CAMBODIANS HONOR ANCESTORS WITH TRADITIONAL FOLK DANCES.

Byline: Jenifer Hanrahan Daily News Staff Writer

The teen-agers changed out of their baggy blue jeans and slipped into glistening gold, green and red costumes. They took off their sneakers and went barefoot.

With flower blossoms and lacquered coconut shells, the Van Nuys Classical Dance troupe performed traditional Cambodian folk dances Saturday for their families at the Golden Valley Auditorium in Van Nuys.

About 300 members of the San Fernando Valley's Cambodian community were celebrating ``Prachum Ben,'' the Festival of the Ancestors, one of the two most important holidays on the Cambodian Buddhist calendar.

The other is Cambodian New Year, which is observed in April.

Many of the older generation of Cambodian immigrants came to the United States in the early 1980s to escape the brutality of the Khmer Rouge. For them especially, the festival is a chance to celebrate traditions in a country that still feels foreign.

``It makes us happy. It's important for the sons and daughters to keep our traditions and culture,'' said Sok Mom, president of the Van Nuys Cambodian Association, which organized the event. ``If we don't, our culture will be lost to them.''

Tammy Yem, 17, a senior at Van Nuys High School, taught the other teens dances she had learned from Sophanery Ouk, who learned them while in a Thai refugee camp.

The students practiced every day after school for three months to master the controlled and graceful movements.

``I just think it's fun,'' Tammy said. ``In school, I'm American. At home, I'm Cambodian. This is my Cambodian identity.''

The festival began with a blessing, prayers and a chant by four Buddhist monks from Wat Tricot, a Buddhist temple in Los Angeles. Each family brought food as an offering to the monks and to the souls of their ancestors. Tables overflowed with Cambodian dishes made with noodles, pork, shrimp, mushrooms and dried banana blossoms, and a sweet cake made with rice, beans and pork.

For Brenda Sim of Van Nuys, the festival was especially poignant. Sim, who emigrated to the United States in 1981, returned to Cambodia three weeks ago for her mother's funeral.

``This is the best time for me to pray to her and my other relatives who have passed away,'' Sim said. ``We feel like everything we bring here goes to them.''

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) Teen-agers clack coconut shell halves in time with rhythmic steps during a performance at the Golden Valley Auditorium in Van Nuys.

(2) Tammy Yem, 17, a senior at Van Nuys High School performs a flower blessing dance.

(3) A young girl takes in the festive mood at the festival Saturday.

David Richard Crane/Daily News