Hundreds of families present their food offerings to Buddhist monks from the Orange County Cambodian Buddhist Organization Sunday morning for the Cambodian New Year celebrations in Santa Ana. The food brought by families were special cooked meals and home made dishes.By KEVIN LARA,
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: April 15, 2012
Home-cooked meals were blessed and then offered to Buddhist monks as part of the celebration at Jerome Center in Santa Ana.
A Buddhist monk receives offerings of rice during the Cambodian New Year celebrations Sunday morning in the Jerome Center in Santa Ana. The offerings are a special way to reach ancestors and are also an opportunity to make a wish for the upcoming new year, which will be the Year of the Dragon.
Cambodian families and friends gathered together at Jerome Center in Santa Ana to participate in a special celebration for Cambodian New Year Sunday.
The center's gym was packed with hundreds of people as they made their offerings of food to Buddhist monks from the Orange County Cambodian Buddhist Organization.
Brought in a potluck fashion, the home-cooked meals were blessed with special chants and prayers, and then offered to monks as a way to reach out to ancestors who have passed away.
During the Buddhist monk chants, hundreds of special dishes decorated the Jerome Center floors.
Guests were welcomed to participate in the celebrations and enjoy the free meals of curry, rice, bread and more.
"We honor guests experiencing this ceremony and make sure that they got fed before we let them leave," said Phalen Lim, who helped organize the event.
Afterwards, families enjoyed the rest of the day eating their meals, watching traditional Cambodian dances and playing games.
The Year of the Dragon celebration was sponsored by the Orange County Cambodian Buddhist Organization and The Cambodian Family, a group that provides help for immigrant families.
3 comments:
The monk has to wait for next year and eat again after finish all these plates..
Too much of meal for Buddhist monks, can we keep these meals for the next day lunch for monks? I’m not sure about that. I don’t know if Thais and Laos practice the same way as Khmer Buddhists.
I don't think these food can be kept for the next days, they will go rotten.
I agree that we waste too much food during every new year and Pchum Ben festival, but everyone, the rich and the poor and the destitute, can go to the pagoda and eat for free.
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