Sankranta Festival

The second annual Sankranta Festival held at Long Beach City College was supposed to start at 8 am. I should’ve known that it wouldn’t actually start at 8 am because most Southeast Asians just don’t start anything on time. When I got there, they were still preparing for the event. I suppose with me being one of the early birds present, I could have easily gone around booths to get free totes and whatnot but in the end of it all, I ended up just not bothering to do so.

It was advertised on Facebook that the whole Buddhist merit making thing would occur at 8 am but that apparently wasn’t the case either. So, I had a lot of free time on my hands to just see what everything looked like before things started to become an official festival. And yes, I saw monks carrying around mats which was very interesting to see for some weird reason. (I guess it caught me off guard. lol) I don’t think those mats are light at all and were probably the equivalent of carrying weights.

With this being my first time attending Sankranta Festival, I wasn’t sure what to expect and was a bit bothered by the lack of information available. For example, most events will provide you with a schedule in advance so that you can figure out what you want to do and what you want to see. Because there was no schedule, I was clueless as to when performances would occur, when the Buddhist service would begin and how to go about providing alms (merit making). In the end, I decided to play it safe by actually purchasing rice from a vendor so that I could partake in merit making – providing alms. I think this was the right decision for me because it seems that people that wanted to make merit by providing alms brought their own rice for the most part. I DO believe there may be an area where you can get rice to partake in this but it’d be best to bring your own rice.

There were approximately 100 monks and the amount of rice I had on me wasn’t even sufficient to give to every monk during the alms rounds. Fortunately, I was able to give rice to a high percentage of the monks by purposely giving a small amount to each monk in which the amount just got smaller and smaller as the rounds almost came to an end. So, bring your own rice and bring enough if you intend on partaking in this at a future Sankranta Festival.

The beauty of Sankranta Festival is how people, Buddhist or not can partake in something very cultural and religious without having to go to the temple. Like I mentioned earlier, there were approximately 100 monks present from various temples, allowing attendees the opportunity to make merit and see monks in one place.

I also want to mention a delightful surprise and that was in getting to see female monks. I feel that nuns are commonplace when it comes to Theravada Buddhism abroad but female monks are very rare. I have no idea which temple they are a part of but if any of you are aware, please let me know as I’d love to visit the temple. I guess I could have asked in person but there was just too much going on at the time that this question didn’t even register within me. The other thing I want to mention is how I don’t know how to feel about female monks being at the end of a line. It’s safe to say that even in Buddhism there is gender inequality to some extent and to be fair, there were male monks at the end of the line but they were doing prayers or chants over a microphone.

The Food

I eventually got hungry but decided against buying any food from the Sankranta Festival. With not being able to do my “business” in the porta potty, I felt it would be super unwise for me to consume something only to possibly have a very real need of using a porta potty. Yeah, no thank you.

Food was also on the expensive side with an exception to one stand that seemed to have reasonable prices. There was Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian and Indonesian food. I suppose you could add Thai food into the mix as well since Sophy’s was present and is a restaurant that caters to both Thai and Cambodian cuisine. Oh, boba was also present but I didn’t care for it.

Performances

I didn’t bother because there was nowhere to sit. I also was kind of pressed for time so I can’t say much about the performances. I could have lounged around longer to enjoy a performance or two but with the festival not starting on time from the getgo to me not wanting to use porta potties, I figured it was best for me to leave this event earlier than originally planned.

Vanity

I’ve always disliked how there’s an air of hierarchy that exists among attendees that attend events like the Sankranta Festival. People sometimes come to these events wanting to look their best and while that is great, it’s not so great when they start deluding themselves into thinking that because they look better on the outside, they are better than others who may not have bothered to look as good for whatever reason. I feel that people need to humble themselves especially at events like these or during auspicious times, specifically. And I bring this up because when I was about to leave the festival and was just taking a moment to show my respects to a monk as this well dressed woman in Khmer wear ended her conversation with him, she took a moment to look at me in a less than pleased manner. I know there are people out there that are well-known in the community for whatever reason or do a lot of “work” for their local temple(s) to become well-known but all that “work” is pointless if you’re going to be quick to look down on someone or snub someone just because you hold artificial superiority within your community. I’m “sorry” but I don’t care who you are. There are a lot of people out there that may be a better person than you in so many ways and it may not look like that simply because they didn’t bother to dress to impress.

The whole dressing up thing can be such a huge vanity thing. As much as I love looking at all of the people in beautiful outfits, I don’t have love for those that are just “pretty” on the outside. There was a group of beautifully dressed women that basically came to take my original spot in the alms giving line which in the end was probably for the best because I ended up moving elsewhere which allowed me to be surrounded by more mature and more giving persons. Don’t be fooled with someone’s appearance whether it be their looks or outfit. If you ever become entranced by someone based on their physical appearance, spend a good amount of time paying attention to their actions before you get too smitten with them.

A Time to Give

People (*cough* especially East Asians *cough*) like to look down on Southeast Asians, but I saw a good amount of people having open hearts to give $1 each to monks, which translates to approximately $100 total from each attendee that decided to make merit via money. Some were making merit by giving money AND rice. I’m sure there were also others that brought actual food for merit making as well.

I must say that I’m really impressed that this event incorporated Buddhist merit making because I feel that this is a huge component for those that actually celebrate this specific New Year, whether they be Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, Burmese, Sri Lankan and so forth.

The “Dilemma” with Sankranta

Because Long Beach has a huge Cambodian population, I’ve heard some interesting things in regards to the naming behind this event. It seems that there’s a decent amount of Khmer Americans who may not have been too thrilled with this festival being called Sankranta Festival and I get it because it sounds way too similar to another annual and older festival located in the same county: the Songkran Festival held in Thai Town which just so happens to be canceled yet again for whatever mysterious reason.

Long Beach has always had a Khmer New Year celebration at El Dorado Park back in the days when Long Beach wasn’t experiencing much gentrification yet. For those present in those times, having a festival named Sankranta may seem unnecessary and “brainwashing” even for lack of a better word. The reasoning behind the Sankranta name is to foster inclusivity and equity among those (ex. Laotians, Thai, Burmese, etc.) that share the same original “New Year” however I can’t help but to question this because the vendors are all Khmer related for the most part. With an exception to the monks who come from various backgrounds and temples and food booths that harbor diversity but are present for business purposes, I don’t see this reasoning being put into place properly. Perhaps there’s more work to be done before it can get to that stage but if that was a goal behind having this name (Sankranta) for the festival, I am very confused and have to say that I see why there are people who aren’t satisfied with this name. I see why they would prefer it being called something akin to Khmer New Year Fest. But I’m sure there are also a lot of people who are just happy that there’s a Sankranta Festival in addition to the annual Cambodia Town parade and culture festival which is now held at MacArthur Park instead of El Dorado Park. Regardless, I totally understand why there are people in the community against having this festival named Sankranta Festival.

“Special” People

Another thing I want to point out is how certain areas or portions of the event may be invisibly reserved for “key persons” but isn’t made obvious to attendees. In the tented area where the Buddhist chanting took place, “Reserved” signs should have been taped onto the mat where they may only want key persons to be at or expect key persons to be at eventually. I bring this up because near the end of the service, they brought in people dressed as “angels” which is cool but what about the normal attendees who were sitting on the mat from before? Do they have to make space for special “latecomers” and any other “special” persons on a whim? It’s a bit of an oversight that could have easily been prevented with signage.

Despite minor hiccups, the Sankranta Festival is a great free festival where one can make merit and have fun in one place. The grounds are spacious. It’s easily accessible via public transportation. They don’t offer a schedule of events to the public but that may be for the best for tackling last minute changes or dealing with any form of disorganization that is commonplace in newer festival coordination. Food is expensive but you can make it work by bringing your own food, eating off campus or just going on a diet! LOL