Religion
As 2004, there were 27 pagodas in the province with a population of 1,918 bonzes. Pagodas are important for the Cambodian culture as a center of villages and cities. Some of the most important pagodas in the province:
- Upper Pagoda: It is also known as "Wat Chotynieng", or "Wat Lue". Located in a hill that overlooks Sihanoukville town is dedicated to Prince Chourn Nath, Cambodian Buddhist leader.
- Down Pagoda: It is also known as "Wat Krom". Located in Sihanoukville downtown. It is dedicated to Yeay Mao, a southern Cambodia divinity.
- Ream Pagoda: It is located in the Ream commune, near the Ream Naval Base.
Sihanoukville has other minority religious groups like Catholics, Muslims (Cham), Protestants and Animists. Other places of worship:
- St. Michael's Church: It belongs to the Catholic communities. There is a celebration for faithful visitors to the port in English every Sunday evening. The church was built in 1960 by sailors and it is located in the same hill of Upper Pagoda, facing the port.
- Iber Bikhalifah Mosque: It belongs to the Muslim communities. It is located in downtown, just in the popular Leu Market.
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A common altar to the ancestors.
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Statue of Mary at Saint Francis de Sales Chapel
Read more about this topic: Sihanoukville Province
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“Not thou nor thy religion dost controule,
The amorousnesse of an harmonious Soule,
But thou would’st have that love thy selfe: As thou
Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now,
Thou lov’st not, till from loving more, thou free
My soule: Who ever gives, takes libertie:
O, if thou car’st not whom I love
Alas, thou lov’st not mee.”
—John Donne (1572–1631)
“A chaplain is the minister of the Prince of Peace serving the host of the God of War—Mars. As such, he is as incongruous as a musket would be on the altar at Christmas. Why, then, is he there? Because he indirectly subserves the purpose attested by the cannon; because too he lends the sanction of the religion of the meek to that which practically is the abrogation of everything but brute Force.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“But is it not the fact that religion emanates from the nature, from the moral state of the individual? Is it not therefore true that unless the nature be completely exercised, the moral state harmonised, the religion cannot be healthy?”
—Harriet Martineau (1802–1876)