about the coolest of all traditions -- blasting random strangers with water cannons in the streets. (This is a practice that we simply must adopt in the U.S. -- perhaps for a sweltering Summer holiday of our own, like July 4. Regardless, let's do this.) Whether riding a tuk tuk or walking down the street, we were a target. We got very wet. On occasion, the water was accompanied by talcum powder, making a nice gooey, pasty mess. The boys decided to take up the fight for our family. They were quickly soaked head to toe, and they absolutely loved it. A good time was had by all.
The next discovery was the Siem Reap foot pedicure, using fish to exfoliate your feet. To call this a unique experience is a vast understatement. It tickles, and it's pretty strange. But it ranks high on the list of best ways to spend two bucks.
Thais experiences the joy of exfoliation, in a Siem Reap fish tank.
The temples absolutely lived up to their billing. The Angkor Empire dominated this part of the world from the 9th-15th centuries. During its peak (11th-13th centuries), the capital city of Angkor (just north of modern-day Siem Reap) was the largest pre-industrial urban center in the world. The temples are their crowning achievements, reflecting the advanced architectural technique, wealth, and power of the Angkor Empire. Most temples in this area were originally built as Hindu temples, and then transitioned to Buddhist temples as Theravada Buddhism became the primary religion in the area. Symbolism from both religions can be found throughout many of these ancient temples.
Easter weekend in a Hindu/Buddhist temple. It's hard even for an Angkor Wat monkey to comprehend.
The Bayon Temple -- home to multiple towers with more than 200 mysterious stone faces dating back to the 12th century.
More than 3,000 apsaras (heavenly nymphs) are carved into the walls of Angkor Wat.
A teenager's perspective on Angkor Wat.
The jungle temple of Ta Prohm, better known to many as the set of Angelina Jolie's film "Lara Croft, Tomb Raider." (No, we have not seen the film.)
The Bayon Temple has more than 1.2 km of bas-relief carvings, depicting more than 11,000 figures and telling stories of history and everyday life in 12th-century Cambodia.
I see the moon, and the moon sees me....
Are we in a temple? Or a jungle forest? At Ta Prohm, the answer is simply, "yes."
If sunrise at Angkor Wat is not currently on your bucket list, please get out your # 2 pencil and add the world's largest religious structure to your list.
The hardest part of our trip was celebrating Easter without our community around us. We researched where to worship and celebrate Easter in Siem Reap. There were only 3-4 options. Christian churches can be found somewhat easily in the capital city of Phnom Pehn, where many expats live and work. But beyond Phnom Penh, the statistics on religious preference start to take on greater significance. Cambodia is 90-95% Buddhist, and Christians comprise fewer than 1/2 of 1% of the country. Finding a place to celebrate Easter turned out to be a tremendous challenge. We settled on a small church with services at 4:00 pm, and we planned accordingly. Unfortunately, when we got dressed and tried to find transportation, we were told that there would be no way to get there in the midst of peak Khmer New Year traffic.
This was the first time in my 49 years that I have not been in church on an Easter Sunday. Since we skipped church (despite best efforts), I'll share my 2017 Easter story.
At IJM we begin our work day with a time of "stillness" -- a half-hour of prayer, reading, journaling, and preparation for the day's work. One of the things I have done during this time is to read through the Book of Isaiah. Why Isaiah? Because Isaiah 1:17 is an IJM favorite: "Seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." That verse appears in our conference room at the office, and it can be found on IJM t-shirts, bookmarks, and other paraphernalia. "Seek justice." It's why we're here. On my first day in the office, I decided to read Isaiah 1 in full, just to get the full context. I've been reading one Isaiah chapter each work day since we arrived. It has been uncanny how many times my reading in Isaiah has directly lined up with my work. You might call it a coincidence. But there have been too many. And I don't believe in coincidences when it comes to God and working at IJM.
This week, well aware that I would be out of the office, I read ahead in Isaiah. I was again struck by another uncanny "coincidence." Good Friday would have been my 53rd work day at IJM. Here is what I found for Good Friday, in Isaiah 53:
“Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.”
I can't really improve on that, so I'll just say this. Amen, and thanks be to God!
I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter, and a Happy Khmer New Year. Thank you for following along with us on our journey this year.
- Doug