Cambodian New Year, though framed today as a Theravāda Buddhist festival, rests upon a ritual and cosmological foundation that clearly bears the imprint of earlier Brahmanical–Hindu influence. The very timing of the celebration is determined through astrological calculations rooted in Hindu astronomy and astrology, drawing on a solar-lunar system and zodiacal considerations that reflect classical jyotiṣa traditions. This astrological framework is not merely technical; it encodes the sense that cosmic forces and planetary deities shape the transition from one year to the next, and that human communities must align themselves with these larger rhythms. In this way, the festival becomes a moment when Buddhist ethics and Hindu cosmology quietly meet.

The presence of deities and celestial beings within the New Year rites further reveals this synthesis. Each year is associated with a new “angel” or devata who presides over the coming cycle, a pattern that resonates with Hindu notions of guardian deities and planetary powers overseeing time. Stories surrounding these beings, including legends that link them to Brahmanic figures and cosmic contests, echo the narrative style of Hindu myth, even as they are retold in a Buddhist moral universe. The use of divine female figures, such as the seven Tevoda, parallels the role of goddesses and attendant deities in Hindu tradition, suggesting a continuity of symbolic imagination beneath the changed doctrinal surface.

Ritual practice during the festival also reflects this Brahmanical heritage. Offerings of fruit, flowers, incense, water, and light are arranged on altars in a manner closely resembling Hindu pūjā, with a clear intention to invite, welcome, and honor celestial beings who bring prosperity and protection. The structure of these ceremonies, historically shaped by Brahmin priests and Sanskrit-derived mantras, has influenced both royal and popular observances, even where explicitly Hindu names and forms have been softened or reinterpreted. The bathing of sacred images and elders, the sprinkling of water, and other acts of purification parallel Hindu rites of snāna, abhiṣeka, and śuddhi, expressing a shared concern with cleansing misfortune and inaugurating an auspicious new cycle.

Symbolic acts in the communal sphere deepen this shared spiritual language. The construction of sand mounds or stupas, often understood as evoking Mount Meru within a Buddhist context, also resonates with the sacred mountain at the heart of Hindu-Buddhist cosmology. Such practices embody a vision in which the human community re-creates the ordered universe in miniature at the threshold of the year, reaffirming its place within a cosmos governed by both karmic law and divine guardianship. Through these layered forms—astrological timing, devotion to devas, pūjā-like offerings, and cosmological symbolism—the New Year becomes a living testament to the way Cambodian Brahmanism and Buddhism have intertwined, not as competing systems, but as mutually shaping currents within a single spiritual landscape.