Laos Essential Artistry

Favorite Laos Photos

Laos is a colorful country, to say the least, reflected in the beautiful natural-dyed colors in our gorgeous silk Lao textiles to the colors of vegetables you can see in many of the village markets. We love this shot of the hot peppers, purplish egg plants and the reds and greens of the cherry tomatoes. The Lao actually prefer their tomatoes a little unripe (greenish color) as they have a more sour taste. And the Lao love sour!

Offerings to Buddha in Laos

I was recently reading through one of our many books on Laos, Impact: The Effects of Tourism on Culture and the Environment in Asia and the Pacific Tourism and Heritage Site Management in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR The book was published by UNESCO, Bangkok, 2004. You would think it's fairly technical from the title, but it has a lot of great information about Luang Prabang and Theravada Buddhism I haven't read anywhere else. In the chapter titled Heritage there was a description of what the typical offerings to Buddha symbolize. I often wondered why at tak bat, and here at home, Bai always is buying fruit that she places on her alter on "Buddha days." Now I know why and it makes sense. And the description adds more significance to one of my favorite photos I took on my first trip to Laos in November 1998 of a young girl at Wat Phu wanting us to buy incense and flowers to offer to the Buddha shrine at the sanctuary at the top of the hill.

Offerings to Buddha

"Offerings to Buddha images are made to remind us of the Buddha’s teachings. It is common to see a variety of offerings in Luang Prabang. These include the following:

Candles, which are offered to drive away darkness. They symbolize enlightenment and the light of knowledge which dispels the darkness of ignorance.

Incense, which provides a fragrant smell and symbolizes pure moral conduct. It reminds us to conduct ourselves well.

Water, which symbolizes purity, clarity and calmness.

Fruit, which symbolizes the fruit of enlightenment, which is our goal, and is representative of all actions having a reaction.

Flowers, which represent impermanence because their beauty and smell eventually whither and die.

Lotus flowers, which represent the potential or actuality of enlightenment as the lotus grows out of mud and rises above the water. Likewise, the Lord Buddha rose above his suffering and defilements to gain enlightenment."

We are planning a tour to Laos in June 2010 and understanding the importance of Theravada Buddhism in Laos will be a key component of our tour. We will post more information about the tour on our blog and out tour section on our Laos Essential Artistry Home Page.

Dok Champa Silk Flower Pins

 

Giving back in meaningful ways is an essential part of our philosophy at Laos Essential Artistry. Over the last seven years we have primarily supported literacy efforts through donating money for book box libraries given to rural schools through the Reading Promotion Program sponsored by the National Library of Laos and most recently by sponsoring book parties through Big Brother Mouse and buying books published by Big Brother Mouse, giving them to students and teachers during our travels in remote Huaphan Province.

On our last trip we made the effort to learn more about the work of an important growing organization in Laos, AFESIP Laos [Acting for Women in Distressing Situations] that is dedicated to fighting human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and women in Lao PDR. Nicholas D. Kristof, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner columnist for The New York Times since 2001 has been writing about the trafficking of children and women for many years and in several of his columns he has written about the Somaly Mom Foundation in Cambodia, and it was Somaly Mam who was the original founder of AFESIP in Cambodia and she recently visited the AFESIP Center in Savanakhet, Laos on July 3.

We are impressed with the work AFESIP Laos is doing and want to offer the opportunity for our customers to purchase Dok Champa Silk Flower Pins that are handcrafted by the rehabilitated women who have been vocationally trained and professionally employed by LOPPA (Lao Organic Product Promotion Association) through ASE (AFESIP Social Enterprise). AFESIP Laos combats the causes and consequences of trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls. In addition to providing holistic care and recovery for those rescued, AFESIP offers vocational training to support sustainable community reintegration and these beautiful Dok Champa silk flowers pins are just one of many fair trade products they produce.

The Dok Champa Silk Flower Pins are available for $5 each or are free with every order over $100 and we will include one free with each purchase of one of our Carol Cassidy Weaves of Cambodia Rainbow Silk Scarves. Please note that he materials used to create the Dok Champa Silk Flower Pins are synthetic, not real silk, but "silk-like."

The Dok Champa (Plumeria) is the national flower and official symbol of Lao PDR. The waxy flower with a sweet scent can be found in many colors: red, yellow, pink and multiple pastels. For the Lao people, Dok Champa represents sincerity and joy in life. The flower is often used as a decoration in ceremonies or made into a garland to welcoming guests. The Dok Champa blooms everyday and lasts a long time. The trees are planted throughout the country and in particular, can be seen near the monastic areas.

Below are several photos I’ve taken of Dok Champa flowers in Laos over the year. Aren’t they beautiful!?

Buddhists request forgiveness at Horkhaosalak Festival in Vientiane, Laos

In the article we're reprinting from the Vientiane Times about a recent Buddhist festival, the observation is made that "Temples around the country were crowded with women of all ages wearing the traditional sinh (long skirt) combined with colorful silk blouses." It is interesting to note that it's not just old women wearing sinhs, but women and girls of all ages. Women wearing a sinh represent the best in Lao culture and we're proud at Laos Essential Artistry to be the only online business in the United States promoting and selling Lao Sinhs. Lao sinhs are Lao textiles and most Lao sinhs are handwoven out of silk. Our silk Lao textiles represent some of the best textiles being woven in Laos. Laos Essential Artistry is just a click away.

_____________________________________________________________________________ "The sounds of Saiyanto, a Buddhist chant, wafted from the temples of Vientiane last Friday as monks and novices gathered to celebrate the Horkhaosalak Festival.

Monks receive gift baskets at That Luang temple.

Believers took time from their jobs and studies to join in the festivities at their local temples.

Though Buddha departed from our world more than 2,500 years ago, his teachings remain to remind followers to make merit for themselves and their ancestors on important days in the Buddhist calendar .

Each year on this occasion the faithful get up early to take gift baskets to the temple by 7am. Offerings may include fruits, sweets, dried fish and meat, salt, sugar, rice or flowers, varying from family to family.

Temples around the country were crowded with women of all ages wearing the traditional sinh (long skirt) combined with colourful silk blouses. Young men were in formal clothing.

Their faces beaming with happiness, long ranks of believers stood on the temple grounds, embracing their silver bowls, waiting to place their offerings on long tables to be received by monks.

At 8am senior monks recited the five commitments to encourage lay people to make merit and give blessings.

After that they were welcomed to give their alms directly to the monks. At every corner of the temples, believers poured water from small bottles to ask Ngamae Thorani (a spirit guardian) to tell the spirits of their relatives it was time to receive their offerings.

If fortunate enough to have the time, festival participants sat on the sala (where monks and novices eat) to listen to the legend of the Horkhaosalak Festival.

Many see sharing a breakfast together after the monks and novices eat as a way of building solidarity amongst the community.

A resident of That Luang Neua, Ms Daomani, said the festival was an important opportunity to make amends with ancestors, relatives and the spirits of those whom she might have ag grieved in the past.

She hopes her actions during the festival will help the spirits grant forgiveness for her errors in this and past lives, and that she will be blessed with good health, success and protection.

However, she said she was aware these actions were symbolic, and that if you wanted to have better health and success in work, love or your studies, it depended on your own efforts.

By Ounkham Pimmata
(Latest Update September 7 , 2009)

Horkhaosalak Festival in Laos: a time to remember ancestors

Older people become an alarm clock for their family members on the important Buddhist day, Horkhaosalak, often rising as early as 4am for the festival.

An activity not familiar to the youth of our society, it's apart of daily routine for the older generation to wake early and provide food, candy and fruit as alms to monks and novices in their community.

This is particularly true during the Horkhaosalak Festival. Members of the older generation get together to fold banana leaves for khaotom and place other offerings into baskets the day before the festival begins.

Older people in each community will go to temples to help monks decorate the centre hall, or sim, and prepare places to welcome devotees.

Offerings include fruit, sweets, dried fish and meat, salt, sugar, rice, or flowers, depending on the family. It has become the festival's symbol, passed down and practiced from generation to generation.

During the festival, markets in Vientiane are bursting with colour due to the various baskets made up by vendors and put on offer for the convenience of believers.

They believe offering these alms directly to monks and novices at temples makes merit to ancestors who have passed away to encourage their rebirth.

A monk at Ongteu temple said the custom of offering a basket to monks follows the legend of the son of a rich family whose father died when he was child. When he became an adult, his mother selected a beautiful woman to marry him.

Unfortunately she was unable to get pregnant, so her mother-in-law decided to look for a new spouse for her son. Eventually, the man's new wife became pregnant and his first wife grew afraid that this child would inherit her husband's property. To ensure that the child did not receive the inheritance, she poisoned the first as well as the second child.

During her third pregnancy, the man's second wife decided to live with her relatives, but his first wife still seeks vengeance, and gets it. Before the second wife dies, she prays to be reborn as a giant to eat her murderer's children.

The two go through several rebirths, each time seeking revenge. Until they are born in Buddha's period, the second wife is reborn as a giant and the first wife is Nang (Ms) Kulatida who marries a rich man.

When Nang Kulatida has children, the giant changes herself to a normal woman so they won't fear her. She succeeds in gobbling up Kulatida's first two children.

Upon the birth of her third child, Kulatida and her husband seek refuge from the giant at Phraxetavanmahavihan temple and ask Buddha for help.

Buddha tells Phra Anon to invite the giant standing outside to enter and listen to teachings about the mistakes of revenge. Buddha then orders Nang Kulatida and her husband to take care of the giant.

From then on, the giant is looked after by Nang Kulatida in her field. Each year the giant gives advice on planting rice. This makes Nang Kulatida's family rich from selling rice and she brings alms to the temple in a basket eight times per day.

This is one reason why Lao people respect this custom.

Aunt Keo explains with a wide smile that each year she prepares several kinds of offerings for her basket.

She joins her children on the afternoon of the festival's eve to make khaotom. The next day she gets up at 4am to cook food and prepare offerings for the important Buddhist day.

She believes that the festival is an important opportunity to apologise to ancestors, relatives and other spirits who they may have faulted in this or past lives. They request forgiveness from those spirits along with blessings of good health.

The Horkhaosalak Festival is an annual tradition, which falls on September 4 this year. The festival usually takes place after Horkhoapadapdin Festival, during the tenth month of the Buddhist calendar.

Getting up bright and early on this Friday will help you touch on Lao tradition and culture. You have an opportunity to see women wearing traditional skirts, or sinhs, combined with colourful silk blouses. Young men wear formal but stylish clothing.

They carry baskets and silver bowls with offerings on their way to temples in their communities.

At temples you can see believers put a small piece of paper into the basket, this is called Salak.

Salak means lucky draw in Lao. People coming to the temples write the names of their family members on the paper. They believe this helps to haven guardians to remember their goodness.

The baskets containing the pieces of paper will be brought to the stage where monks sit. The monks then read the names. When someone's family member is called they will bring Horkhaosalak and baskets directly to the arms of the monk.

They believe these offerings will go to their specific relative spirits.

It is common to see many people pay homage to the wisdom of Buddha.

They ask the spirits of the dead to protect their house and family and to ensure good health, even if they don't have enough time to go to the temple.

After the end of a special ceremony at 9am, monks recite the teachings of Buddha and tell the history of Buddhist Lent.

Sharing a breakfast together after monks and novices eat is also a way of building solidarity amongst the community.

From the Vientiane Times

By Ounkham Pimmata
(Latest Update September 4 , 2009)

Some of our favorite photos of Laos in an Animoto video

Animoto videos are pretty darn cool. We see great potential with the videos for the work we do. And while most of the process is automated in an intuitive way, there's enough flexibility to let someone creatively control some of the process. I like being able to add our own music tracks and iTunes makes it easy to convert music tracks to mp3's.  As long as the track is not protected you'll be able to convert it to MP3format which is required by Animoto. And for the video beneath this one featuring our Hmong storycloths we extracted the audio from a video we took in Xieng Khuang Laos of young very talented Hmong girls singing Kwv Txhiaj, a kind of sung poetry. We did that in iMovie exported the audio as an AIF file, imported it into iTunes and then converted it to an MP3 file. We will soon be experimenting with adding some video clips to the video too. Lots of potential, so look forward to more Animoto videos from Laos Essential Artistry!

Like/love photography and want to take photos like these in Laos? Or even better? Think about going on our tour to Laos next June. Limited to six people. The tour will provide plenty of fantastic photo opportunities, count on it. More info on our Yahoo store site here.

Hmong Spirit People Cloths from Laos featured in Animoto video

These handmade appliquéd cloths are only made by these Hmong women in remote Muang Sing in northeastern Laos. Wish we sold more so we could order more to help out these incredibly creative Hmong ladies.  Muang Sing is so far off the beaten path followed by "regular" tourists that the textiles  handmade by these Hmong women along with the cotton textiles handwoven the Tai Dam women from Muang Sing remain hidden treasures yet to be discovered. That's why we created Laos Essential Artistry, so everyone can see and hopefully purchase some of these beautiful textiles that would otherwise remain "hidden" away in Muang Sing. And you can't go wrong at $25 each. Check them out at our Yahoo store.

The soundtrack for the video is audio extracted from a video we took of three young Hmong girls singing Kwv Txiahj in their remote Hmong village in Xieng Khuang, Laos. We posted this video on YouTube and have received hundreds of comments, mostly from American Hmong women so impressed with the singing ability of these young girls. Kwx Txhiaj is difficult to sing and uses words and tones not easily understood by American Hmong who have been separated so long from traditional cultural practices as still practiced in Laos.

Horkhaopadapdin remembers ancestors, preserves traditions in Laos

This month many Lao people will prepare a small decorative offering wrapped in banana leaves. Inside will be fruit, sweets, dried fish, flowers and other small food items. Shaped like a boat, it is called a Hor khao.

Lao people will get up early, at 3-5 am to take their Hor khao to go to the temple or place it around their house.

With only the light from candles, people will pray to relatives who have passed away to accept their offerings.

Abandoned spirits who are suffering will also be offered a gift.

Every year Lao people celebrate the Horkhaopadapdin festival this way

Lao people believe that on this day, August 20, when they remember their deceased ancestors the guardians of hell will release them and other spirits to eat the food being offered.

People believe that if they do not give an offering, then they will not have success in work or business.

Some even believe this is the reason for the global economic slowdown.

Despite this, true believers have never stopped having faith in Buddha nor have they ceased to ask their ancestors' spirits to accept the offerings they have provided.

The festival usually takes place after the Buddhist Lent in the eighth or ninth month of the Buddhist calendar.

The day before Boun Horkhaopadapdin begins you can see people, especially in rural areas, getting together to fold banana leaves with rice and ripe banana. It is called a Khaotom.

Up to nine kinds of offering are placed in a Horkhao.

A monk at Simeuang temple said according to legend, Phra Chao Phimphisan had relatives who stole food and fruit from the temple.

When they passed away they became Pheds, spirits who have to take care of the temple because of their bad deeds.

One day, Phra Chao Phimphisan dreamt of his relative crying in pain and hunger.

In the morning he asked the Buddha what the dream meant. Buddha told him these spirits wanted him to donate something and make merit for them to enable them to be reborn.

Why do Lao people celebrate the Horkhaopadapdin festival?

Lao people believe placing food and sweets in packages wrapped up in banana leaves on the ground and fences at houses and temples during Horkhaopadapdin festival brings merit.

They believe this action will help their ancestors, relatives and other spirits have something to eat. In turn, they will be blessed with good luck and happiness in their lives.

The date of the festival depends on the Buddhist calendar, and this year it will fall on Thursday.

Devotees will prepare nine kinds of food and place them inside a Horkhao on this day.

In temples around the country monks will prepare the areas and decorations in the cental hall or Sim (where monks perform rituals) to welcome people who come to make merit.

Buddhist flags will often be placed on the sides of the temple's entrance to show it is an important day for devotees of the faith.

On Thursday residents of each village will begin emerging from their homes around 3 am, and on arrival at the temple they place their offering around the wall, the stupas of dead spirits, under trees and on the ground.

They invite the spirits to eat and call for mercy for them, so they can be reborn and freed from suffering, blessed with wealth and good health.

About 7-8 am, temples become joyous once again, when they become crowded with young people accompanying their parents to pay homage to the wisdom of Buddha.

Nowadays the festival is also seen as an opportunity for young people to show more modern versions of traditional clothing.

The women wear a traditional skirt called a sinh but will combine this with a colourful silk blouse. Young men wear formal but stylish clothing.

Giving alms begins with the senior monk in the temple telling lay people about the five commitments and encouraging them make merit.

After that they are allowed to bring offerings such as candies, Khaotom and money directly to monks at a long-table with aluminum bowls. They believe these offerings will go to their specific relative spirits.

It is usual at this time if you see many people pay homage to the wisdom of Buddha.

They ask the spirits of the dead to protect their house and family and to have good health, even if they don't have enough time to go the temple.

After the end of a special ceremony at 9 am, monks recite the teachings of Buddha and tell the history of Buddhist lent.

Sharing a breakfast together after monks and novices eat is also a way of building solidarity amongst the community.

Later in the day at 8 pm, people, especially young partners use this occasion to show their love for each other by holding bunches of flowers or candles with incense and pray to Buddha together by walking around the central temple hall three times and to acquire his blessings.

But don't forget, asking for blessing is not just for success in work, business or love.

To improve life depends very much one's own actions.

 

By Ounkham Pimmata
(Latest Update August 19, 2009)

Preparation of Ikat Silk for weaving into Sinh Fabric in Laos

Ikat Weaving Process in the Tai Daeng Village of Nongbouatong from Laos Essential Artistry on Vimeo.

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This is a SLOW video. Have you heard of the Slow Food Movement? I mean... that kind of slow. The kind of video that is just like being there. Sitting quietly, observing, absorbing the weaving life of these Tai Daeng women. But, they're not weaving here. They are involved in wrapping silk threads to create ikat patterns and also removing the plastic wrapped threads after the silk has been dyed. It's a slow, pain-staking process, but like much of the work in Laos, it's buffered by the chance for conversation. People don't realize how much work goes into the creation of ikat textiles, whether they be scarves or sinhs. There's the initial process of tie-dying the silk and then the actual weaving. This video lets you feel like you're there, sitting with the women. We have some beautiful ikat textiles that are a tremendous bargain considering the artistry and time it takes both to create the ikat and weave the textiles. Check out our Ikat Sinhs and our exclusive Silk Ikat Display Textiles

Laos Woven Bamboo Strips Photo

Laos Bamboo Woven Fence5
Originally uploaded by Laos Essential Artistry.

Does anyone else love the contrasting texture and color of the woven bamboo strips? We saw these panels being dried in the sun in Sam Neua. Check out the other photos in the series on our Flickr site.

Weaving in Nongbouatong

As we write in our Laos Essential Artistry website, under the section Nongbouatong, most of the families are Tai Daeng and almost all of the weaving being done is by Tai Daeng Weavers. This weaver was quite good, and watching her you can begin to understand the how talented the weavers must be to create a quality textile, like our Tai Daeng Silk Ceremonial Cloths.

Isn't she impressive? It takes about 12 long days to weave one of our Tai Daeng Silk Ceremonial Cloths.

Monk's Robe and Hands

Monk in temple doorway

This was taken in the early evening (usually around 6:00) when most of the monks gather for evening prayers (chanting). I guess this monk was a little late and decided to just "listen in."

Children at That Luang Festival 2007

The last time I was in Laos during the That Luang Festival was 2000 and I made sure my wife and I could document the whole festival as fully as possible. I have lots of photos to share and aren't these kids cute?

Girls Carrying Wood

When we were driving up in Huaphan Province between Sam Neua and Sam Tai we passed this group of four girls carrying wood. Since my wife is Lao, it works out great in a situation like this because we stopped the car and got out and Bai was able to ask them some questions and I was able to take a few shots. Bai is super friendly and it makes a huge difference when she is able to talk with people, such as these girls, which makes them more relaxed and open to having their photo taken.

The reality in Laos that girls work hard and it's almost always the girls and women who you see carrying wood. It's a never-ending task because without wood there's no fire, and without a fire, how can one cook a meal? There is in larger towns and cities the option of using charcoal, but that costs money, and wood, with effort is free, so in rural areas photo opportunities like this are fairly common...