Afajita

Click here to sample Khmer funeral music …

Someone living near us just died a few days ago. They must have been really important because the funeral music is still blaring after five days. Normally the music is set to amplifiers 24-7 for about three days; but the more rich and famous you are the more you can afford to play the music, much to the detriment of the neighborhood. The music alternates between clamorous gonging, plinka-plinka music and equally dissonant chanting by a couple of monks. It’s driving me absolutely nuts! But that’s the point. The clamor is purposefully disturbing since it’s suppose to scare away the ghost of the deceased. If you don’t play the horrible music, the ghost will stick around and harass the rest of the family. Hence, the longer and louder you can play the music, the more you encourage the ghost to go away.

It’s amazing how much Khmer talk about ghosts. Pretty much every Khmer I’ve met, whether in the States or in Cambodia, are terrified of them and see them all the time. I had one co-worker in the States that was particularly sensitive to ghosts in the house. She would hear them coming into her room at night and would tell them to take anything they wanted but just please do not harm or scare the kids. Almost all Cambodian films are horror movies that involve ghosts. All the traditional holidays are about appeasing them in some way.

Khmer have all sorts of methods for keeping the dead satisfied enough not to harass the living. Each house has at least one spirit house outside and several alters inside where there is always an assortment of offerings. These offerings usually consist of incenses and food such as fruits and buns. However, more often than not I see all kinds of goodies, liqueur and cigarettes. I guess if you’re already dead you can indulge all you want. There’s no worries about getting fat and sick from junk food, rotting your liver or developing lung cancer.

Just as much as they try to keep the ghosts happy, the Khmer also try just as hard to keep them away. Hence the on-going gong-gong, plinka-plinka music that bothers not only the ghosts but everyone else in the process. Even the dogs take part in encouraging ghosts to move on. Many Cambodians say that when the dogs are barking and howling in the middle of the night, it’s because they’re trying to scare off the ghosts too. I’ve even heard Christians say that that is why dogs don’t bark or howl at their house. Their house is either ghost free or they, including their dogs, are not afraid of them.

If someone is unsuccessful in getting rid of ghosts, their home becomes a “ghost house”. These homes are abandoned since the owners move out and are unable to rent or sell it. Our hospice, Sunrise, is a “ghost house”. Apparently the owner’s toddler drowned in the fish pond out front. Now, we use it to take care of people dying of AIDS. There’s not much chance anyone else will rent this house after us so we get this gigantic three floor house for only $170 a month.

It’s really quite interesting, this obsession, or possession (depending on how you look at it) with ghosts. I personally would hate to live with the constant fear of them. The burden of having to appease them all the time would drive me crazy. I wonder if Cambodians hate it too, or just suck it up as part of life.