Children perform a dance during the Cambodian Fellowship Christian Reformed Church New Year celebration Saturday at the Holland Civic Center. (Robert Kanavel/Sentinel contributor)Apr 11, 2010
By BLAKE THORNE
The Holland Sentinel (Michigan, USA)
Holland, MI — It’s fitting that the Cambodian Fellowship Christian Reformed Church picked Saturday to celebrate.
It was three days before the Cambodian New Year and six days after Easter — the two holidays they were celebrating.
“Tonight, we gather together in hope,” said Mark Wilson, a member of Cambodian Fellowship, as he gave a sermon to the crowd of about 150 at the Holland Civic Center. “The hope of the new year, the Cambodian New Year. And the hope of Easter.”
The Cambodian New Year celebrates many of the same themes as the western-style New Year, like new beginnings and a fresh start, said elder Steve Cheung.
With Easter falling so close, it makes sense to celebrate the two together, he said.
“We still love Jesus Christ, but we don’t forget our culture,” he said. “So we celebrate it all together.”
The celebration included authentic Cambodian food, music and dancing and guest speakers, including Ben Meyer, academic dean and registrar for Kuyper College, and State Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R- Holland.
Members of other churches and ethnicities came out to the event, as well.
A chaplain with Request Foods, Pete DeHann has been to the celebration in previous years.
“It’s a very good time,” he said. “And the food’s to die for.”
Dressed in a silk, two-piece traditional Cambodian outfit, Deb Wilson helped tend a table covered with Cambodian goods for sale. The items — from traditional scarves and artwork to T-shirts — were brought back from a mission trip.
Along with her husband, Mark Wilson, Deb Wilson lived in Cambodia for 10 years, she said.
With such a large Cambodian population in Holland, the annual New Year and Easter celebration has been a good way to bridge the cultural divide, she said.
“I think it’s a really cool blending of belief systems.”
It was three days before the Cambodian New Year and six days after Easter — the two holidays they were celebrating.
“Tonight, we gather together in hope,” said Mark Wilson, a member of Cambodian Fellowship, as he gave a sermon to the crowd of about 150 at the Holland Civic Center. “The hope of the new year, the Cambodian New Year. And the hope of Easter.”
The Cambodian New Year celebrates many of the same themes as the western-style New Year, like new beginnings and a fresh start, said elder Steve Cheung.
With Easter falling so close, it makes sense to celebrate the two together, he said.
“We still love Jesus Christ, but we don’t forget our culture,” he said. “So we celebrate it all together.”
The celebration included authentic Cambodian food, music and dancing and guest speakers, including Ben Meyer, academic dean and registrar for Kuyper College, and State Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R- Holland.
Members of other churches and ethnicities came out to the event, as well.
A chaplain with Request Foods, Pete DeHann has been to the celebration in previous years.
“It’s a very good time,” he said. “And the food’s to die for.”
Dressed in a silk, two-piece traditional Cambodian outfit, Deb Wilson helped tend a table covered with Cambodian goods for sale. The items — from traditional scarves and artwork to T-shirts — were brought back from a mission trip.
Along with her husband, Mark Wilson, Deb Wilson lived in Cambodia for 10 years, she said.
With such a large Cambodian population in Holland, the annual New Year and Easter celebration has been a good way to bridge the cultural divide, she said.
“I think it’s a really cool blending of belief systems.”
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