Cambodian Funeral

Last month, I attended a Cambodian wedding.  This month, I attended a Cambodian funeral. Yarong Van was an employee of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh for nearly 20 years.  I worked with him for only a few months until he became too ill last spring to continue working.  Sadly he was in and out of the hospital on several occasions, with only brief instances of improvement, before passing away in early January.

Yarong's portrait with some of his embassy awards and mementos.

On the morning of the funeral, we drove to his family's house and joined a procession of vehicles going to the crematorium.  In Cambodia's Buddhist culture, cremation is much more common than burials.  A brightly decorated vehicle carried the coffin and played music out of its speakers, letting all we passed know that it was a funeral procession.

Funeral car carrying coffin.

Upon arriving at the crematorium, the coffin was unloaded and placed in the open pavilion space at the front of the building.  Yarong's family members gathered closely and listened to the monks offer words of blessing.

Coffin being carried to crematorium entrance.

Monks offer a blessing over the coffin.

Then all attendees walked around the crematorium three times, tossing money and confetti into the air.  I was surprised to see some $100 bills land on the ground, but someone told me they were fake, specifically made for ritual use.  Eulogies followed, including one from my boss, who spoke of Yarong's contributions to the embassy community.  The family drew close around the coffin again, saying final goodbyes before the coffin entered the crematorium.  My heart broke for Yarong's family at that point.  I could hear their cries of sadness, and remembered that Yarong was a young man, only in his 50s.  May he be reborn into a healthier life.

Crematorium building draped with funeral colors of white and black.