Tradition
Khleng Ek
ខ្លែងឯក
Khleng ek (ខ្លែងឯក) is a large Khmer kite fitted with a bow, the ek, that hums when the wind passes over it.[1][2] It is flown over harvested rice fields in the windy cool season, and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts holds a kite festival for it each year.[3][4]
The kite
A khleng ek has a bamboo frame with a backbone and a wing strut, which must be balanced for the kite to fly well.[5][6] The hardest part to make is the ek itself: a bamboo bow strung with a thin tongue of rattan or sugar-palm leaf. If the tongue is not shaved to the right size, it makes no sound. Makers test the bow by swinging it on a string until it sounds clear, then fix it to the head of the kite.[2][7]
The pitch depends on the length, thickness and stiffness of the tongue, and skilled makers of the past could draw seven different notes from their kites.[5][4] Chhum Mao, a kite maker in Siem Reap province, builds them about 2.2 meters from wing to wing and 2.4 meters from top to bottom, with smaller ones of one to one and a half meters. Most of his time goes into the bamboo. It is split, dried in the sun for about 30 days, soaked in clean water and dried again for about 15 days. The kite itself takes about three days to assemble.[5] The line is long, because the kite must fly high to stay up, and it is wound on a reel like the one used in weaving.[2]
Flying
Khleng ek needs wide, open ground without trees, such as harvested rice fields, and a steady wind. The higher the kite flies, the farther its sound carries.[7] Villagers traditionally sent it up before dawn in the months of Kattik and Migasir, when the north wind blows, and left it tied for an hour or two. People threshing rice at that hour listened to its tone, which carried about half a kilometer.[2] Several villages hold a kite ceremony between December and February, once the harvest is in.[3]
History
Sim Sarak's book Khmer Kite dates the khleng ek to 400 years before the Common Era.[8] Its older names were khleng me kon and khleng pnong.[7] An inscription from the early 10th century, translated by the French scholar George Cœdès, lists five kites among the offerings at a royal kite-flying ceremony, without saying what the kites were for.[7]
Kite flying is part of the Twelve-Month Ceremonies, held in the month of Migasir.[2][7] King Ang Duong flew khleng ek in honor of the Chulamani stupa.[7] In his reign kite flying became a Buddhist observance, held from the 12th day of the waxing moon to the full moon of the first lunar month, and it lapsed after his death.[8]
Kite making was largely abandoned under the Khmer Rouge.[5][4] Sim Sarak revived the tradition, and the first national kite festival was held in Phnom Penh in 1994 with flyers from nine provinces.[8] It became an annual event in 1999.[4]
Meaning and beliefs
The kite is tied to the rice harvest. Sim Sarak's account says people flew it to pray for rain for their crops and to give thanks for a good harvest.[8] In Siem Reap, the province's culture director, Muon Sopheap, describes the kite ceremony as honoring Preah Peay, the god of wind, asking for enough rain while the rice grows and less rain at harvest.[3]
A khleng ek that falls on a house is regarded as bad luck for the household, and the kite's owner must arrange for monks to chant to ward it off.[7] Some Cambodians regard the kite's sound itself as unlucky.[3]
In the tale of Thmenh Chey, the hero is held prisoner in China and flies a khleng ek whose mournful sound fills the prison grounds every night. The sound frightens the Chinese king, and Thmenh Chey goes free.[7][4]
Festivals today
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts moves the national festival among the provinces, giving priority to border provinces. It is held in December, on the full moon of the first month of the Khmer calendar, after the custom of King Ang Duong's reign. Khleng ek are judged on their sound, their beauty and how they fly. The 23rd festival was held in Koh Kong province in December 2019.[8]
Siem Reap province held its first large kite festival on December 27 to 29, 2024, with 125 khleng ek, flown mostly by older people.[3] The second, on February 20 to 22, 2026, had 93 traditional kites among 138, along with lakhon bassac performances and displays on how the kites are made. Students of Wat Bo Primary School built and flew traditional kites there for the first time.[1]
In 2021 a Ministry of Culture official said that only elders still made khleng ek.[6] The ministry is working to have the kite inscribed on the intangible cultural heritage list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Agence Kampuchea Presse, Traditional kite festival revives Khmer heritage in Siem Reap (February 23, 2026)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Yosothor, Ang Choulean, Khleng ek, Khmer Renaissance chapter 7 (undated; in Khmer)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Cambodianess, Siem Reap province plans to make the kite festival an annual event (December 29, 2024)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Phnom Penh Post, Traditional Khmer kite flying festival returns in Svay Rieng (December 20, 2018)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Cambodianess, Khlaeng Ek: a Cambodian kite that sings above the rice fields (January 27, 2024)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cambodianess, Klaeng Ek, traditional kite making art, at verge of being lost in Cambodia (December 21, 2021)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 AMS Khmer Civilization, Khleng ek (December 5, 2020; in Khmer)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Phnom Penh Post, Musical kites soar through the skies of Cambodia (December 15, 2019)