00:01Face paint, offerings, music and dance.
00:05Locals at this village outside of Phnom Penh in Cambodia are praying to the guardian spirit Pringka Ek.
00:1330-year-old Sem Pov is one of those taking part and says the festival's purpose is to pray for
00:19good weather.
00:22We are celebrating this festival to pray for a lot of rain so our crops and rice will be abundant.
00:28Cambodia is one of the world's biggest rice growers, producing about 15 million tons last year.
00:34Most people in the country live in rural areas and rely on rain for good harvests.
00:40To pray for precipitation, locals don paint traditional clothing as well as some not-so-customary garb and march along
00:48to the beat of drums.
00:54Revelers, young and old, participate in the festival.
00:58They all make their way to a shrine where they offer food, fruit and drinks to the deity.
01:03They light incense and pray.
01:05And this year, Sem Pov has more than rain on his mind.
01:11I also pray to the spirit to help in preventing a war between Cambodia and Thailand.
01:20Hostilities flared up between Thailand and Cambodia last year.
01:24Disputes along their shared border boiled over, and the two countries fought on and off until December,
01:31leaving hundreds dead and more than half a million displaced.
01:38Currently, there's a tentative peace between the two sides following a ceasefire in December.
01:43But there's no telling how long it will last.
01:46And so, Cambodian locals have turned to religion in search of spiritual reprieve.
01:53I prayed and asked the spirit to make sure our Cambodia does not have war with neighboring Thailand.
02:02This festival has been around for hundreds of years.
02:05It's a way for people to connect with their deities and to make it through hard times,
02:09praying for a little rain and a little peace.
02:13Leon Lin and Leslie Liao for Taiwan Plus.
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