Pchum Ben (Parabhava Suttra)

Pchum Ben ("Ancestors' Day") is a 15-day Cambodian religious festival, culminating in celebrations on the 15th day of the tenth month in the Khmer calendar, at the end of the Buddhist lent, Vassa. In 2013, the national holiday falls on 03, 04, 5 October in the Gregorian calendar.The day is a time when many Cambodians pay their respects to deceased relatives of up to 7 generations.Monks chant the suttas in Pali language overnight (continuously, without sleeping) in prelude to the gates of hell opening, an event that is presumed to occur once a year, and is linked to the cosmology of King Yama originating in the Pali Canon. During the period of the gates of hell being opened, ghosts of the dead (preta) are presumed to be especially active, and thus food-offerings are made to benefit them, some of these ghosts having the opportunity to end their period of purgation, whereas others are imagined to leave hell temporarily, to then return to endure more suffering; without much explanation, relatives who are not in hell (who are in heaven or otherwise reincarnated) are also generally imagined to benefit from the ceremonies. In temples adhering to canonical protocol, the offering of food itself is made from the laypeople to the (living) Buddhist monks, thus generating "merit" that indirectly benefits the dead; however, in many temples, this is either accompanied by or superseded by food offerings that are imagined to directly transfer from the living to the dead, such as rice-balls thrown through the air, or rice thrown into an empty field. Anthropologist Satoru Kobayashi observed that these two models of merit-offering to the dead are in competition in rural Cambodia, with some temples preferring the greater canonicity of the former model, and others embracing the popular (if unorthodox) assumption that mortals can "feed" ghosts with physical food. Pchum Ben is considered unique to Cambodia, however, there are merit-transference ceremonies that can be closely compared to it in Sri Lanka (i.e., benefitting the ghosts of the dead), and, in its broad outlines, it even resembles the Taiwanese Ghost Festival (i.e., especially in its links to the notion of a calendrical opening of the gates of hell, King Yama, and so on).

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pchum_Ben

Read More

Obama and Kim Jong-un strike a chord for peace in viral commercial

Despite the North Korean leader’s apparent preference for maintaining his communist country’s pariah-state status, he appeared in a viral video in Hongdae, South Korea, performing a lively duet with US President Barack Obama.

In a rare moment of joy between the United States and North Korea, the saber-rattling, military displays and nuclear threats were replaced with an old acoustic guitar, the bongos and a sentimental song everyone can sing along to.

The video features an Obama impersonator who began to play his acoustic guitar and sing along to the well-known ditty, “All by Myself” in the cultural district of Hongdae. As the excitement of the crowd increases, ‘Obama’ is joined by none other than North Korean leader, 'Kim Jong-un', who backs up the US leader on the bongos.

Although the event was motivated by nothing more inspiring than a marketing plan to sell appliances for the eNuri electronics company, the commercial did succeed in doing what geopolitical diplomacy has dismally failed at: Bringing together the leaders of two nuclear powers at a time of heightened animosity between the two states.

This is certainly not the first time the North Korean leader has been parodied in a Western commercial project.

In February, Hollywood released the controversial film 'The Interview,' which depicted the fictional assassination of the reclusive North Korean leader.

The movie was initially withdrawn by Sony after it was targeted by hackers in November 2014. Calling themselves 'Guardians of the Peace,' the group threatened to launch a terrorist attack if the film made it to theaters.

Pyongyang's state-run KCNA news agency last year described 'The Interview' as a “blatant act of terrorism.”

Soucre :https://www.rt.com

Read More

Traditional Cambodian musical instruments

Traditional Cambodian musical instruments are the musical instruments used in the traditional and classical musics ofCambodia. They comprise a wide range of wind, string, and percussion instruments, used by both the Khmer majority as well as the nation's ethnic minorities

Wind

Flutes

·         Khloy - vertical duct flute made of bamboo, hardwood, or plastic, with buzzing membrane

·         Khloy ek - smaller in size

·         Khloy thom - larger in size

Free-reed

·         Sneng - water buffalo or ox horn with a single free reed

·         Pey pok - free-reed pipe

·         Ploy (also called m'baut) - mouth organ with gourd body and five to seven bamboo pipes; used by Mon-Khmer-speaking upland ethnic minorities

·         Ken/Khaen - free-reed mouth organ used in northwestern Cambodia

·         Angkuoch (also called kangkuoch) - jaw harp made of bamboo or metal

Kaois

·         Sralai - quadruple-reed oboe

·         Sralai toch - small quadruple-reed oboe

·         Sralai thom - large quadruple-reed oboe

·         Pey ar (also spelled beyaw, and also called bey prabauh) - oboe with cylindrical bore

Horns

·         Saing - conch shell horn

Other

·         Slek - tree leaf used as a wind instrument

String

Bowed

A pair of tro

·         Tro - fiddle

·         Tro Khmer - three-string vertical spike fiddle with coconut shell body; used in classical music

·         Tro che - high-pitched two-string vertical fiddle, with face covered with snakeskin

·         Tro sau toch - two-string vertical fiddle with hardwood body; used in classical music

·         Tro sau thom - two-string vertical fiddle with hardwood body; used in classical music

·         Tro u (also spelled tro ou) - lower two-string vertical fiddle with a coconut shell body, with face covered with calfskin or snakeskin; used in classical music

Plucked

A krapeu (takhe)

·         Chapey dang veng - plucked fretted lute

·         Krapeu (also called takhe) - crocodile-shaped fretted floor zither with three strings

·         Kse diev (also spelled se diev, and also called khse muoy) - chest-resonated stick zither)

Struck

·         Khim - hammered dulcimer

Percussion

Drums

A thon

·         Sampho - barrel drum, played with the hands

·         Skor ( (also spelled sko)

·         Skor thom - pair of large barrel drums, played with sticks

·         Thon - goblet-shaped drum, played with the hands

·         Rumana - frame drum, played with the hands

Gong chimes

·         Kong vong toch (also called kong toch) - small gong circle

·         Kong vong thom (also called kong thom) - large gong circle

Keyboard

·         Roneat - trough-resonated keyboard percussion instrument; generally played with two mallets and used in Khmer classical and theater music

·         Roneat ek - smaller xylophone

·         Roneat thung - larger xylophone

·         Roneat dek - smaller metallophone

·         Roneat thong larger metallophone; no longer used

Gongs

·         Kong vong - single suspended gong

Clappers

·         Krap - pair of flat bamboo or hardwood sticks

Cymbals

·         Ching - pair of small cymbals used to mark time

·         Chap - pair of flat cymbals

Woodblocks

·         Pan - woodblock

·         Nay pay - Pellow

·         Sindang - Small Size Woodblocks

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org

Read More

Tour Guide Killed in Lion Attack Did Everything Right

There's little a person can do in the face of Africa's top predator, experts say.

The tour guide killed by a lion while on a walking safari in Zimbabwe'sHwange National Park did everything right in responding to the attack, according to experts—but he still paid the ultimate price

Quinn Swales, 40, a professional guide, was leading a group of six tourists in the park—the former home of Cecil the lion—when they came upon a pride. The male lion got up and began approaching the tour group."As he had done numerous times in his career, Quinn immediately briefed his guests on what to expect and instructed them to get behind him and not move," Camp Hwange, a safari camp in the park, said in a Facebook statement announcing the death.

After Quinn and the group shouted and set off a “bear banger”—an instrument that makes a loud noise like a gunshot—the lion seemed to retreat, only to double back suddenly and attack Quinn. He died on site.

"The guide who lost his life did his job: Placing himself between tourists under his care and a source of danger," Luke Dollar, program director for National Geographic's Big Cats Initiative, says in an email.

Dollar says the park should review whether it was wise to place the guide in that vulnerable situation, particularly when there was a safer option of watching the animals from a vehicle.

However, he adds that "walking safaris themselves are generally and widely done safely and responsibly."

"I don't expect this will lead to a major change in whether walking safaris continue to be a common offering in safari experiences," he adds.

"What this incident will hopefully do, however, is serve as an important reminder that safety—in any endeavor—should always be of paramount concern."

Top Predator

Dollar adds that the male lion was doing what it evolved to do.

"Almost any organism around lions might be a potential prey item, and for people to think that they are an exception is folly," Dollar said in a previous interview following a fatal lion attack in South Africa in June.

"I would imagine that every other primate that co-exists with big cats is acutely aware of the position they hold relative to the top predators of the world." (Also see "California Death Prompts Questions About Lion Attacks.")

Dollar says danger arises when people allow themselves to be lulled into a false sense of security in the presence of lions or other carnivores.

"We don't have claws or big canines or size as an advantage," he says.

Respect the King of the Jungle

Dollar estimates that dozens, if not hundreds, of people are attacked by lions each year.

In the wild, old or sick lions may target people because they cannot catch their normal prey, and people are generally easier gets.

"If a person is standing next to an impala and a lion decides it's going to eat something, that impala is probably going to get away and that person is probably not." (Learn more about big cats and their behaviors.)

That said, people should not be afraid to observe lions in the wild, Dollar said, but should know that they might be viewed as potential prey and to act accordingly.

"We need to remember that we call these animals the kings of the jungle for a reason," says Dollar. "We need to respect what they are and their natural behaviors."

With reporting by Mary Bates. Follow Christine Dell'Amore on Twitter andGoogle+. 

Source :http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

Read More