In Cambodia, where Theravāda Buddhism shapes the religious landscape, the observance of Hindu festivals such as Shivaratri has become a subtle, almost understated current within a broader Buddhist milieu. The most enduring expressions of this festival are found among hereditary Brahmin families and small Brahmanic communities, many of whom are historically linked to royal and state ritual. For these groups, the night dedicated to Śiva is marked by pūjā to the liṅga or to small images of the deity, with offerings of flowers, incense, lamps, fruits, and libations of water or milk. Sanskrit mantras are recited, sometimes alongside Khmerized Hindu chants, and the atmosphere is one of concentrated devotion rather than mass celebration. Participation tends to be limited to those lineages and their associates, so the festival remains low-profile rather than a public spectacle.

Beyond these circles, traces of Shivaratri-like observance appear in the ritual life of the royal court and in state ceremonies that preserve older Brahmanical forms. Here, Shaivite elements are woven into a tapestry of rites for the king and the nation, with Śiva invoked alongside other deities and auspicious Buddhist formulas. Such rituals may not be publicly named as Shivaratri, yet night offerings to ancient royal liṅga and related practices echo the older Shaivite calendar. The emphasis in these contexts is less on sectarian identity and more on protection, prosperity, and the continuity of the kingdom’s sacred guardianship. In this way, what might once have been a clearly defined Hindu festival now survives as part of a layered state cult.

For the wider Buddhist population, Shivaratri as a distinct festival is largely unknown, yet the presence of Śiva is still felt in more diffuse, syncretic ways. Pilgrims visit ancient temple sites—especially those with surviving liṅga or Shaivite iconography—offering incense, candles, flowers, coconuts, or fruit without strict concern for doctrinal boundaries. At such places, Śiva may be perceived less as a separate Hindu god and more as a powerful neak ta or protective being within a broader sacred ecology that also includes Buddha images and local spirits. Buddhist ideas of merit-making and auspiciousness quietly frame these acts, even when the outer form of the ritual is recognizably Brahmanical. Thus, the spirit of Shivaratri persists not as a grand festival, but as a set of devotional gestures absorbed into Cambodia’s Buddhist–Brahmanic synthesis.