Celebrating A New Year [in San Bernardino, California, USA]

Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Press Enterprise (San Bernardino, California, USA)

Several thousand people were expected to celebrate the Cambodian new year Saturday at a festival at the Temple of the Khmer Buddhist Society in San Bernardino. The event, cosponsored by San Bernardino's Asian-American Resource Center, included traditional Cambodian dances and music, homemade Cambodian and Thai food and a singing contest. Traditional Cambodian new year festivities take place April 13-15, which in Cambodia is a national holiday. But because most people in the United States work on at least some of those days, Buddhist temples here typically celebrate on the weekend before or after the actual new year.

Dancers perform during Cambodian New Year celebration at The Temple of the Khmer Buddhist Society on Saturday. (Frank Bellino / Special to The Press-Enterprise)
Story continues below
Som Phath, 55, of Long Beach, gets ready to perform a dance during Cambodian New Year celebration at The Temple of the Khmer Buddhist Society in San Bernardino.