Thousands of Cambodia and ethnic Jmer people from the Bay area and beyond were heading to Stockton from Whatton Dhammararam Budist Temple, the largest in the state, for a three -day new year celebration on the weekend. This year, a certain gravity accompanied the joy in one of the largest Cambodian communities in the state.
In the midst of the Chaul Chnam Thmey festivities traditionally associated with the end of the rains and sweet rest after rice harvest, the people Jemer marked 50 years of survival after a campaign or genocide wrapped the beginning of the county of Southeast Asia.
The San Lorenzo resident, Sovandy Hang, who directed activities in the temple, was 5 years old when the communist dictator Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge tok about Phnom Penh. Up to 3 million people, a quarter of the country’s population, died at the hands of the regime, which specifically sought to purge artists, scientists, musicians, writers and free thinkers of society.
As much as he tried to bury the horror, he never disappeared. “Yes, I remember,” said Hang, a social worker from Santa Clara County.
Like many of his fellow refugees, Hang arrived in California, arriving in Oakland at age 14 in 1984.
As more refugees went to the United States, state agencies planted a Cambodian community in the city of Stockton de Central Valley to about 80 miles to the east or San Francisco after the 1980 refugee resettlement law approved, believing an abundance and spatial and spatial jobs.
The proudly Cambodian community that was expressed with the Jemer Games, the activities, the dances and the food inspired Hang, who remembers having played volleyball in Stockton in the late 1980s. In 1996, the established Oakland Khmer Angkor Dance, a traditional dance company for youth.
The continuous visitor of Stockton and with his wife in need for a sprout while danced in the rain in the temple square 27 years ago, in another solar new year. The tree remains high now, protecting the multigenerational families of the sun on the edge of the same square, where the bright concentric circles under the whispering garlands encourage Romvong’s circular dance.
Visiting other cities is common for the dispersed community of Northern California Cambodia and Khmer. More than 15,000 of the approximately 123,000 Cambodian people and Jemer of the State live throughout the Bay area. Another 15000 or less live in San Joaquín County. In addition, hundreds of Jemer Jmer -Etnic Jmer originating from land now within the Vietnamese borders, live in San José. The Wat Khmer Kampuchea Krom, the first temple dedicated to serving this community, hopes to open next spring.
More cities are giving the diaspora the opportunity to make rounds this year: Long Beach, home from the largest Cambodian community in the United States, celebrated its iconic early parade and festival so that people also attend events in Stockton.
Stockton Cambodians have persevered more than genocide. In 1989, a shooting at school with motivation racially at Cleveland elementary school killed four Cambodian children and one of Vietnamese ancestry, all refugee children.
The Cambodian New Year helps people gather strength from the past before moving forward. Rooted in the Buddhist traditions of Brahman and Theravada, the first day is Moha Songkran, derived from Sanskrit Sangkranti, for movement or passage. The second day, Wan Nao, represents the transition between the new and the old man. Wan Thaloeng Sok, the last day, launches a new era or year.
Wan Thaloeng Sok of Stockton was well received by a full moon the night before and coincided with Moha Songkran in the Cambodian time zone.
The Cambodian people of Stockton and the bay converged with 98 -year -old children from Long Beach and monks who flew from Cambodia to tie the bracelets on the wrists, pronouncing blessings.
“There is a feeling of pride, just hits this year this year,” said Hang. “I am in a place where I can show the doctor and culture instead of 50 years.”
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A 54 -feet reclining Buddha statue offers an impressive backdrop for visitors in the celebration of the New Year of Cambodia in the Wat Dhammaram Buddhist temple in Stockton, California, on Saturday, April 12, 2025 (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
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A 54 -feet reclining Buddha statue offers an impressive backdrop for visitors in the celebration of the New Year of Cambodia in the Wat Dhammaram Buddhist temple in Stockton, California, on Saturday, April 12, 2025 (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
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The 30 acres temple land, in the convergence of industrial, rural and residential extensions of Stockton, explodes with colors and decorations that increase about 90 construction statues by hand by the head of the tenk’s monk of about 10 years.
Throughout the weekend, before dawn, older volunteers woke up inside old wooden houses next to the temple. Before the schedules could sing, they cooked sticky rice on bamboo baskets, grated coconut meat and pandan leaves beaten.
On the promenade, the nostalgic Ricks Cyclo waited for the drivers. Sellers grind to sugarcane and prepare to serve lemon grass meat, ox noody soup kathiew and banh yes
The stores exhibited krama, multipurpose -useful textiles, thick silk dresses, patterned couple skirts, t -shirts that exhibit Camboyian pride and khmer and parasols of $ 5 that looked like enlarged cocktails.
When the first cars begin to arrive, the speakers criticized the ancient music of the whole and transmitted monks songs from a pavilion where the lines of people offered rice and money to feed their ancestors and press their hands in prayer. In a separate area, others placed false bouquets in mounds of high ground, purifying their minds of sins and making positive desires for the future.
Erika Mey, who traveled to Stockton from Los Angeles with her mother, said that this was the celebration of her biggest new year chief and the opportunity to make new friends and meet with her loved ones. It was particularly moved to see people from several areas of life gather to preserve culture and traditions, support the community and show love.
“To think that 50 years ago, we almost lost everything: today, we are still growing, up and building as people and community,” he said. “This will be one of the best years until now!”
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