Lao Community New Year Celebrations 2012
PhotographerPhotographed by
Manola Sidara
Laotian
Date2012 April
Mediumphotographs
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
DescriptionTwo photographs of Lao students, dancers, and performance organizers gathered at two New Year celebrations in April 2012:
(.1) at a fundraiser in New Britain; organizer and dance teacher Ann Cunningham is wearing Miao traditional clothing, back row second from the left.
(.2) at the Wat Lao Buddha Ariyamettaram Temple in Morris, Connecticut
(.1) at a fundraiser in New Britain; organizer and dance teacher Ann Cunningham is wearing Miao traditional clothing, back row second from the left.
(.2) at the Wat Lao Buddha Ariyamettaram Temple in Morris, Connecticut
Object number2015.196.637.1-.2
CopyrightIn Copyright
NotesSubject Note: Lao New Year is celebrated in Connecticut by members of the Lao community each April. Known as the Boon Pee Mai or the festival of the fifth month, this is a time of special meals and ceremonies lasting for several days. Traditionally, on the last day of the old year houses are cleaned and put in order as a symbolic activity intended to expel any bad spirits that may be hiding in the home. On the first day of the new year, people go to the temple where they wash the statues of the Buddha with perfumed holy water. The ceremonies ensure good health and prosperity in the new year. In Connecticut, Lao gather at temples for religious ceremonies, and hold special banquets that feature music and dance by local dance groups such as Lao Narthasin led by dance educator and chef Manola Sidara. Other events have included an annual presentation by the students of Lao Saturday School which ran for many years at Jefferson School in New Britain organized by Manola Sidara and Howard and Sue Phengsomphone. Many of these events are organized by the Lao Association of Connecticut. Many Lao New Year celebrations in Connecticut have involved guest artists from other cultural backgrounds and traditions. In 2008 and 2009, CHAP collaborated with WNPR’s acclaimed radio discussion show Where We Live to document several ethnic festivals across the state. Words and sound were woven together to create podcasts and audio slide shows that take viewers and listeners right to the festivals. This project visited and documented a festival at the Lao Temple in Morris.Subject Note: Wat Lao Buddha Ariyamett Aram Temple, Morris CT is a center for the Lao community and their Buddhist worship, situated on several acres of land in rural northwestern Connecticut. Founded in 2002, the temple has beautiful statues of deities and traditional figures as well as several buildings for worship and community gatherings, many of those decorated and constructed in traditional fashion by the resident monk. Khoutavong Yongchaiyuth, traditional Lao ceremonial woodcarver, serves as the resident monk of the Wat Lao Ariyamettaram Lao temple in Morris, rural northwestern Connecticut, having moved there from the temple in Danbury. Khout has been a monk since he was fourteen years old, and in the temple in Laos he learned woodcarving, sculpture, stonemasonry, and painting. He was brought to the US in 1999 by the resident monk in Danbury to build decorative stone and woodwork, and Khout practices the same traditional crafts at the temple in Morris where he serves the spiritual needs of the Lao community. CCHAP has documented activities at the temple over many years, including New Year festivals, the water ceremony, temple dedications, and led a cultural tourism group to visit the temple in 2006. CCHAP connected the temple and community to a 2007 WNPR project on health care in Connecticut ethnic communities. As part of the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Year 18 (2015-2016), Khout was a mentor to two monks, Xaiyo and Somchay, from the Smithfield RI Lao temple who came to the temple to learn how to build, restore, and decorate Laotian spiritual statues and buildings. Over an intensive few weeks, the young monks from RI gained skills of designing, molding, casting, cutting, and applying that helped them to revitalize the older structures at their temple. They presented their learning at a festival at the temple in 2016.
Biographical Note: Amphone (Ann) Cunningham is the dance instructor, choreographer, and manager of the Lao dance troupe” Lao American Tradition”, based in central Connecticut. A former student of Lao educator Sue Phengsomphone, Amphone studied at Eastern Connecticut State University. She has been part of the organization Lao Heritage Advocates, organizing a dance presentation at the CT Historical Society in 2018. The dance troupe performs regularly at ceremonies and festivals at Wat Lao Buddha Ariyamett Aram Temple in Morris CT.
Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to these events and this organization.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
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