Friday, July 06, 2012

What is this pole called in Khmer?


Dear readers,

An American researcher asked me to help him identify the official name of the pole in the picture below. All I could find out was that it is commonly called greasing pole (បង្គោលខ្លាញ់)​​ which is usually erected during Khmer New Year's celebration as a challenging game for people to climb up and get the prize inside the basket attached to the top of the pole. If anyone knows of its proper name, could you please post your answer on the comment bax below or send it to me via this e-mail: khemara_kakvey@yahoo.com

Thank you before hand for your help.

Chanda Chhay

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't what it up, but it's good pole for hanging a corrupted politician.

Anonymous said...

How about " sarsar klanh?" I never seen it but just guess.
Bangkol usually short - 2-3 meeters. So i suggest should call " sarsar"

Anonymous said...

Hun Sen Death Pole , this is where the Huns and all CPPs will be hung

Anonymous said...

ដងទង់
ដងទង់ជាតិ?

Anonymous said...

this is interesting. i too don't know what these khmer ancestors doing to the poor animal. from the look at the drawing above, it looks like a pole with robe and basket with an animal in it high in the sky. i wonder what is the purpose of doing this by the old khmer way? there must be a reason for them to do so because logic tells us, there are reasons for everything people do what they do whether good or bad, there's a reason of that. i'm curious as well. is it a game form? or something else, no seriously, please! isn't that interesting?

Anonymous said...

It is a watchdog tower.
Any stranger who wonders into the village proper, day or night,to steal cattle, from any direction will be spotted by the hyper dog who will bark and growl, and consequently alert the village designated guards.
Note one of these men with their hands in their back or on the hip must be the Me Phum (Sherrif) and the rest are deputies.
Khmer people used to be self-reliant and very expedient, very mindful of each other.
The good old day is now gone. It is heart-wrenching to see we prey on one another, sell our youngs to please foreign predators who are swarmming our country to wipe us out from our ancestral land and water.

Ta Yon

Anonymous said...

Cool!
An original Khmer Sheriff K-9 Early-Warning System against cattle thieves (such as Xen clan and their Youn accomplices)
Khmer dogs work for their supper, we hunt, swim with our dogs.
Since Youn invaded Khmer land some Khmers were taught to eat dogs so they can serve Youn. Khmer dogs now are endangered specie from diseases, starvation just like their Khmer masters, on top of that they have to contend with Youn that trap them to sell to BBQ?grill restaurants in town.

Anonymous said...

now i understand the picture better, thanks1:41am. anyway, don't feel bad about how cambodia and our khmer society have changed with time. in fact, changes are inevitable anywhere and in any society on earth. sometimes, we are able to preserve and conserve and maintain certain aspects of our khmer heritage, khmer culture, khmer tradition, etc; other time, it is better to move forward and learn to adopt, adapt and evolve with time as well, especially is we were to compete with neighboring countries, etc... i think something about khmer that worth preserving and maintain, then by all means, khmer people should do so; however, some aspect of old culture, for instance like human sacrifice or animal sacrifice and arranged marriage like in the extreme case like in the literature "tum teave" ought not continue to honor. good culture and tradition and practice should be preserved and maintained while bad ones, reform them, you know. that's the way i see it, really. anyway, i always like to listen to old khmer stories about anything that passed on from one generation to the next, it always interests me to hear. cambodia is no rich in culture and tradition and khmer heritage. the world and my self include is interested in learning about our khmer culture, tradition, heritage, etc, you know. it is nice to share with others what we know like this unique, old khmer traditon of man's best friend, the dog. god bless cambodia and all our beautiful khmer people and citizens.