Celebrate Christmas in Cambodia!
Christmas is not an official holiday in Cambodia. Do will see Christmas trees, blinking colorful lights and kids dressed up in Santa costumes. Christmas celebration in Cambodia, how does that work?
Religion in Cambodia
Christmas is a Christian festivity and little Cambodians celebrate it in Cambodia, where 88% of the population is Buddhist. Let’s go back into time to understand the religion in Cambodia. Starting from the 15th century nearly the entire population embraced Buddhism. Back in the day, Hinduism was one of the Khmer Empire’s official religions. During the colonization Christianity touched base from the West. When the Khmer Rouge seized power, they tried to extinct all religion. At least 90% of the Buddhist monks and almost all Christians were murdered during the Khmer Rouge. Since 1993 the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.
Celebrate Christmas in Cambodia.
Religion still plays a big part in Cambodia, where the majority is Buddhist. You can say not many Cambodian families will celebrate Christmas as they do in the West. That’s because not many people are Christian in Cambodia.
Responding to the west
The last couple of years the country has changed. One of the reasons are the western people living here. Lots of big hotels and restaurant have Christmas decoration and also offer Christmas dinners. People see opportunity. Everywhere you will see Christmas decoration, shiny stuff and Christmas outfits for sale. Cambodian love everything what shines and are therefore easily tempted. The restaurants try to earn an extra bug by creating that special Christmas feeling for the westerners.
We know Christmas is not an official holiday for most of the Cambodian, but it’s a good excuse to hang some shiny decoration. They can earn an extra buck and drink an extra beer. And that… is something the Cambodian love.
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