The celebrations begin around the same time that the dry season here ends, so it is also time to collect the harvest (food from farming) for that season. Water is very important to the Khmer Krom because the water around the land here in rivers and along the coast (the edge of land near the sea) is what makes farming here possible. Following the end of the dry season, heavy rains will begin to fall that will flood the low farming lands here. During the dry season, saltwater from the sea comes into the rivers inside the land, but when the rains begin, the flooding pushes the saltwater out and makes the land easier to farm on again. Similar to rainwater, the water used to bathe Khmer elders and wash statues of Buddha cleans the statues and the elders' bodies and brings good luck, happiness and success to members of a family and to the larger community in the new year.
