Laos Culture
Art and culture in Laos |
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Lao has a rich culture heritage with religious art and architecture forming the corner stone of artistic traditions.  There exists across the country a plethora of distinctive monuments and architectural style. One of the most notable structures is That Luang, the great sacred Stupa, in Vientiane. It’s dome like stupa and four-cornered superstructure is the model for similar monuments across Laos. Stupas serve to commemorate the life of the Buddha and many stupas are said to house sacred Buddha relies (part of Buddha’s body) Generally, Hiragana Buddhists cremate the dead body then place the bones in the stupa, which are set around the grounds of temples. Different styles of architecture are evident in the numerous Buddhism Wats. Three architectural styles can be distinguished, corresponding to the geographical location of the temples and monasteries . Wats built in Vientiane are large rectangular structures constructed of bricked and covered with stucco and high-peaked roofs. In Luang Prabang, the roofs sweep very low and unlike in Vientiane, almost reach the ground. These two styles are different from the Vats of Xiengkhouang where the temple roofs are not tiered. Lao religious images and art is also distinctive and set Laos apart from its neighbors. “The calling for rain” posture of Buddha images in Lao, for example, which depicts the Buddha standing with this hands held rigidly at this side, fingers pointing to the ground, can not be found in other South East Asian Buddhist art traditions. Religious influences are also pervasive in classical Lao literature, especially in the Pha Lak & Pha Lam and the Lao version of India’s epic Ramayana. Projects are underway to preserve classic Lao religious scripts, which were transcripts onto palm leaf manuscripts hundreds of years ago and stored in Wats. Another excellent example of the richness of Lao culture is in its folk music, which is extremely popular with the people throughout the whole country. The principle instrument is the Khean; a wind instrument, which comprises a double row of bamboo-like reeds, fitted in a hardwood sound box. The Khean is often accompanied by a bowed string instrument or saw. The national folk dance is the lamvong, a circle dance in which people dance in which people dance circles around each other so that ultimately there are three circles: a circle danced by individual, another one by the couple, and a third one danced by the whole party. Newer news items:
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