La Newsletter Du Fin Fond Du Grenier

No III - September 2007.

What to excavate this month ?

Du Fin Fond Du Grenier.

This month Du Fin Fond Du Grenier invites you to a cham wedding. Prepare yourself to travel to Kompong Chhnang Province, Cambodia, from the 70s to today. http://fin-fond-grenier.over-blog.com/article-12245972.html

The September selection of B&W contemporary pictures will get you into the annual Imam San Mawlid festival. (Details in the EVENTS part). http://fin-fond-grenier.over-blog.com/album-1046355.html

And if you missed past issues of the Newsletter, they are now available online with links to articles, websites, and various news on Chams in Cambodia mainly. Access to the Newsletter I - July 2007. http://fin-fond-grenier.over-blog.com/categorie10053038.html Access to the Newsletter II - August 2007. http://fin-fond-grenier.over-blog.com/categorie10053041.html

From the bookcase.

A old essential classic : Reproducing a note issued for the Exposition Coloniale held in Paris in 1931, the volume 12 of the BAVH (Bulletin des Amis du Vieux Hue) is all about Anam. The contributions could have been reduced to the very chapters detailing those who were then called Malaysians and Indonesians, and history of Champa, but Du Fin Fond Du Grenier thought it would be better to make available the whole issue, setting a broader context. - In French BAVH, Hue, vol12, 1931, 257 p. http://www.4shared.com/dir/3461201/f51b0435/sharing.html

More recent: - In French SCHWEYER Anne-Valrie 2005 Le Vitnam ancien , Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 219 p. Focusing on the period from the 10th to the 15th century, there is no surprise the book gives an overlook at Champa: from social and political organisation to culture, from religion to daily life, here is a simple but yet unabridged introduction to the ancient Champa society.

From the virtual corner. The Aceh Institute http://www.acehinstitute.org/english_version.htm Besides providing references on the Acehnese and Acehnese Language including some on Cham Language, the Aceh institute also offers a link to one of the chapter of the

Anthony Reids Charting the Shape of Early Modern Southeast Asia, essential to understand the position of Chams in the commercial activities of Southeast Asia, prelude to their islamization. REID Anthony 2000 Chams in Southeast Asian Maritime System, Charting the Shape of Early Modern Southeast Asia, Silkworn Books, Chiang Mai. http://www.acehinstitute.org/Reid_2000.pdf

The DCCAM Documentation Centre of Cambodia The next link gives an access to a paper presented by Farina So during a course on Islam, Gender, and Reproductive Rights in Indonesia. But moreover it offers a useful list of political Muslim figures in Cambodia. The Study of the Qur-An vs. Modern Education for Islamic Women in Cambodia http://www.dccam.org/Projects/Public_Info/Cham%20Muslim%20L eaders/Cham_Muslim_Leaders.htm * Thanks to Nasir Abdul Carime for this info.

From the events envelope. The Mawlid, or annual celebration of the anniversary of the respected saint Imam San, was performed by his followers on Monday 3rd September, on the top of Udong Mount a former khmer capital where the Imam San founded his community by the 19th century.

This day is the occasion for the members of the group almost 40 villages spread through the provinces of Kpg Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang - to meet with their siblings, either from the community or not. Indeed this very particular event attracts as well numerous Muslims of other trends, either practicing or not any Mawlid, and some Khmers.

The celebration starts on the eve, with the lighting of candles to accompany the wishes made to the Imam San, and the melodious reading of the same stories of the Prophet as those you would hear on a Muhammad Mawlid.With the daylight come the prayers performed by the elders on the Imam San commemorative tomb as others enter the mosque to pursue the chanting.

While chatting, greeting each other, meeting, each family assembles the cakes of specific shapes commemorating both the human body anatomy and Champa ornaments.

These offerings brought to the mosque a tradition not unknown to other Malay populations - precede the naming and hair cutting of the newly born to conclude the festivity.

Thats all for this month, more to come in October ! Emiko Stock - Du Fin Fond Du Grenier