For some young Cambodian refugees and their families in the U.S., having a traditional Cambodian wedding helped keep them connected to the culture of the war-torn homeland they left behind in the mid-1970s and 1980s. For Khung Sokunthea of Seattle and her groom, Hin Chanrotha of Sterling, VA, this meant a marriage arranged by their families and a daylong wedding celebration that mixed Hindu and Buddhist traditions with Cambodian folklore. The ceremony began with a processional of the groom and his family and friends, and included several changes of wedding costume, and ceremonies symbolizing the couple’s passage from their previous lives into their new life together.

Here, Hin Chanrotha, left, and Khung Sokunthea pose for the first time as husband and wife after their traditional Cambodian wedding ceremony.

Caption information source: “Traditional wedding links Cambodians with their past” by Evelyn Iritani, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 4, 1989, pp. 15-16.