I know Christmas is an American holiday that everybody from all nationality enjoys. We all likes it, or at least almost everyone likes it because it's enticing. Gifts giving, come on, kids and adults, who doesn't like to just give gifts to their loves one? Is there a religious belief behind the holiday Christmas? Yes. But do all the kids or adults who chose to celebrate Christmas is going to believe in Jesus just because they love Christmas for it's holiday songs, music, dinner, fun games, toys, gifts? No, many people don't believe in Jesus but they still celebrate Christmas. We do celebrate the American's event to a certain point but not all the meaning behind it.
Many Cambodian down in Long Beach, California still celebrate Khmer New Year every year. I don't know about other parts of the United States, but Long Beach still hold it's tradition and make it a big thing for the Cambodian peoples here. We goes to the park or the temple to eat, buy things, play games, do lottery tickets, take picture, etc. Gives money to the kids.
But I will say, not every Khmer person will actually go to the temple to pray or believe in Buddha. When it comes to religious, not everyone will be a part of it. It's a beliefs thing and you have to believe to care for it. It's a very sensitive matters where there isn't a right or wrong answer for it. We can't force anyone to believe in god. They have to feel it.
The reason why you felt that Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese celebrate their tradition over Khmer is because they have a much bigger population. So when they celebrate something it looks big because there are more of them doing it because there are more of them period. I see three guys talking about Khmer New Year, it will just be a little group quiet get together thing. If I see like ten Chinese talking about their Chinese New Year, you would hear it louder because they have to speak over each other.
I guess the problem here is the population. We can make our event seems better and all out if we have a bigger population coming together to make it major big. The amount of Khmer store around here is nothing compare to the Chinese supermarket because there's just less Cambodian people to do business. I will see more Chinese banner over Khmer poster for the New Year. We can't expect much from the event if only a little bit of Khmer people. I can say that not all Chinese people does celebrate their holiday but there's so many of them, so the proportion of them celebrating it will still be big.
I don't see Vietnamese people celebrating their events because it's happening in Westminister not over here where all the Chinese live. But I still go down to Long Beach to celebrate Khmer New Year with my parents when the times come and there are enough people down there also celebrating it with us when we hit the temple for all the foods and games.
I will be there to eat, play, and do things for many of the fun holiday, doesn't matter what nationality it is for, but I will not be praying though. That is a whole other topic. The American holidays is the same thing. I will teach my kids all the whole steps to each celebrations and they will decides what they likes to do. Many people celebrate those holidays for the fun of it, but for religious beliefs, it will be a tough one.
So now it basically depends on what answer you're expecting to hear goupon? Are you referring to the religious part, or just celebrating it. For Long Beach, where Cambodian Town is located at, those people there are always celebrating their New Year with parks, party, temple, and restaurant with singers/actress coming over to celebrates it with them. If you live here, the Cambodian tradition is still going on.
