Hundreds of Cambodian and ethnic Khmer folks from the Bay Space and past made their method to Stockton’s Wat Dhammararam Buddhist Temple, the biggest within the state, for a three-day New Yr celebration over the weekend. This yr, a sure gravity accompanied the enjoyment in one of many state’s largest Cambodian communities.
Amid the Chaul Chnam Thmey festivities historically related to the top of rains and candy relaxation after reaping the rice harvest, the Khmer folks marked 50 years of survival after a marketing campaign of genocide engulfed the South East Asian county starting in 1975.
San Lorenzo resident Sovandy Hold, who led actions on the temple, was 5 years previous when communist dictator Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh. As much as 3 million folks — 1 / 4 of the nation’s inhabitants — died by the hands of the regime, which particularly sought to purge artists, scientists, musicians, writers and free thinkers from society.
As a lot as he tried to bury the horror, it by no means actually went away. “Yes, I remember,” stated Hold, a social employee for Santa Clara County.
Like lots of his fellow refugees, Hold got here to California, arriving in Oakland at age 14 in 1984.
As extra refugees made their method to the U.S., state companies planted a Cambodian neighborhood within the Central Valley metropolis of Stockton about 80 miles east of San Francisco after the Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980 handed, believing an abundance of low-skilled agricultural jobs and house might accommodate many them.
The proudly Cambodian neighborhood that expressed itself with Khmer video games, actions, dances and meals impressed Hold, who remembers enjoying volleyball in Stockton within the late Nineteen Eighties. In 1996, he established Oakland Khmer Angkor Dance, a conventional dance troupe for youth.
He continued visiting Stockton and met his spouse Neary by a sapling whereas dancing within the rain within the temple’s sq. 27 years in the past, at one other photo voltaic New Yr. The tree stands tall now, shielding multigenerational households from the solar on the fringe of the identical sq., the place shiny concentric circles underneath rustling garlands encourage romvong round dance.
Visiting different cities is frequent for the scattered Northern California Cambodian and Khmer neighborhood. Greater than 15,000 of the state’s roughly 123,000 Cambodian and Khmer folks stay throughout the Bay Space. One other 15,000 or so stay in San Joaquin County. Moreover, a whole lot of Khmer Krom–ethnic Khmer originating from land now inside Vietnamese borders–stay in San Jose. The Wat Khmer Kampuchea Krom, the primary temple dedicated to serving this neighborhood, expects to open subsequent spring.
Extra cities are giving the diaspora an opportunity to make the rounds this yr — Lengthy Seashore, dwelling to the biggest Cambodian neighborhood within the U.S., held its iconic parade and pageant early so folks might additionally attend occasions in Stockton.
Stockton’s Cambodian People have persevered by greater than the genocide. In 1989, a racially motivated faculty capturing at Cleveland Elementary killed 4 Cambodian youngsters and one in every of Vietnamese descent, all youngsters of refugees.
Cambodian New Yr helps folks collect energy from the previous earlier than plowing forward. Rooted in Brahman and Theravada Buddhist traditions, Day One is Moha Songkran, derived from the Sanskrit sangkranti, for motion or passage. Day Two, Wan Nao, represents the transition between the brand new and the previous. Wan Thaloeng Sok, the ultimate day, launches a brand new period, or yr.
Stockton’s Wan Thaloeng Sok on Sunday was welcomed by a full moon the evening earlier than and coincided with Moha Songkran in Cambodia’s time zone.
Cambodian of us from Stockton and the Bay converged with 98-year olds from Lengthy Seashore and monks who flew from Cambodia to tie bracelets onto wrists, uttering blessings.
“There’s a feeling of pride — it just hits differently this year,” Hold stated. “I’m in a place where I can showcase the arts and culture as opposed to 50 years ago.”
A 54-foot lengthy recumbent Buddha statue gives a shocking backdrop for guests on the Cambodian New Yr celebration on the Wat Dhammararam Buddhist Temple in Stockton, Calif., Saturday, April 12, 2025.(Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
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A 54-foot lengthy recumbent Buddha statue gives a shocking backdrop for guests on the Cambodian New Yr celebration on the Wat Dhammararam Buddhist Temple in Stockton, Calif., Saturday, April 12, 2025.(Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
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The 30-acre temple grounds, on the convergence of Stockton’s industrial, rural and residential tracts, burst with colours and decorations augmenting some 90 statues hand-built by head monk Kong Tith over 10 years.
All weekend, earlier than dawn, elder volunteers woke inside previous wood homes alongside the temple. Earlier than roosters might crow, they steamed sticky rice in bamboo baskets, shredded coconut meat and pounded pandan leaves.
Out on the promenade, nostalgic cyclo bike rickshaws waited for drivers and riders. Distributors floor sugar cane and ready to serve lemongrass beef sticks, kathiew oxtail noodle soup and banh ja’ neuk, mung bean paste-filled rice orbs sunk in a ginger, coconut milk and palm sugar tub.
Retailers displayed krama, multi-use checkered textiles, thick silk attire, printed sarong skirts, jerseys exhibiting Cambodian and Khmer delight and $5 parasols that appeared like enlarged cocktail umbrellas.
When the primary vehicles began arriving, audio system blasted historic ensemble music and broadcast monks’ chants from a pavilion the place traces of individuals supplied rice and cash to feed their ancestors and clasped their arms in prayer. In a separate space, others affixed fake bouquets onto tall dust mounds, purifying their minds from previous sins and making constructive needs for the longer term.
Erika Mey, who traveled to Stockton from Los Angeles along with her mom, stated that this was the largest Khmer New Yr celebration of her life and an opportunity to make new mates and reunite with family members. She was notably moved to see folks from varied walks of life come collectively to protect tradition and traditions, assist the neighborhood and present one another love.
“To think that 50 years ago, we nearly lost everything — today, we are still growing, rising and building as a people and a community,” she stated. “This is going to be one of the best years yet!”
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