TRADITIONAL
WEDDING MUSIC |
It is
impossible to be without this kind of traditional music at Khmer wedding
receptions 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 ceremonious 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 peoples' lives in Khmer
community.
Each song is equivalent to the specific rite in the wedding
such as when the bridegroom is lead to the bride's house, asks 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 cover, 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
their wedding guests off.