Wat Dhammararam Buddhist Temple to celebrate Cambodian New Year this weekend
The Stockton Cambodian community will celebrate one of its annual significant holidays this weekend.
The Wat Dhammararam Buddhist Temple, located at 3732 E. Carpenter Rd. in Stockton, will host the Cambodian New Year from 10 a.m. Friday, April 12, through 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16.
The multi-day celebration at the Stockton temple with colorful statues, music and Khmer delicacies draws thousands of people to experience Cambodian culture in San Joaquin County.
"The Stockton Cambodian Buddhist Temple features over 90 colorful and larger than life jewel encrusted statues that celebrate the life and story of the Cambodian Buddha," Visit Stockton states on their website. "You have to see it to believe it ... the temple boasts a 50-foot-long recumbent Buddha."
This year is the year of the dragon.
The Wat Dhammararam is among the largest Cambodian Buddhist temples in California, and temple leaders envision it as a Northern California hub of Cambodian culture, The Record reported more than a decade ago.
In 2023, according to the U.S. Census, San Joaquin County reported a population of 800,965 people, with 19.5% identifying as "Asian, alone."
"I remember going to the temple when it was merely a mobile home in rural Stockton," Sophaline Mao, who grew up in Stockton and is co-founder of the Association of Khmer-American Professionals of Northern California, told The Record previously. "Since its humble beginnings, I have seen the temple evolve into what it has become today - a sanctuary for those who seek Buddhist spirituality from the everyday stresses, families who come to offer their sons into monkhood or seek spiritual advice/blessings from the monks."
Temple is also a place where Cambodian residents feel connected, and get to experience "their 'old home' in this new country," Mao stated.
The life of Buddha
The statues at the temple depict the life of Buddha.
"This is the most important statue and every Temple must have one on its grounds. Laypeople come to trust monks when they see this statue," a Visit Stockton Stockton Cambodian Buddhist Temple Guide states. "The reclining Buddha measures 54 feet long and 12 feet high. It took four months to build the body and an additional six to seven months to build the throng."
Kong Tith, a Buddhist monk and current head of the Wat Dhammararam Buddhist Temple, "is the Michelangelo to the 10-acre Wat Dhammararam's Sistine Chapel," The Record reported in 2014.
"Bright artwork is everywhere, much of it the result of hands-on work by Tith," The Record reported then.
He arrived in the United States in 1997, long after the initial rush of refugees who fled Cambodia following the Khmer Rouge genocide of 1975-79, the paper reported.
The Record reached out to Tith for comment on this year's Cambodian New Year Celebration. He could not be reached immediately prior to publication.
The celebration is free and open to everyone in the community.
Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Cambodian New Year Stockton
