Archive | vietnamese clothing RSS feed for this section

Ok Om Bok Festival

29 Nov

The Khmer ethnic people annually celebrated their traditional Ok Om Bok Festival on the full-moon day of the tenth lunar month to shows their gratitude to the Moon Goddess for giving them a bumper harvest and rich aquatic sources.

Ok Om Bok is now a popular festival celebrated not only in Soc Trang but also in other Mekong Delta provinces of Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Can Tho, Kien Giang and An Giang. In the Khmer belief, the Moon Goddess is the one who cares for the crops, aquatic sources and human life. Also called Festival of Worshipping the Moon, the Ok Om Bok Festival of each village takes place on the yard of a local pagoda, and the whole province’s Ok Om Bok Festival takes place at Ba Om Pond. The festival is one of the three typical festivals of the Khmer in the circle of one year.

Interesting traditional activities…

Ok Om Bok features folk religion originated from Buddhism. The festival opens by a Ngo Boat Race (Um Tuk Ngua in the Khmer language), one of the most attractive activities of the Khmers. The race drew hundreds of thousands of Khmer people in the region and tourists nationwide. On the noon of the 14th day of the 10th lunar month, on the Long Binh River takes place the exciting Ngo Boat Race in the echoing sounds of the Five tones of the traditional musical scale and the resounding encouragement shouts of tens of thousands of audiences. The racing teams from different town and districts on the territory of Tra Vinh Province and neaby provinces bring a noisy and stirring atmosphere for the festival. Ngo Boat Race is both a game and a way to express the strength of consolidation, as well as a traditional ritual to see off the God Water to the ocean after the growing season, and a religious ritual of the Khmer to commemorate the Snake God Nagar, who once turned into a lump of wood to help the Buddha cross the river. It is honored as a sacred relic, used only in essential festivals like Ok Om Bok and is kept and preserved carefully in local pagodas. The boat is about 24 meters long, 1.2 meter wide and is able to hold about 40 people. Sitting in two lines midway along the sides, young Khmer men and women move gently in harmony with the sounds of gongs and waves. As the first boat crosses the finish line, the crowds on both riverbanks cheer loudly and enthusiastically for their victory. Hundreds of people enthusiastically support their favourite teams and enjoy the race. Attending the festival, you will have a chance to watch the jubilant and competitive boat race of the Khmer people.

During full-moon the night, Khmer family members gather in front of the communal pagoda or their houses and prepare a special feast with green rice flakes, ripe bananas, fresh peeled coconuts and mangoes to offer to the moon. When the God Moon rises, the offering ceremony begins with all family members sitting flat on the ground and clasping their hands in wait for the moon to rise. An elderly man expresses their gratitude to the moon and prays for continued good crops and good health. They prayed to the Moon for bumper harvests all the year round, prosperity and happiness. A jubilant atmosphere prevailed over the celebration sites where large members of people gathered to enjoy folk art performances, including floating flames, flying balloons, and Khmer stage arts of Du Ke and Ro Bam. Then, the village elders will pick up handfuls of “com dep” to put into the children’s mouths with a wish for their strong eating and rapid development (the word Ok om bok literally means eating “com dep” by picking up it and put into the mouth). After

the ceremony, they continue looking at the moon, while receiving green rice flakes from an elderly man and making their wishes. At the festive nights, tourists and locals walk in groups around the ponds and enjoy local food and buy souvenirs. All seem to forget tiring daily work and drift with the melodies and sounds of folk songs, diverse instruments and dance of the Khmer.

The night becomes more exciting with ethnic games and traditional fashion shows. Some join a contest of flying lanterns and silently contemplate the colors. A flying lantern is made with a bamboo frame pasted with paper. A tinder is tied under the frame then fired, which makes the lantern fly high in the air. The flying lantern rises higher and higher in a mysterious and romantic breeze as if bringing the hopes and beliefs of the Khmer people to the Moon God, who is tucking up the clouds to look down at the earth. At Ba Om Pond, the ritual of the flying-lantern release has become an exciting contest with the participation of tens of pagodas in the province under the encouragement of tens of thousands of festival participants.

The event also features water-lanterns made from bamboo and paper in the shape of a boat with colorful decorations. People make a line with a drum band ahead, whisper their prayers to God and gently drop paper-boats on the water. The river is indulged in peaceful and fanciful scenery. This is also the traditional time for couples to pray for their love and destiny. The festival celebrations also included traditional Khmer rituals and special performances by art troupes from other provinces. People also flocked to downtown Soc Trang for shopping at trade fairs and watching traditional sports and games.

Really interesting and meaningful, Ok Om Bok Festival is the most imposing festival in Mekong Delta. Once taking part in, and you will realize…

Ao Dai, the Vietnamese long dress

13 Oct

Source:  Vietnam Traditional Clothes

The beauty of women dressed in “Ao Dai”always leaves a deep impression on foreign visitors to Vietnam

The beauty of women dressed in “Ao Dai”always leaves a deep impression on foreign visitors to Vietnam. Girl students dressed in white long robes take to streets on the way to schools or back home, or gracefully sail on their bikes along streets. Female secretaries in delicate pastels greet you at an office door and older ladies in deep shades of purple, green or blue cut a striking pose at a restaurant dinner. The “Ao Dai” appears to flatter every figure.

Early versions of the “Ao Dai”date back to 1744 when Lord Vu Vuong of the Nguyen Dynasty decreed both men and women should wear an ensemble of trousers and a gown that buttoned down the front. However, not until 1930 did “Ao Dai”appear partly similar to its look today. Now, Men wore it less, generally only on ceremonial occasions such as weddings or funerals. During the 1950s two tailors in Saigon started producing “Ao Dai”with raglan sleeves. This creates a diagonal seam running from the collar to the underarm and this style is still preferred today

“Ao Dai”is made individually to fit each customer’s shape to create the most graceful look. Its body-hugging top flows over wide trousers that brush the floor. The pants should reach the soles of the feet and flow along the floor. Splits in the gown extend well above waist height and make it comfortable and easy to move in.

Comfortability is always taken into account for fashions and beauty. Tailoring must ensure the wearer’s freedom of movements. Despite it is a long robe, “Ao Dai”must be cool to wear. Synthetic or silk fabrics are preferred as they do not crush and are quick drying, making the “Ao Dai”a practical uniform for daily wear.

The color is indicative of the wearer’s age and status. Young girls wear pure white, fully-lined outfits symbolizing their purity. Older but unmarried girls move into soft pastel shades. Only married women wear “Ao Dai”in strong, rich colors, usually over white or black pants. However, “Ao Dai”is rarely seen in places where manual work is practiced. The nineties saw a real resurgence of ao dai. It has become standard and common attire for girl students as well as female staff at offices and hotels. Traditionally, “Ao Dai”has become the most preferred dress on formal occasions.

Today, “Ao Dai”has been a bit modified. Its length is cut shorter usually just below the knee. Variations in the neck, between boat and mandarin style, are common. And even adventurous alterations such as a low scooped neckline, puffed sleeves or off the shoulder designs are appearing as ladies experiment with fashion. Color patterns are no longer rigidly controlled and accesses to new fabrics have generated some dazzling results. However, most visitors to Vietnam have highly appreciated local tailors’ skills when making ao dai. It is hard to think of a more elegant, demure and charming outfit, that suits Vietnamese women of different ages, than ao dai.

Beauties with conical hats, glasses and fashion

1 Oct

The 30 contestants of Miss Vietnam 2008 pageant practiced on a big stage at the Hoai River Square, Hoi An on August 28, to prepare for the final night this Sunday (August 31). captured the rehearsal.

Photo: S.Ha – Phuc Chu

Conical Hat (or Non La)

21 Aug

Take a peasant’s common conical hat, add a touch of this and a little of that, and you will have the idea, but not quite an authentic Non Bai Tho or “Poetical Leaf” from Central Vietnam. Just a few simple arrangements added to the conical form are enough to give the Vietnamese leaf-covered hat unique features found nowhere else among Asia’s various types of conical hats.

The legend of the conical hat is related to maternal love and the history of rice growing in Vietnam.

Once upon a time, the legend says, when a deluge of rain was falling there descended from the sky a giant woman wearing on her head four huge round leaves as large as the sky itself and stitched together by bamboo sticks. The leaves protected humankind, then still naked, from the rain. The giant messenger from the sky twirled round the leaves on her head to dispel clouds and rains. Those who followed her were taught by her how to grow crops. One day mankind dozed off as they listened to stories narrated by her. When they woke up the goddess was gone. The Vietnamese built a temple in her memory and honored her as the Rain-shielding Goddess. Following her example, people went into the forests to fetch broad and round leaves (palm) which they stitched together on a bamboo frame. This was to become an indispensable headwear for the farmers on the fields, boatwomen carrying passengers across rivers, travelers under the blazing sun…

However, Vietnamese girls do not like just any conical hat they come upon. The dearest to them is inevitably the one called the “Poetical Leaf “for they become milder, more elegant and more delicate when once they put on a hat, which gives shelter to their blushing cheeks like a crowing bud protected from sun, rain or rough wind. Vietnamese women also use the conical hat to fan off the heat of summer, as a container for a bunch of vegetables, and even as a bowl to relieve the thirst when passing by a well, etc. Romantically, young couples can veil their kisses behind this traditional conical hat during their dates.

The shape as well as the size of the conical hat has evolved greatly. As a rule, the broad-rimmed hat was reserved for women while men wore hats with a higher cone and smaller rims. Then, there were hats made specifically for wealthy and powerful people, hats for children, hats to equip the army, hats for the Buddhist clergy, for the mourners…, more than 50 types in all. Undoubtedly, the two best known and best liked are the conical hat of Chuong village in Ha Tay province, north of Hanoi, and the “Bai Tho”, hat of Hue, the old imperial city.

The prototype of Lang Chuong hat is a large disk-like bamboo frame covered with palm leaves and perpendicularly bent on its rim to form a band of about four inches. At the centre is placed a small bamboo frame to fit the head. The strap is usually very elaborately made of silk, adorned with yellow tassels also made of silk. This hat used to be worn by upper-crust families during visits to pagodas or festive occasions.

The present conical hat is, however, patterned on the “Bai Tho” hat originating in the old capital city of Hue and the birthplace of many eminent literary men. It is true that the place where the hat comes from has been romantically famous with its peaceful Huong (Perfume) River and its majestic Ngu Binh (Peace) mountain. Moreover, Hue has been famous for her attractively sentimental, soft-voiced and long-haired girls who often gave inspiration to poets whose creative works have been handed down to the present day. And the “Poetical Leaf” has a prominent place in all that poetical, dreamy and yet scholarly diet of the ancient city. It is so called because the artisan takes great pains to cut the characters of a verse out of a palm leaf and insert them between two layers of palm leaves before stitching them together. The characters will be easily readable when the hat is seen against sunlight. Nowadays the characters are usually replaced by a decorative figure such as a flower, a dragon or even a landscape.

The making of a conical hat is a one-hundred-percent handicraft. The leaves used to cover the hat are brought from the forest. Then they are exposed to the dew for one night to soften them. When the leaves become dry but still soft they are flattened either by hand or by ironing. Only young leaves are selected. Old or dark ones are discarded. A hat usually consists of 16 to 18 rims made from a special kind of bamboo. In order to have a well-made hat, it must be knitted together with a peculiar kind of thread called “doac” made from the leaves of a special kind of reed. Finally, the hat is trimmed and painted with a coat of attar oil to keep it clean and smooth.

The skill of the craftsman (who in this case is more likely a woman) can be judged by the regularity of the leaves arranged on the hat. The roundness of the rim and particularly the fineness of the stitches which must be so done as to reveal no knot.

Although the conical hat is no longer the cities women’s everyday costume, it remains the ubiquitous headwear in the countryside. And a young girl with her conical hat, quite charming in her four-flapped long dress, is always a popular image of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people.