Khmer new year celebration

Maha Songkran is the name given to the first day of the new year celebration.  It marks the ending of the old year and the beginning of a new one. People dress up and light candles and burn incense sticks at shrines.  The members of each family pay homage to offer thanks for the Buddha's teachings by bowing and kneeling three times before his image.  For good luck people wash their face with holy water in the morning, their chests at noon, and their feet in the evening before they go to bed.