|
Your Passport To Adventure! |
BUDDHISM CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIENCE
|
|
 |
Heang Chunn from the Cambodian community invited recently Mobile International Festival to partake in their annual holiday called, “Pchumven”, in Irvington. The Buddhism faith stresses the importance of honoring ones’ ancestors and deceased persons. The Cambodian communities from South Mobile, Mobile and neighboring states celebrated Pchumven in their Wat Valuvana on Angkor Road in Irvington. The monks, clad in their saffron-colored garments, chanted and prayed for the ancestors and the community joined in. There were also visiting monks joining in the celebration. The community brought in food that was blessed by the monks.
After the ceremonies, the community sat down together in a communal celebration of eating together as a family. Members of the festival sat down to eat with visitors from FEMA in a special room. Dishes served were samplings from all the different dishes brought by many families. It was a wonderful experience shared by everyone in the room.
Those who attended from the
festival were Joe Davis, Cindy Scott, Rose and Robert Peavy, Bobbie and
David Bayne, Kaylee Everrette and Estela Dorn. Occasions like these are
very special for Mobile International Festival. It is always an honor
for the festival’s members to be invited into the various cultural
communities.