Handwoven sinh on display at the National Culture Hall in Vientiane. - Vientiane Times/ANN
VIENTIANE: A grand event to celebrate the official listing of the use of the naga motif in Lao weaving by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) as a form of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is taking place at the National Culture Hall in Vientiane Friday (June 7).
The event will include displays of the naga motif, a fashion show with models wearing silk sinh featuring the motif, performances of songs and the traditional lamvong dance, and food stalls.
There will also be a display of handmade items such as garments woven from silk that incorporate the naga motif as well as naga wood carvings.
The exhibition will be open from June 6-9, according to the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
On Thursday the ministry hosted a workshop at the National Culture Hall to inform participants about the legends and traditions associated with the revered river-dwelling naga.
“The naga is a mythical, serpent-like creature that lives in rivers. Lao people believe that naga are their ancestors and watch over them,” the Unesco website says.
As a sign of Lao people’s reverence for the naga, it is commonly symbolised in in handwoven textiles made on traditional wooden looms. It can take several days to weave a single motif.
Lao textiles are often a form of visual storytelling, deftly incorporating symbols and motifs ranging from legendary animals and other designs drawn from nature, which also reveal details about a person’s origins, marital status, and ethnic identity.
Unesco presented the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism with a certificate designating the traditional naga weaving motif as a form of intangible cultural world heritage, after the UN agency officially inscribed the popular textile pattern on its World Heritage list last year.
The design was approved as a form of intangible cultural world heritage at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Botswana last December.
Unesco has also recognised three World Heritage Sites in Laos, namely the Plain of Jars which was listed in 2019, while the old quarter of Luang Prabang was inscribed in 1995, followed by Vat Phou Champassak in 2001.
In December 2017, Unesco also officially recognised the khaen music of the Lao people as a form of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. - Vientiane Times/ANN
