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Video by salalao of Lao Artist such as: Marc Leguay, May Chandavong, Kongphat Luangrath, P Noy, Anousa P, Mongkham Bualavanh, Khamsouk Keomingmuang,Mick Saylom, Anoulom Souvandouane, and Sorasinh Bannavong
I recently visited a friend and they have this inside their home. It’s one of the most beautiful water buffalo sculpture that I’ve ever seen. It’s about 30 inches tall, and he said that he has the burden to carry it around, they’ve moved 3 times and can’t get rid of it.
It belongs to his father, it’s over 30 years old and his father brought it to America with them 30 years ago because they were farmers in Taiwan, and this is to remind them of who they once were, so every time his dad visits his family, this is the first thing that he would ask to see. None of the other children wanted it, so the burden falls on him.
I wonder if he thought it is ugly because he has it in the basement’s bathroom, and the only time that it is placed at the front entrance is when his dad visit. If my dad were to give this to me, I would think it’s such an honor, but of course, everyone see things differently.
I noticed what appears to be a henna painting on my co-worker’s right arm; he recently visited Karachi and Dubai. I believed Dubai is where he had the henna painting, rode the camel, sand boarding, and smoked a hookah, all in one day.
I knew what it was because I recently read a Thai article in Koosang Koosom Magazine (photos below) about henna or mehndi, which the article describes the art of henna as the cultural symbol of love. My co-worker described the painting as the symbol of love and lust, he has scorpion henna. I asked him if it was painted by a female, and he said yes, and she is also a belly dancer. Interesting I thought and I didn’t ask him further.
According to Wikipedia, Mehndi (or Henna) is the application of henna as a temporary form of skin decoration, in South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Somaliland as well as expatriate communities from these areas. It is typically employed for special occasions, particularly weddings. It is usually drawn on the hands and feet, where the color will be darkest because the skin contains higher levels of keratin, which binds permanently to lawsone, also known as hennotannic acid, which is a red-orange dye present in the leaves of the henna plant.
Sonals hand by Elena
The patterns of mehndi are typically quite intricate and predominantly applied to brides before wedding ceremonies (photo below). However, traditions in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sudan sometimes expect bridegrooms to be painted as well. In Arabic and Persian speaking countries, such as Morocco, it is done for any special occasion. It is done during the seventh month of pregnancy, after having the baby, weddings, engagements, family get-togethers, as well as many other reasons to simply celebrate an event.
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle by dahon
According to the Thai article, this is an old age tradition, it is evidenced that Egypt were the first nation to have used henna painting because they discovered henna painting on a finger, and toe of a 5,000 years old mummy. Henna is used for hair coloring, mainly to cover gray hair, and also used as herbal medicine to treat skin problems. Therefore, it is highly likely that the tradition of henna painting later on migrated to India by means of merchants, and migration due to war.
In India, henna is first used as hair coloring, then later on used to henna body for various occasions, and mainly for beauty. It is even used for occasion such as Sati, an inhumane tradition where the wife is being burned alive on her husband’s funeral pyres, even before death, she still wants to henna painting for beauty.
Khartoum2 by Johan - No Idea
I wrote a post on Is Tattoo Just A Body Art or A Cultural Sacred Design and this has been my most popular post as many people are interested in tattoo. There are 2 main reasons as to why people decide to get tattoo, as for some, they only see tattoo as a body art, the canvas is on the human body, a very fascinating concept to me. I don’t have a tattoo, but I do see the beauty in tattoos and this type of tattoo is more popular amongst women and very popular in Japan from what I have came across.
Tattoo Bride Photo by Nahpan
Uploaded by Jose M. Ruiz Garrido, actress Angelina Jolie attends the premiere of “Ocean’s Thirteen”; at the Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California June 5, 2007. The tattoos on Jolie’s arm represent the coordinates of the birth places of her children.
This video of Thai spiritual tattoo, also known as Sak Yant by Ajahn Noo Kanpai is very interesting, I’ve seen the actual temple tattoo on a friend, which I think it’s fascinating because it’s not your ordinary tattoo; the design has a religious feel to it.
Ajarn Noo does 2 types of tattoos, and both are cultural sacred designs. The first is at the very beginning of the video where the designs of the tattoo is invisible, but the main purpose is to gain wisdom, possess power of kindness as he uses a special ointment of varnt (special roots from plants), the process of Sak Yant is exactly the same as using black ink, in this case a very sacred design.
Another is the sacred design that deemed to possess magic power of protection; he puts Monh (magic) of prayers inside the design, which I believed was written in Pali, Sanskrit. Thai Temple tattoo of Sak Yant (photo on right hand side,) which is geometrically designs that deemed to possess magic powers of protection is very popular amongst Asian warriors, such as the Thais, Laotians, and Khmers in the old days and still very popular today.
There are other designs such as the lion (Singhto), which is a symbol of bravery and cunning. Thai men would choose a tiger design, not just a picture of a tiger but tattoo their body to look like tiger, many have had designs that covered every square inches of their body. The reason for the tiger design is that Thai people, especially the Lanna, believed that their ancestors were once tiger, therefore to show respect and in remembrance of their ancestors, they’d choose the tiger design. Another popular one is the hanuman, which is the Hindu monkey god, which is to protect against illness, against being shot, against being cut, and to give courage.
In part of the video where the men have strange reaction, it is believed that the sacred designs that were tattooed (Sak) into their body, whether it be the tiger, dragon, or hanuman would come out and they’d act like the animal that they chose, and this is a sign that that person truly gained the power of protection. Sak Yant is very fascinating to me; to the Thais, Laotians, Khmers, and many others, tattoo is not just a body art but also a sacred design.
A photo below, a young monk has a tattoo of prayers added to his back at Wat Bang Pra, Thailand; photo by Stephen Shaver
In Chinese culture, certain numbers, 6, 8, and 9 are believed to have auspicious meanings because their names sound similar to words that have positive meanings. The word for eight in Chinese (Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means prosper or wealth. In regional dialects, the words for eight and fortune are also similar, eg Cantonese “baat” and “faat.”
There is also a resemblance between two digits, “88,” and the Shuang xi (double joy), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters (xi, ‘joy’, ‘happiness’).
The Summer Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to open on 8/8/08 at 8:08:08 p.m.
According to Buddhism, the Wheel of the Law is one of the many signs or symbols that are holy to Buddhists because they stand for our religion and make us think of its teachings when we see any of these symbols. The wheel has 8 spokes, which are the rules of pure conduct (the Eightfold Path, Right Understanding, Right Aims, Right Speech, Right Actions, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Meditation) the equal length of all the spokes represent justice; wisdom is the tire, the hub is thoughtfulness and the axle is the immovable truth.
With all this explanation about number 8, Bob’s comment of wanting to see the strange photos that I received from my oldest sister is comment 888, lucky you, here are the photos, very twisted indeed…just like number 8, auspicious 8 that is.
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