Cambodian Festival at TTC embraces cultural diversity

Despite the heat under the baking sun, on April 4, hundreds of people came to Long Beach for the Cambodian New Year celebration, which included the Cambodia Town Parade in the morning, starting at the intersection of Anaheim Street and Orange Avenue. 

At the same time, the Culture Festival was held at LBCC’s Trades Technology and Community Learning campus.

Following the parade, around noon, the TTC campus was filled with attendees wearing Cambodian traditional attire and colorful oil-paper umbrellas. Long lines gathered around food vendors, while live performances went on. 

^{Dancers perform the Apsara dance, a traditional Khmer dance, at the 18th annual Cambodia Town Culture Festival on Saturday at LBCC’s TTC Campus, held to celebrate the Cambodian New Year. (Tien Nguyen)}

This year’s theme, “Peace Through Culture: Celebrating Unity Through Diversity,” invites other cultures of Long Beach to celebrate the festival with the Cambodian community, as there were performances from the Hmong Association of Long Beach and Grupo La Rosa, a Mexican folk dance group. Their performances went in between the Cambodian traditional dances. 

From mid-afternoon to the end of the day, there was an open dancefloor for everyone to join the singers on stage.

Beyond cuisine, Cambodian vendors showcased their pride for their heritage through selling arts and crafts, including traditional clothing, custom-designed wear, jewelry and accessories. 

Peter Lim, a vendor in attendance, owns the clothing company Kr8tive Culture Designs, which sells active sports clothes that represent different Southeast Asian countries in their designs. 

He expressed being grateful that the event was able to unify generations. 

“You see the unity and how our culture has grown. You know, a lot of us are like, maybe second generation, third generation. To be able to continue this tradition every year, it’s actually a blessing, because a lot of times the generation has changed. But being able to be out here, seeing everybody having a great time and enjoying life, it’s a beautiful thing,” Lim said.

^{Peter Lim, owner of clothing company Kr8tive Culture Designs, stands in his vendor booth at the 18th annual Cambodia Town Culture Festival on Saturday at LBCC’s TTC Campus. Kr8tive Culture Designs sells active sports clothes that represent different Southeast Asian countries in their designs. (Tien Nguyen)}

Frederick Sor, case manager of the Cambodian Association of America, who has done outreach at the Culture Festival every year, acknowledged the shared characteristics of the Mainland Southeast Asian sphere in terms of language and culture, appreciating the diversity when seeing other cultures.

“It’s really important for us to recognize the similarities, but at the same time, recognize our differences. So that’s why it’s cool seeing people come so that we can appreciate both the similarities and the differences,” Sor said. 

^{A ceremonial offering display is set up in a large tent near the MM Building at LBCC’s TTC Campus during the 18th annual Cambodia Town Culture Festival on Saturday. The event is held each year to celebrate the Cambodian New Year. (Tien Nguyen)}

On the east side of parking lot 2, near the MM Building, a large tent was set up for a ceremonial offering display, where people gathered around to pray or just sat to avoid the heat. 

^{A couple prays next to a ceremonial offering display in a large tent near the MM Building at LBCC’s TTC Campus during the 18th annual Cambodia Town Culture Festival on Saturday. The event is held each year to celebrate the Cambodian New Year. (Tien Nguyen)}

Outside the tent was a long Buddhist ceremonial altar with Buddha statues, flowers and bowls of scented water for the Buddha bathing ceremony, where people would dip a flower into the bowl and gently sprinkle the water over a statue of Gautama Buddha.

In Cambodian tradition, this ritual symbolizes purification, washing away bad luck and welcoming blessings, peace and good fortune for the new year.

^{A monk (behind the monk on the right) performs a water blessing ceremony for a woman during the Cambodia Town Culture Festival on Saturday at LBCC’s TTC Campus. In this ceremony, the monk sprinkles the water onto the participants to signify giving them direct blessings. Like the Buddha bathing ceremony, the ritual is performed to wash away bad luck and welcome blessings. (Tien Nguyen)}

Julie Leng, an attendee sitting in a nearby tent with three other Cambodian women, shared that to celebrate the New Year, she usually goes to a temple and also comes to this festival to enjoy celebrating together with other people. 

Leng has lived in the United States for 45 years and feels that she has a better life here while still maintaining a connection with her relatives in Cambodia. She maintains her connection with them through calling them and sending them resources and money. 

When it comes to preserving and promoting her culture to the younger generation, she said, “We want to show them, like, our costumes and our culture… Hopefully, they will continue our culture in the future,” said Leng.

In the quad between the MM and EE Buildings, many people brought their families and friends to picnic in the shade, play games and enjoy the festive day.

^{Away from the main area of the festival, people gather to picnic and play games in the quad between the MM and EE Buildings of LBCC’s TTC Campus during the 18th annual Cambodia Town Culture Festival on Saturday. The event is held each year to celebrate the Cambodian New Year. (Tien Nguyen)}

Katherine Murrin, LBCC community outreach assistant, said that the festival had been held at TTC for at least two years, and this year was a bit larger than in the past years. 

She acknowledged the large Cambodian population that resides near the TTC campus, and mentioned how she wants to have more Cambodian representation on the campus to reflect it. 

“We just try to do general outreach, but definitely… because (the Cambodian community) is a major part of Long Beach, we want to stay involved. And I think that because they’re hosted on this campus, we really want to have some outreach efforts here,” said Murrin. 

She added, “So, I hope to hire more Cambodian staff and faculty because I think that we need to have that represent what our student population is.”