text: After his victory, concurrent with the crowning of King Ang Chan I in 1529 AD, he celebrated the Bondet Bratib ceremony every year with candles at night to commemorate the victory over the Đại Việt and to give thanks to the goddess Ganga (Preah Mae Kongkea in Khmer language).
  French protectorate
  As early as 1873, depictions of a Cambodian racing boat appeared in the French publication Le Magasin Pittoresque, and in 1887 the French magazine Les Colonies Françaises dedicated several pages to the meaning of the Water Festival. The festival had been celebrated occasionally after Phnom Penh became Cambodia's capital in 1866 during the French Protectorate period.
  After World War II, the Water Festival was also celebrated in Phnom Penh in 1945, and then in 1953, after the Independence of Cambodia from France. In the 1960s, the scope of the festival grew with double the number of boats participating in the Phnom Penh boat racing festival compared to prior years. The festival was suspended during the Cambodian Civil War, but has been celebrated since the 1993 General Election supervised by UNTAC, until now. However, it has frequently been suspended because of incidents, natural disasters, and most recently because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
  Dancing on the racing boats