PHOTO ESSAY | Getting Blessed in the Rain for the 21st Annual White Center Cambodian New Year Festival

by Jenn Ngeth

On April 27, the Seattle community showed up to celebrate the 21st Annual White Center Cambodian New Year Festival.

This all-day New Year's event, organized by the Cambodian Cultural Alliance of Washington, was packed with programming that'd please any ancestors. Through the downpour of rain, festivalgoers gathered for monk blessings, traditional dance performances, a bok lahong (green papaya salad) contest, delicious Cambodian foods, and many more activities.

Among the numerous vendors and booths, people weaved between the crowd to get themselves a platter of mouthwatering Khmer New Year essentials, like beef sticks with fried rice and pickled green mango, to enjoy while watching the traditional dances called robam. Attendees popped into booths to seek shelter from the rain and to check out the offerings, which ranged from traditional Cambodian clothing, arts, and culture to organizations that offered resources for small businesses.

Throughout the event, emcees Samphy Chen, Srey Routh, and Rotha Seng kept the crowd engaged, and featured guest speakers Aaron Garcia, the executive director of the White Center Community Development Association, and Carmen Smith, executive director of the White Center Food Bank. Khmer music filled the air between the speakers and glistening robam performances while the street buzzed with the excitement of celebrating a new year in solidarity and resilience.

This article is published under a Seattle Human Services Department grant, "Resilience Amidst Hate," in response to anti-Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander violence.

📸 Featured Image: Dancers from the Cambodian Classical Dance of the Northwest performing Robam Tep Monorom at the White Center Cambodian New Year Street Festival on April 27, 2024. (Photo: Jenn Ngeth)