Traditional Wedding Music of the Khmer
It is impossible to be without this kind of traditional music at a
Khmer wedding reception in the South of Vietnam
Though there has been much change in the wedding
customs of the Khmer, traditional wedding music has
been well preserved by its people. Researchers have
collected some ten ceremonial songs and folk songs
which used to be sung at wedding receptions. The
traditional songs sang at the wedding are
expressions of the feelings and characteristics of
the people's lives in the Khmer community.
Each song is equivalent to a specific rite in the
wedding, such as leading the bridegroom to the
bride's house, asking for the breaking of the fence
to get into the house, and the beginning of the
ceremony. The ceremony incorporates the rituals of
the hair cut, the pounding solution for dying teeth,
the cutting of betel flowers into pieces in order to
scatter them on heads of the young couple, the
drawing of a sword out of its sheath, the binding of
thread around the wrist, the kowtowing of the sun
god, the act of entering into the wedding room, the
sweeping of the wedding mat, and the greeting of
parents and relatives. The reception lasts until the
young couple see off their wedding guests.
|
