Cambodian National Water Festival Stock Photos

The National Water Festival, also known as the Festival of the Reversing Currents, takes place in Phnom Penh each November. It marks the end of the rainy season, when the flooded waters of the Tonle Sap Lake recede enough to allow the Tonle Sap river to resume its course which is blocked for several months due to the strength of the floodwaters. It consists of three festival events which take place over three days. The first is the Boat Race Festival in which hundreds of teams from all over the country compete for three days in dragon boat races on the Tonle Sap River. The second is the Festival of Floating Lights, an evening event where floats decorated with elaborate lights parade up and down the river. The third event is the Rice Flake Ceremony, which takes place on the second night of the festivities.

Craftsmen carve along canoe from a single tree trunk near Siem Riep. the fire helps soften the wood so it can be stretched.

Craftsmen carve along canoe from a single tree trunk near Siem Riep

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Children on the Mekong imitate long canoe racers

Children on the Mekong imitate long canoe racers

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Craftsmen carve along canoe from a single tree trunk near Siem Riep. the fire helps soften the wood so it can be stretched.

Craftsmen carve along canoe from a single tree trunk near Siem Riep

 

Boat race teams camp out at a local school that is closed for the holiday.

Boat race teams camp out at a local school that is closed for the holiday.

Women help each other dress for the boat races. Many teams get thier uniforms sponsored, like this one with an anit-AIDS message from a health organization.

Women help each other dress for the boat races.

 

Boat race teams camp out at a local school that is closed for the holiday.

Boat race teams camp out at a local school that is closed for the holiday.

Srey Sros Mien Chey, Beautiful Victorious Women, is a women's team from a village on an island in the Mekong. Like other women's teams, they have a male coxan. they don't think that women are strong enough to stear the boat.

One of the male coxans from the female team, Srey Sros Mien Chey demonstrates how to tighten the long canoe to make it go faster.

 

Boat race teams camp out at a local school that is closed for the holiday.

Boat race teams camp out at a local school that is closed for the holiday.

Gambling is a popular pastime that comes out into the strets during public holidays.

Men, women and children gamble in small groups among the picnickers on the banks of the tonle Sap river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Stock photos of Cambodia, Cambodge, Kampuchea, Phnom Penh photos, Angkor Wat photos, Angkor Thom, Khmer weavers, Mekong River photos, fotos, Cambodian Buddhist monk, Khmer woman, Cambodian woman, women, Cambodian families, family, Cambodian Water Festival, National Water Festival, Phnom Penh, Festival of the Reversing Currents, Rice Flake Festival