Tradition
Av phay
អាវផាយ
The av phay (អាវផាយ) is the long, loose, open-fronted ceremonial robe that Khmer men wear over a jacket at court rites, weddings and formal ceremonies.[1] Its color, decoration and cloth follow the wearer's rank and the occasion.[1]
Name
In royal vocabulary the robe is called preah phousa phay (ព្រះភូសាផាយ).[1][2]
The robe
The av phay reaches to the knee or the ankle. It has long sleeves and an open front with no buttons. It is usually made of thin, sheer cloth in many colors, embroidered with flowers or gold thread, with bands of colored and patterned cloth at the hem, the front edges, the cuffs and the upper sleeves.[1] It is worn over an ordinary shirt, especially over the jacket called av ko trang (អាវកត្រង់).[1][3]
History
Long robes of this kind appear in the twelfth-century carvings of the Bayon. One relief shows a man seated in a howdah on an elephant in a long robe with short sleeves. Others show soldiers in robes to the knee, and men in long robes in a procession carrying a sacred object.[1]
The coronation manuals of the court at Oudong, from 1613 and 1629, name the robe again and again. During the seven days of recitation before the coronation of 1613, the prince put on a phay tunic to hear the monks. The Brahmins dressed in white with a phay that matched their rank, and the royal kin and dignitaries wore a colored phay by rank.[3] At the coronation of 1629, the prince wore a white phay, and the king later dressed in the color of the day.[3][1]
Photographs show the robe at every reign since. King Norodom wore a gold preah phousa phay at his coronation in 1866, and King Norodom Suramarit wore one at his in 1955. King Sisowath Monivong wore a white phay at a royal cremation in 1928. King Norodom Sihanouk wore the robe around 1946 and at the ceremony to receive relics of the Buddha from Sri Lanka in 1957. He wore it again as the sdech meakh (ស្តេចមាឃ), the king's stand-in, at the Royal Ploughing Ceremony in the 1960s. Palace officials wore it in the procession for King Norodom Sihamoni in 2004.[1]
Colors and rank
For the king, the robe is woven of silk and richly embroidered in shining gold for the coronation.[2][1] At other auspicious royal rites the king usually wears yellow with gold embroidery. The early seventeenth-century manuals call for the color of the day, and recent kings have mostly worn yellow. For national ceremonies and the reception of heads of state the king wears yellow or red.[1]
At the cremation of a king, a Supreme Patriarch or a senior member of the royal family, the king and all officials wear white. The palace Brahmins (bakou, បារគូ) always wear white with gold borders, at every royal rite. Royal kin with official roles and senior officials wear colored robes whose borders and sleeve bands mark their rank.[1] In the past, judges wore robes of different colors with hats of rank when hearing cases, and the robe is still worn at the presentation of diplomas and honors.[1]
At weddings and village ceremonies
The lay officiant (achar, អាចារ្យ) wears the av phay at weddings and at large ceremonies, where it is often red.[1] At a Khmer wedding ceremony the groom wears it for the sampeah phdeum (សំពះផ្តឹម) rite and when he holds the bride's sbai (ស្បៃ) and follows her into the bridal chamber.[1] The robe is worn today both in the Royal Palace and in villages, for the ceremonies that call for it.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Yosothor, Preap Chanmara, អាវផាយ (Av phay), Khmer Renaissance 61 (undated)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Khmernote, ក្រសួងវប្បធម៌ អំពាវនាវដល់អ្នកច្នៃម៉ូតសម្លៀកបំពាក់ (Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts appeal to clothing designers) (February 26, 2026)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Udaya, Grégory Mikaelian, Le traité de sacre des rois d'Oudong (XVIIe siècle) (in French, 2008)