Dinner served for hungry ghosts

About 200 people celebrated the annual Ancestors’ Day  Festival at the Khmer Buddhist Society’s temple at Marsden in October.

Ancestors’ Day is also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival and Pchum Ben, which translates as “to gather together” and “a ball of food”.

Temple secretary, Sovannary Uk, says the festival, which marks the end of the Buddhist lent, involves offering food to help release bad karma from the past.

“We pay our respects to our ancestors for keeping alive our culture and religion which is very important for Cambodian people,” he says.

The spectacular and colourful Khmer Buddhist temple is in Third Avenue.