PHNOM PENH: As November approaches and the waterways of Cambodia and Thailand prepare for their annual celebrations, a question frequently resurfaces on social media and in public debates:
Who copied whom? Did Cambodia adopt its water festivals from Thailand, or did Thailand inherit these traditions from the earlier Khmer civilisation?
The answer requires moving beyond modern nationalism and returning to the oldest witnesses available to historians: stone inscriptions, temple bas-reliefs and archaeological records.
History is best understood not through contemporary claims, but through evidence left by those who lived it.
When discussing Cambodia’s Bon Om Touk (Royal Water Festival) and Thailand’s Loy Krathong, the most important evidence predates the modern borders of either country.
The walls of Bayon Temple and Banteay Chhmar, constructed during the reign of King Jayavarman VII in the late twelfth century, contain detailed bas-reliefs depicting naval warfare on the Tonle Sap, fleets of long vessels, organised rowing formations, military commanders and ceremonial activity associated with the waterways. These scenes have been widely recognised as depictions of Khmer naval battles and river life during the Angkorian era.
The significance of these carvings extends beyond military history. They demonstrate that water-based ceremonies, organised boat traditions and river-centred state activities were already deeply embedded within Khmer civilisation centuries before the formation of later Thai Kingdoms.
The visual record is not folklore. It is archaeology.
Long before the rise of Ayutthaya and even before Sukhothai emerged as a major regional power, Angkor’s rulers had already immortalised their relationship with water in stone.
To understand the origins of regional water festivals, one must first understand the nature of the Khmer Empire itself.
Angkor was built around one of the most sophisticated hydraulic systems in pre-modern history.
The Tonle Sap Lake, canals, reservoirs, and rivers sustained agriculture, transportation, defence and religious life. Water was not simply a resource. It was the foundation of state power.
The annual reversal of the Tonle Sap River, unique in the world, became intimately connected with seasonal celebrations, harvest cycles and royal ceremonies.
Bon Om Touk emerged within this environment as both a celebration of nature and a remembrance of naval strength. The longboat races that remain central to the festival today echo practices that can be traced to the Angkorian period.
Thailand’s Loy Krathong is today one of South-East Asia’s most celebrated festivals, attracting millions of visitors every year.
Its modern form developed within Thai society and deserves recognition as an important part of Thailand’s cultural heritage.
However, historians have long acknowledged that the origins of many mainland Southeast Asian water rituals are complex and interconnected. Various studies and cultural references identify influences from earlier Hindu-Buddhist traditions that spread through the Khmer cultural sphere and the broader Indianised civilisations of the region.
Some scholarship notes that comparable floating-water ceremonies existed during the Angkorian period before the traditional Sukhothai-era narratives commonly associated with Loy Krathong.
This does not mean that modern Thailand “stole” its traditions.
Rather, it reflects a historical reality: cultures inherit, adopt, adapt and localise traditions from neighbouring civilisations over centuries.
The same historical pattern can be observed with the April New Year celebration.
Known in Cambodia as Moha Sangkranta and in Thailand as Songkran, the festival originates from the Sanskrit concept of Saṅkrānti, marking the sun’s transition into Aries.
These astronomical and religious traditions entered mainland South-East Asia through Indian influence many centuries ago and became deeply rooted in the Khmer cultural world.
As Tai-speaking populations gradually established kingdoms in areas once influenced by the Khmer Empire, many existing religious, calendrical and ceremonial customs were adopted and incorporated into emerging Thai traditions.
Over time, Thailand transformed Songkran into a globally recognised celebration, while Cambodia maintained its own ancient version of the festival rooted in the same civilisational heritage.
The historical record does not support a simplistic accusation that one modern nation copied another.
Yet if the question concerns which civilisation provides the earliest documented physical evidence, the answer is clearer.
The Angkorian Khmer Empire left behind twelfth-century bas-reliefs, inscriptions and monumental architecture demonstrating organised water ceremonies, naval traditions and river-centred cultural life. These records predate the later court traditions commonly associated with the development of Thailand’s major water festivals.
Therefore, it is more accurate to say that many water-related traditions celebrated today across mainland Southeast Asia emerged from a shared cultural landscape in which the Khmer Empire played a major and early role.
History suggests not that Cambodia copied Thailand, but that later regional kingdoms inherited and adapted traditions that already existed within earlier civilisations.
Recognising historical precedence should never be confused with cultural hostility.
Cambodia’s Bon Om Touk, Thailand’s Loy Krathong, Songkran, Laos’ Bun festivals, and Myanmar’s water celebrations all form part of Southeast Asia’s rich civilisational tapestry.
The goal of history is not to diminish another culture.
The goal is to understand where traditions came from, how they evolved, and what the surviving evidence reveals.
And when we return to the temples of Angkor, the bas-reliefs continue to tell their story in silence.
For those willing to look at the stones, the record remains there for all to see. - The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
Tesh Chanthorn is a Cambodian citizen who longs for peace. The views and opinions expressed are his own.
