page_title: Bon Om Touk
section_title: Dance on the Boats racing
hierarchical_section_title: Bon Om Touk / Dance on the Boats racing
caption_attribution_description: English: Dance on the boats racing​ is a dance that represents the spirit of boat maintenance sometimes form the art of motivating racers in Cambodia Royal Water &amp; Moon Festival. Photos: Bon Om Touk 2016
context_page_description: Bon Om Touk, or the Cambodian Water & Moon Festival, is a Cambodian festival celebrated in November, sometimes ending in late October. It marks the reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap River. It corresponds both to the lunar Mid-Autumn Festival and to the Loi Krathong water festival in Thailand. The festival is marked by dragon boat races, similar to the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival.
  Visitors from every town and province travel to Phnom Penh to watch boat races along the Sisowath Quay and visited illuminated floating royal boats with firework and attend free concerts in the evenings over night. The festival lasts three days, and commemorates the end of the country's rainy season, as well as the change in flow of the Tonle Sap River. It includes boat races and concerts, and attracts several million people each year.
context_section_description: The art of dancing on the bow of the boat has been around for many years and is believed by all citizens to represent the soul of a boat keeper, or boat spirit, Which may be the spirit of the woman or man who came to take care of the boat by lighting incense Sen Pren invited before the team took their boat to race officially in the Royal Water Festival. The tradition of having women dance on the bow of the boat continues in the minds of Cambodians to this day. The art of dancing on the bow of the boat also features a man representing the leader of the boat, who shouts for his team to operate in unison, energetically and harmoniously to reach their destination. All racing boats are always painted in the eyes of the boat, which makes the boat seem alive, representing dragons floating on the water as well.
caption: Dance on the boats racing