Lamduan Festivals
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The tiny lamduan flower with its tripartite design and six petals is distinctive in both appearance and in the subtle fragrance that it emits.
Mahouts bring their elephants from neighboring Surin Province to take part in the Lamduan Festival's festivities.
Intent on getting the photo as this moving behemoth approached me, I didn't realize until I'd released the shutter that he was about to plow right over me. He was giving a ride to some of the fairgoers.
Descendants of generations of proudly independent elephant masters, the mahouts from Surin Province are skilled in the capture and training of these great animals, whose numbers are dangerously in decline. Elephants, once essential to Thailand's logging industry, were also used for transport and in warfare, and a royal white elephant was the symbol that emblazoned the national flag of Siam.
Making leis with the aromatic blossoms of the lamduan tree
A Suay woman demonstrating the technique of handlooming silk. Silk fragments over 4,000 years old were among the artifacts excavated at Ban Chiang, in northern Isaan, and techniques of silk making have been passed on among Isaan women for countless generations.
Lamduan Festival ThailandSuay in Isaansilk making IsaanSuay in Sisaket
Silk making provides a means of income during the dry season while Isaan farmers await the rains that will allow rice planting to begin anew. Mulberry trees, whose leaves are fed to silkworms, don't require a lot of water and are thus well suited to Isaan's arid climate.
The fruit of the ebony tree, maklue in Thai, is the source of the black dye used in Isaan silk making.
Local musicians playing traditional Isaan music on traditional instruments. The xylophone-like instrument in the foreground is a pong lang.
Lamduan Festival ThailandIsaan musicpong langSuay in Sisaket
The kaen on which this musician is performing is made from 16 bamboo tubes and is capable of producing five different pentatonic, or five-tone, modes. Its sound is not unlike that of an accordion.
Traditional Isaan music is often quite vigorous, marked by a strong, pulsating rhythm.
Happily taking in the music at the festival, these little Isaan girls didn't know whether to smile or to be bashful in front of the camera .
Suay dancers performing at the festival. The Suay are also known as Kui or Kuay.
Lamduan Festival ThailandSuay in IsaanSuay dancingSuay in Sisaket
Suay men and women performing the "grasshopper dance"
Lamduan Festival ThailandSuay in IsaanSuay dancingSuay grasshopper danceSuay in Sisaket
Originally a nomadic tribe, the Suay, in addition to Thai, speak a Mon-Khmer language that is distinct from Thai. Today, their highest concentration is in Sisaket Province.
Lamduan Festival ThailandSuay in IsaanSuay dancingSuay in Sisaket
To honor the spirits of their ancestors, at least once a year the Suay perform a sacred ceremony, of which the dancing seen here is a part. More information on this particular ceremony is in the next gallery, "Lamduan Festivals 2."
Lamduan Festival ThailandSuay in IsaanSuay dancingSuay in Sisaket
