Yeay Mao
Encyclopedia
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
. Her main place of veneration is in the south of the country, at the Pech Nil pass about 62 miles (100 kilometers) south of Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
, on the road to the sea port of Sihanoukville
Sihanoukville
Sihanoukville , also known as Kampong Saom, is a province in southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand. This port city is a growing Cambodian urban center, located southwest of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. The province is named after King Father Norodom Sihanouk and grew up around the...
. She is considered the protector of travellers and hunters. Drivers still stop at her temple along National Road 3
National Highway 3 (Cambodia)
National Highway 3 or National Road No.3 is one of the national highways of Cambodia. With a length of , it connects the capital of Phnom Penh with Veal Rinh. The road underwent significant refurbishment in 2008 and forms part of an international "North-South economic corridor" from Kunming in...
to pay their respects and wash their cars with water from the stream nearby.
History
The history of Yeay Mao is unclear, because it is mixed with several legends and interpretations. There are many popular stories surrounding her. It is said that she was a beautiful lady married to a powerful warrior. When he died, she took control of the armies against the ThaiThailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and became a celebrity. The story is placed sometime before the French Colony
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(1863–1953).
Another version says that Yeay Mao was the wife of Ta Krohom-Koh (តាក្រហមក) - literally "Grandpa Red Neck
Khmer language
Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language , with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious...
". They lived in the forest near Pech Nil Mountain (ភ្នំពេជ្រនិល). Once they went around and they met a tiger. Ta Krohom-Koh abandoned his wife and the tiger devoured her.
Since then, any traveller who passed by the place of the accident, paid respect to her spirit to avoid a similar fate.
When they built the highway between Phnom Penh and the sea in what is today Sihanoukville, a small temple was built at the spot. The road was finished by the French in 1876, a fact that increased the pilgrimage to the temple. It included Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese and Chinese believers.
Celebration
The main feast is celebrated in June. The believers go to the Temple or any place destined for the veneration, to bring sacred food, especially pig head, chicken soup, the sla-toa (ស្លាធម៌) - a coconut adorned with flowers and leaps and used in religious celebrations in Cambodia, the bay-sei (បាយសី)- section of banana tree trunk with legs to which three to nine layers of banana leaves rolled up in finger shape have been attached. It is used also in certain ceremonies..
The place of the veneration must be set with three statues:
- Yeay Sau (យាយសៅរ៏): A female spirit, that is the wife of Ogn (អ៊ុង), the kabural tgnol (កាប៉ូរ៉ាលថ្នល់), guard of the paths.
- Ta Snong Long (តាស្នងឡុង): "Grandpa Snong Long", considered the son of Yeay Sau and Ogn.
- Long Mao: She is the same "Yeay Mao".
Beliefs
According to Seik Sopat and Sadang Tuo, the story of Yeay Mao dates from 1866, when she was a spirit of cruelty that attacked any traveller that did not pay respects to her at Pech Nil Mountain (ភ្នំពេជ្រនិល).If the person to whom the spirit sent strong pains because ignoring to pay veneration to her, repented, that person was healed. But if that person did not repent, he or she could die.
It was also believed that if a person presented his offering asking to hurt an enemy, the spirit used to fulfil the wish.
In 1900, the French army destroyed the first temple and the divinity came in decadence.
During the short Japanese invasion of Cambodia in 1940, the army of that country gathered the farmers of Kampot Province and Vietnamese, Chinese and Cham Cambodians, to dig trenches at the ancient sacred place. According to the legend, the workers desecrated the site, bringing the fury of the spirit. People started to suffer epidemics and many died. They explained these epidemics as the fury of Yeay Mao.
In order to placate the spirit, the people started again to offer gifts to Yeay Mao and the veneration revived. After the villages near to Pech Nil Mountain, pray to the divinity asking for health and protection. If there was, for example, a theft, they pray to the spirit to punish the criminal.
External links
- The World of Spirits, gmc missions, 7 January 2009.