TRA VINH – In the Tra Cu district, the profession of making hats and masks is “hereditary” because it is not only knowledgeable about culture and history but also requires ingenuity and meticulousness.
Tra Vinh has about 330,000 ethnic Khmer people (accounting for 31% of the population), with 143 Khmer pagodas with unique architecture. The pagoda is not only a place to preserve profound spiritual and religious values, but also a center of cultural activities of the Khmer people. Visitors coming here not only learn about spiritual and cultural architecture but also can enjoy unique art forms from the five-tone orchestra to ethnic dances such as Chhay-dam drum dance, Ro dance. Hashing or singing Aday, singing Du Ke… along with visiting and learning about and making traditional masks with artisans.
In the performing arts, traditional dances, and songs of the Khmer people in the South, the crown and mask are two special costumes with mysterious and sacred colors, expressing the folklore of the Khmer people. Southern Khmer. The Khmer people in the South call hats bearing the heads of characters or mascots in folklore and beliefs.
I had the opportunity to visit artisan Kim Manh’s house in Thanh Son commune, Tra Cu district, Tra Vinh province to learn about this unique heirloom craft. He has nearly 30 years of experience in the profession of making crowns and masks and is one of only four households that still keep this profession in Tra Vinh province. The artist said that he was very pleased that the commune, district, and province had supported the construction of a cultural space where Khmer masks were made for the artisan’s family to work regularly, instead of waiting for orders as before.
The profession of making crowns and masks is a “hereditary” profession because it requires not only a deep understanding of Khmer culture, history, and traditional art forms, but also requires skillful and meticulous hands. . To make a crown or mask, the artisan must go through a number of stages such as making a mold, applying fabric or gluing paper and painting decorative patterns, and although they must adhere to many basic principles, the artist is still Creative in your own style.
To create molds for crowns and masks, artisans often use soft clay to mold, shape the head and detail the eyes, nose, mouth, ears… and then dry them. Today, many artisans often use cement to create molds. This method has the advantage that the mold can be reused many times.
After the mold is dry, the maker will use a cloth (curtain cloth or coarse cloth cut into pieces about 5×7 cm) or paperboard, newspaper dipped in glue, and then glued on the mold. The glue here can be obtained from the resin of the green hop fruit (like Tamanu fruit, a local tree) or using glue or industrial glues.
The mold is filled with 8 to 12 layers of cloth or paper to create a certain thickness and hardness for the crown and mask. After the mold is covered with cloth or paper, it is dried for the layers of fabric or paper to firmly adhere and then smashed the clay mold inside, thus having a rough crown or mask. Particularly for the crown, it is necessary to perform additional shaping for the top of the head, then decorate the pattern, paint to create color. Depending on the character that needs to be shaped such as Mrs. Zhen, Hanuman monkey, queen, princess, clown face… but the artist must adhere to specific standards of styling, colors, and patterns, very closely. tight, infallible. Sometimes it takes a month to make a crown or mask.
The crowns for characters such as queens, princesses, and octopuses must be shaped like a spire, with patterns on the top, typically flame patterns representing power and authority, floral patterns representing light. The Krap mask set is a humanoid mask expressing joy, anger, love, and stain, including 6 pieces, human skin color or white, each with its own characteristics, expressing its own personality. each character, like having a cat mouth, a wide mouth, a big nose, a slit eye, a toothless mouth.
According to artisans, among the cultural products of the Khmer, the Chan crown and mask are the most unique. In Khmer temples, Chan often stands in pairs on either side of the temple gate or around the main hall, shown in the form of a tall person with a fierce face, wide eyes, wide mouth, red tongue, and teeth. jagged sharp fangs, a pyramidal hat on his head (Stupa), his body armor, his feet in sandals, his hands resting on an ax like the image of Vishnu (the god of conservation) or Dvarapala (the protector of the Dharma) in sculpture. carving Southeast Asia. In the rituals of Khmer folk beliefs with agricultural traditions, they knew how to reconcile beliefs related to octopus and Buddhism, and borrowed the image of Chan to express their desire to ward off evil, welcome peace, and good luck. good luck in life. Chan appears with the function as the god to protect the people, protect the pagoda with the meaning: Good triumphs over evil, justice triumphs over cruelty. The profound philosophicalness is that evil is not necessarily evil, and good is not necessarily good.
The most interesting is when listening to the artist explain how to use it. These types of crowns and masks are often used in Khmer traditional holidays and festivals such as Chol Chnam Thmay New Year, Ok Om Bok festival, Don Ta festival… or performed in various forms. Traditional Khmer arts such as Ro hash dance, Chhay dam dance, Aday singing, Du Ke singing… In the performing arts of the Khmer people, masks and masks are props for character impersonation.
When wearing a crown or mask, the actors are no longer themselves, they incarnate in ecstasy in the character, especially reviving mythological characters. Artists want to direct viewers to art in art because masks and crowns are inanimate but in fact, it is an elaborate visual art.
If you wear the crown and mask for the first time, you will definitely feel a heavy head feeling. So you will understand the value of the artist performing this unique traditional art form.
Not only Khmer people, but also from ancient times, in the world, there are many places in the world that use masks in carnivals, rituals to pray for a good harvest, cure diseases, and ward off evil spirits. The mask is likened to a “mask” in the shape of a god to protect people and against evil spirits or external enemies the same way we wear masks to prevent Covid today. Follow vnexpress