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| Friend to friend, same rank or age (: |
In
Cambodia we have five different style of greeting to people around us. It called Som-piah, Because of the age and ranking the greeting was divided into five. We have standing style and sitting style, but the palms just do the same. But here i show you how to do the stand, it is general for Cambodian people to do it.
First is for the same age people, for those who are in the same age or rank, they can put their two hands, the palms touch each other, put them close to your chest and bow your self down a bit. People here like to say the word blessing(Sur-s'dey) or hello(Jum-reap sur) with the act of Som-piah.
Cambodian children like to do this, to show that they are the children of the this land, this culture, so their family will get admired. Parents like to teach their children to know these kind of things.
It also used for the older or high rank to do to the one younger or lower than them. Sometime they don't really do this to their lower staffs(boss), sometime only smile.
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| for the older or boss (: |
Here is the second step to do the greeting. Put your two palms, your fingers put under the mouth(lips). We do this when we meet someone who older then us or high rank(boss ...). So it is for the young people to do it, more they will admired by the older. People lost these greeting in 1975 to 1979 (
Pol Pot), they don't really teach the children to do these, teach only the communist propaganda to love the regime. It have been used for long long time ago, but these regime is the most stupid regime ever in Cambodia. There are three more to tell you about the greeting. We have tons of cultures in Cambodia, i need more then one year to tell you all about them. I myself don't really know them all, I need to read more too. So let me tell you the next steps (: The next step is about the similar thing. Receptionists do this step always with smiley face :)
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| Srey nic and monkey (: |
The third step is used for the children to respect their parents, teachers, Aunties, Uncles, Grandparents or those who take good care to them. This is the respectful way to use when the young children meet their relatives(older age). Kids in Cambodia do this when they go to school or when they are back from school to home. The girls the orphanage where I staying always do this, some boys too. Want them to do this respect greeting, so that they will be a good kids (: In Cambodia the TV programs also talk about this, they show about this on TV, so the kids in Cambodia will know which step for them to use with which group of people, so that they can use with the correct person. I want to teach my sunday school students too, so that they will know clearly about these. Okay let's continue to the fourth step of Sompiah.
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| She is so lovely. |
The fourth step is for buddhism monks and kings,
Cambodian people respect the monk so much, even the king also needs to knee down and do the Sompiah to the monk. The officers need to knee down and knee forward to the king with this fourth step. Do this you can see the picture, put your two palms together and your fingers put onto the eyebrow !!!!
Cambodia is the buddhism country, where there are 90% is buddhism. People go to pagoda(temple) to listen to the monks sermon. In the past the man who was a monk for 3 or 5 five years in buddhism, they will be a good person in the social and they were respected as the gentle men. In that time there were no schools, so the pagoda is the place where the guys need to and learn math, Khmer(Cambodian language), philosophy, leadership ... The king also need to become the monk before they become the king to reign in the land of the
Kingdom Of Cambodia. Okay let's go to the fifth step, to the end of the style. It is the last one here to show you.
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| To the mighty God. |
The fifth step is used to respect the gods in Cambodia, for we are Christians in Cambodia we also use this step to worship God, sometimes we put up our hands up to the air, to the highest God. In here people go to the temple and they worship their gods, knee down before the buddha status and do this Sompiah, and the face to the ground. Most Cambodian people know how to do this. I have nothing much to talk about this step, it only tells us this.
Lastly thanks for reading my blog, help me share so that i can be famous, haha. Actually i want to show this to my friends who have not time to listen to me while they were staying in Cambodia (: Thanks God to support my wisdoms and knowledges. Thanks whom who read this and help me correct what i should correct. My grammar and spelling is not so good at all. These day is my holidays, but i need to go to my homeland today, yah, i finished this post in 5:30 AM. May God bless you and be with you all. This little sharing hopefully can help you when you are back to visit Cambodia (: God love you all!!!!
