As Long Beach prepares for its first ever Songkran New Year celebration, many Cambodian senior residents are asking the city to consider changing the name and celebration to more closely align with the Cambodian New Year.
Songkran is a New Year holiday celebrated on April 13 by many Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and other countries that widely practice Buddhism. Long Beach has never recognized the holiday, but has celebrated the Cambodian New Year since 1976, a three-day celebration which falls on April 14-16.
Over 20 Cambodian residents protested during Long Beach City Council’s meeting on March 7 to ask the city to reconsider the Songkran celebration and to keep the name as Cambodian New Year. Councilwoman Suely Saro announced plans for Long Beach’s first ever Songkran at a Feb. 23 council meeting.
Many of the residents who spoke identified themselves as elders and survivors, who immigrated to the United States to flee from the Khmer Rouge regime.
“Our Cambodian community is gathering here this evening because it’s very important for us to speak up,” said Cambodian senior resident Sovanchan Pao. “As an elder I want to protect and preserve my traditional and cultural heritage by keeping the word ‘Chaul Chnam Thmey.’ Please be aware that we are not against change … but change must be good and worthy and it must add excellence and value and increase what our community has.”
Poa argued that it benefits the Cambodian community to distinguish itself from other Southeast Asian cultures so that the “young generation remembers that the elders can protect the culture.”
Cambodian senior Charles Song, who helped organize the protest, said that the introduction of Songkran has “divided” the Cambodian community, specifically among elders and younger generations.
“If the holiday was changed, it would take away from the sense of community and belonging that comes with this holiday … I would like to ask councilwoman Suely Saro to listen to community member’s input and to seek a good solution to bring happiness on both sides.”
Long Beach Cambodian and Latino resident, Anthony Guerrero
Saro told the Signal Tribune that during the three years when Long Beach was unable to celebrate the Cambodia Town Parade & Culture Festival she “heard from different people saying well, what about Laotians and Thai [residents]?”
“With a lot of conversations with community leaders … and the committee that I pulled together, the majority of them had agreed to go with Songkran given that as an elected official, I wanted to make sure it was an inclusive term, that it was about culture, so that’s where the [idea for] Songkran came from,” Saro said.
According to Saro, the Songkran New Year celebration will include a Buddhist ceremony, performances from Asian American Pacific Islander groups, senior activities, dancing, cultural foods as well as “Latin and African American programming.”
“The idea is really celebrating it with the whole community and providing a space where everyone could come together and learn about this event, right? So we want to make sure it’s inclusive, and it’s welcoming to everyone,” Saro told the Signal Tribune.
Another protestor at the city council meeting said that they felt the change is “an act of mistreatment and disrespect” to Cambodian seniors in the city, and again asked the council to change the name.
The dozens of protestors held signs up during public comment reading “No Sangkranta in Long Beach” and “Khmer New Year is originated in 7th century 237 AD.”
“In a democracy, there are people who don’t always agree with the majority, and they prefer it to be called Cambodia New Year. But the thing is that if they want to host it … and do Cambodia New Year that weekend, I’m happy to support them to do that.”
Councilwoman Suely Saro
“Councilwoman Suely Saro’s decision to change the Cambodian New Year celebration to Long Beach Songkran 2023 destroys our unique cultural heritage of Cambodian Americans in Long Beach,” Song said. “Suley Saro claims it’s to be inclusive, but there is no justification that the name has to be changed to be inclusive because the participants in previous Cambodian New Year celebrations have been very diverse.”
Song told the Signal Tribune that he would like the date for Long Beach’s Cambodian New Year to be celebrated on April 14 rather than April 1 so it doesn’t fall on April Fool’s Day.
Saro explained that in recent years, the attendance for the Cambodia Town Parade & Cultural Festival has waned, in part because many Buddhist temples hold their own celebrations from April 14-16.
“So in my mind, I’m thinking what would be helpful for our local economy and increasing tourism is to do it on the first of April, so that people can come then, not just for Songkran, but they can come for Cambodia Town’s Parade & Cultural Festival,” Saro told the Signal Tribune. “So it makes it a weekend, people come all over [from] out of town, rather than having people come back and forth.”
This will also act as a two-day celebration for Long Beach to “kick off the New Year month,” Saro said.
“In a democracy, there are people who don’t always agree with the majority, and they prefer it to be called Cambodia New Year. But the thing is that if they want to host it … and do Cambodia New Year that weekend, I’m happy to support them to do that,” Saro told the Signal Tribune. “I’m adding something new and I think that as somebody who is representing the public, you know, representative of the city, I want to make sure I’m inclusive.”
A younger Cambodian resident suggested the council change the name to “Cambodian New Year’s Songkran” in order to still acknowledge the Cambodian community.
“Changing it to Songkran would take away from this important cultural event,” said Cambodian and Latino resident Anthony Guerrero. “If the holiday was changed, it would take away from the sense of community and belonging that comes with this holiday … I would like to ask councilwoman Suely Saro to listen to community member’s input and to seek a good solution to bring happiness on both sides.”
Saro began to address the residents that attended the meeting in protest, but was told she could not discuss items that were not scheduled on the city council’s agenda.
Long Beach Songkran 2023 is scheduled for April 1 at 8 a.m. at Long Beach City College.
1 comment
Comments are closed.