Cambodian Water festival.

     Water festival is Cambodia's magnificent traditional festival which has been celebrated every year for 3 days in the late November.For three days Phnom Penh citizens, foreign tourists and peasants from various provinces gather in the capital to celebrate this festival.

__HISTORY:The water festival ceremony is the army training to do attest of the army for preparing to do a battle. In the history, Khmer King always does the battle with enemies by sailing. So he prepares this water festival ceremony every year to choose Champion of sailing battle, as in Bayon Temple, Batteay Chhmar in the Preah Bat Jayvarman VII. We had seen a lot of statues about sailing battle under leading of Jayvarman VII. The custom of this is to have from then up to the present.

Every year, there are around 450 boat races and 4,000,000-5,000,000 of citizens, foreign tourists and peasants from various provinces gather in the capital to join with celebration. School will close, and most workers go on vacation. Moreover, certain roads near the river are blocked against motor traffic, allowing the thousands of celebrants to walk among the streets, sampling the festival's entertainments.

 ( In front of Royal Palace)
Tonle Sap is a major focus of life for many Cambodians. It’s a source of livelihood for fishermen and farmers alike – it’s rich in fish stocks, and the silt deposits left by the floods fertilize the fields. Therefore, Cambodians people choose it the place to celebrate this most important event.

Thousand of Khmers descend on Phnom Penh over the three days to watch the races and cheer on their villages boat, which can be up to 20 meters long and contain up to 60 oarsmen, frantically paddling and chanting as the do battle in highly competitive races.

During the nighttime at about seven o’clock the river was lit by jazzy illuminated boats, which floated slowly, and smoothly on the water’s surface. Each of them was equipped with thousands of flashy neon lights arranged in different colorful, fancy patterns representing state institutions, ministries and services.

an evening fluvial parade, featuring beautifully-illuminated boats lighting up the waterways. Government institutions sponsor each of the boats on parade.

After a little time fireworks and multi color were lit to entertain people. Some of people made loud noises. They burst into different shapes and colors in the sky under the clapped and cheered with joy each time at the sight of the fireworks.