khmer culture

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The Beauty of Tradition
Walk through the door of a traditional Khmer house in the center of an old warehouse building in Phnom Penh and center the intricate and fascinating world of Cambodian handicrafts – a centuries-old world reviving in fine fashion.
In front of you is a room of silks in muted, earthy colors woven on looms similar to those used hundreds of years ago. Look around and find carved dancing Apsaras, threatening Garudas and other figures from a mythic past. On one side you see baskets, platters and plates woven of tough vines harvested from the jungles by generations of women. And look over there -silver bowls in the shape of elephants, deer, wild pegs, fish and goats. Here is traditional furniture; there, leather goods.
This is a Bassac Crafts Center, comprising a group of organizations that are leading the Kingdom’s crafts revival and working to establish high standards for quality. These community development organizations -including the Sobbhana Foundation, Lotus Pond, the School of Fine Arts Association, Tabitha, Wat Than Crafts, Khemara House, JSRC, the Women’s Association of Cambodia and Krousar Thmey- assist poor families and the disabled. Their crafts are for sale –retail and wholesale- with proceeds supporting efforts to revive the traditional crafts. Cambodia’s culture of handicrafts goes back to the early years of the county’s history, to the day when god-kings were erecting the massive monuments of Angkor. The ancient traditions of weaving, sculpting and carving were passed on from generation to generation.
Most of this came to a halt in the 70s, when the Khmer Rouge considered the arts elitist and artisans were forced into the fields. But the revival is well underway.Across this land of green rice paddies, shining blue waters, great wandering rivers and lush forests, the people of Cambodia are learning and re-learning the arts of their ancestors. In doing so, they are creating a market for lovers of fine handmade goods available at markets around the country.
The revival is occurring with the assistance of long-term Government rural development programs, and is complemented by national and international non-government community development programs throughout the Kingdom. The Sobbhana foundation –founded by Her Royal Highness Princess Norodom Mari Ranariddh in 1983 as a shelter of war orphans in a refugee camp on the Thai border –now operates three training centers in Phnom Penh. It is named in honor of Samdech Rasmi Sobbhana, the Royal Aunt of King Norodom Sihanouk , who dedicated her life to social action -in particular, the education of women and children. The Foundation signifies the important role the Royal family plays in culture and the arts.
Since its establishment, the Foundation has trained more than 4.000 women in weaving, embroidery and sewing, passing on skills and at the same time reviving the arts of Khmer ancestors –silk weaving, basket making, wood carving, silver working and stone sculpting.
SILK WEAVING
Go to a long, thatch-walled shed west of Siem Reap. In mottled sunlight and shade, a young Khmer woman sits at a wood-frame loom. Patiently she works colorful threads of silk, blocking the sshuttle back and forth, watching quietly as a lovely fabric of subtle hues emerges. She is a student at Chantier Ecole, funded by Caisse Francaise de Developpement, a French financial institution supporting the development.
Around her, other young women sit at looms. In another hut a carpetful of young men wind spindles and skeins of silk thread unraveled from bright yellow and whit cocoons bobbing in a metal pot of water heated over a small fire. In still another hut, hundreds of silkworms much away at long mulberry leaves on a round wicker platter, or slumber away in cocoons woven on frames. Outsides, other students tend 33,000 young mulberry trees grown from gifted twigs, learning to cultivate and fertilize them.
When the student finishes the course, she and the others will know all there is to know about making silk, from the planting and caring for mulberry trees to selling the colorful dresses, purses and bolts of find silk cloth they produce. then she will returned to her northwest village of Prayut, apply for a small loan, buy a loom and become a businesswoman in an 800-year-old trade.
You also can visit silk weavers on the island of Koh Dach in the Mekong north of Phnom Penh, historically a center for weaving; purchase the colorful purses and dresses, exuberant bolts of silk.
Color, texture and patterns determine the use of silk: they are embroidered with gold and silver threads, woven with bold vertical stripes, shimmering contrasting color, or in ancient patterns of elephants, fish and jasmine flowers. When a woman is to be wed, she weaves a fabric for her husband that he will treasure for years and be wrapped in on the day of his death. In the smallest villages, women take great pride in donning their heirloom silk, glistening with age.
SILVER
Travel to Kampong Luoung, the old Royal port in Kandal Province, where villagers craft intricate silver bowls in the shapes of fruits, elephants, deer, wild pigs, fish and goats.
Or they fashion fine plates and trays, cutlery and candlesticks. The villages have specialized in silver work for centuries, says Ros Chan Thou, who retails their work in Phnom Penh and wholesales it to Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. The silver is imported from Singapore and Hong Kong but the craft is pure Khmer, ornate filigree work passed on from early generations. Silversmithing reached its height during the 11th century when the crafted objects were used primarily by Royalty and the upper class for ceremonial purposes, funerary and religious rituals.
BASKETS
Go west of Seamreap again. Down a dirt road through sparkling rice paddies you will find weavers at every house. In the shade under one stilt house, three generations of women laugh and gossip while their fingers deftly shape pencil-thick reeds into traditional platters, baskets, plates and bowls. They range in age from 15-year-old Chon Noy to 57-years-old Heang Nung, who learned the craft from her mother and grandmother. Weaving steadily from dawn to dusk, they produce a plate in two days for sale locally, and big baskets for export to neighboring Thailand. They harvest the vines themselves, trekking off toward the jungle and returning at night with material to last several days. At dusk, one can easily see bicycles packed with the day’s harvest returning to the villages. They do all the work. Chun Neng, 18, cross-legged in a traditional sarong, skillfully strips thin threads for weaving, running them along a razor–sharp knife.
A few meters down the road five teenage girls sit in a thatched lean-to at roadside, with a fat pink-and-gray pig asleep at their feet. They weave small bowls with "legs" used to make offerings at pagodas, weddings and other occasions. Each makes three bowls a day, and sells them to help contribute to the livelihood of the family. They sit along the roadside; they giggle to attract customers. Their marketing plan is simple, but effective, as their day’s production sell quickly. It is a small triumph of art and business in a distant rice paddy, but it is part of a larger success across the country, the revival of tradition, and the rebirth of native art.
Wood carvings reflect strong spiritual beliefs with roots in animism –from the pillars of a house to the elaborate motifs of moons, stars, fruits and flowers. Houses are built with great attention given to the pillars, each having its own spirit, that of a woman and the roofs feature elaborate carved motifs. Miniature "spirit houses"-used to make offerings of food, flowers and incense- are strategically placed at homes and other buildings. Boxes and other carvings are used for ornamentation and furniture.