The tradition-bears of the gong culture are the seventeen Austro-Asian and Austronesian ethno-linguistic communities living in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. Gong music is an integral part of the life cycle of each person and important agricultural events of the community, performed in a wide range of ceremonies and rituals, such as ear-blowing for babies, weddings, sacrifice buffalo, abandoning grave, worshipping water troughs, celebrating new rice, closing rice storehouse, celebrating new communal house, so on. It is believed there is a god in each gong, a protecting shield for the family. Having gongs represents wealth and power. Gong ensembles in the Central Highlands are communal, each performer plays one note. Every member in the ensemble must remember the rhythms and melodies so that they can harmonize with other performers. Depending on the ethnic groups, the gongs are played by hand or with wooden sticks wrapped in cloth, leather or rubber strips. Each gong ensemble has between 2 and 13 flat and knobbed gongs with a diameter ranging from 25 to 120 cm, played by both men and women. Peoples in the Central Highlands often buy gongs from Kinh people in Quang Nam, Quang Ngai provinces, or even in Laos and Cambodia. The gongs are re-tuned in order to have the desired sounds. In the past, almost every village had a gong tuner. Today, there are only a few remaining gong tuners in the region. Economic, social and religious transformations have dramatically affected the lives of the local communities here. The safeguarding of gong space in the Central Highlands is thus more challenging. Senior tradition-bearers are passing away, while few people master the traditional rituals. Some major rituals with gong performance are no longer practiced. Younger generations are is less interested in traditional culture. Buffalo sacrifice is banned in many localities. Rice cultivation is altered with industrial crops. The instruments become trade items for other purposes. Nonetheless, the government is doing its best to ensure its practice and transmission.

Viet Nam 2008

The national dress for men is Gho and Kira for women. Gho is a one-piece outfit pulled up to knee-length and fastened with a belt called kera at the waist, leading to formation of an enormous pouch across the belly. Men’s belt is a striped hand woven textile using plain cotton or wool on a card loom. It has fringes at both the ends. Kira is a rectangular ankle-length robe wrapped around the body, tied at the waist with a wide woven belt, and fastened at the shoulders by a pair of shoulder brooches called koma. A necklace-like chain called the jabtha holds together the pair of koma. Jabtha also makes an attractive ornament. Women’s kera is made of cotton woven on card looms with intricate silk designs of varying colours. Elderly women wear the broad kera in three folds. The female kera has also fringes at both the ends. The weft thread used is commonly thicker than the base fabric used. Women also wear a toego (short, loose jacket) over the kira. Toego can be made from any kind of material and be in any colour. Women also wear a garment called wonju under the kira. Commonly made from silk or polyester, the wonju is a loose, wrap-over long-sleeved blouse. The semi-nomadic herders of the high valleys of Merak, Sakten and Laya and some other ethnic communities do not traditionally wear the gho and kira. They have a unique dress, lifestyle and language, and their own weaving specialty. In an effort to preserve and promote cultural heritage, all Bhutanese are required to wear the national dress in government offices, schools and on formal occasions. Necklace: Traditionally, a necklace is also a part of the costume of a Bhutanese woman, and a woman who is not wearing a necklace is considered to be incompletely attired. Therefore, women make it a point to wear necklaces, especially during celebrative occasions. When a woman is dressing, she puts on her necklace at the very end, to complete the outfit. Necklaces of precious stones are passed down from mother to daughter. A traditional Bhutanese necklace consists of a string of beads of various stones such as coral, turquoise, onyx, pearl, agate, and many more. The necklace may reach almost to the waist. If the woman is very rich and possesses many precious stones, she will choose to wear more than one necklace at a time. Since public gatherings and celebrative occasions provide formal platforms for display of wealth and/or position in society, women make it a point to wear as much as they possess. Sword For hundreds of years Bhutan suffered from territorial invasion as well as internal strife and civil war, challenges which were countered by our pazaps (militia), and senior officials. In earlier times, those who performed well in battle were awarded a sword in recognition of their show of courage, valour and success. Once the monarchy was established those officials who served the king and the country with utmost dedication and patriotic zeal were awarded pata (sword) and red scarf (bura marp) in recognition of their selfless service. Awarding kabney along with pata is, therefore, the sole prerogative of the monarch. The awardee is then addressed as a ‘Drasho’, which literally means ‘the best’ as they are exemplary people. Therefore, this award symbolises secular responsibility — the preparedness to fight any enemy harming the interest of the Tsa-wa-sum (the king, the country, and the people) and to safeguard the country and its cultural traditions. Kabney When Gautama Buddha administered vinaya rules at the first sermon, the five chief disciples first wore kabney as a mark of respect to the Buddha. Later, when Guru Rinpoche (Guru Padsambhava) visited Bumthang in the 8th century and sowed the seeds of faith in the dharma, he instructed people not to take the lives of others, and gave ge-nyen vows (vow of lay devotee). He instructed his devotees to wear rezen or kabney as a sign of their having become followers of Buddhism or taking precepts. While dharma practitioners wore red coloured kabney as a mark of following the dharma teachings, ordinary people wore white coloured kabney as a mark of safeguarding the country — their secular duty. Today, we wear kabney as a part of our national dress in accordance with the code of driglam namzha. The smaller scarf worn by women is called rachu. Kabney is a large, fringed scarf (about 90 by 300 cm), which is worn with one half placed over the left shoulder and the other half drawn across the back, below the right arm and across the body, then caught in a loop made by folding the lower part of the left end over it and then throwing the left end over the left shoulder. When the kabney is correctly placed, the right side should loop down at equal level to the hem of the gho, and the two sides should come together at the left breast. There is considerable variation in how the kabney is actually worn, but what is written here describes how it should be worn. Bhutanese at all social levels wear kabney as a part of formal wear along with the national dress, gho. Wearing kabney marks respect for sacred objects and higher authorities, and symbolises the position or rank of officers serving in the government. Scarves worn by women in place of the male kabney are called rachu. These much smaller, colourful, decoratively woven scarves can be worn draped over both shoulders with the two fringed edges falling from the chest, or can be folded in half and placed over the left shoulder with the fringes falling from the chest. Women in general wear rachu by making a fold in the centre and placing the rachu over the left shoulder. Besides kabney and rachu, there are other variants used by religious practitioners. Those worn by lams and monks are called zen or rezen and the one worn over their rezen is called choe-gho. The rezen is worn all the time over the robe but the choe-gho is worn only during special religious occasions. Similarly, the one worn by ngagpas (tantric practitioners) is called ber or dagam; and the one used by togdenpas (adepts) is called rey or rekar and khamar. Kabney and rachu are worn to pay respect to sublime masters or leaders, and to sacred objects enshrined in the dzongs, monasteries and temples. They are also worn as a symbol of official position. The colour of the kabney determines the official rank of the bearer. Traditional Boot Bhutan’s traditional footwear is a kind of boot worn as high as the knee, the upper, cloth part of which is then held and tied by a narrow strap below the knee. Dra-lham, thru-lham karchung and tshoglham are three different types of traditional footwear and form an important part of Bhutanese national costume. Dra-lham are worn by the senior monks in the monasteries. They are similar to tshoglham but red in colour. Thru-lham karchung derives its name from the white colour of the ben (section just above the ankle) which is highly visible from a distance. The traditional boot worn by the general public is called tshoglham. The thil or sole of the boot used to be made from hard leather, but these days tshoglham usually have rubber soles. Above the sole, two layers of red and white leather (or rubber) make the drilden. Above the drilden is the ri karchu, on which comes the ben in different colours. The ben, is yellow, orange, red, blue or green according to the official position of the wearer. Yellow ben is reserved only for the king and the head abbot (the Je Khenpo); orange is for ministers, red is for senior officials, blue is for members of parliament (both houses) and green is for the general public. The cloth part above the ben is generally black or blue silk brocade. It is mandatory to wear thru-lham or tshoglham as a part of formal national dress during any formal occasions.

Batu Seremban is well-known in Kedah, Selangor, Kelantan and Johor. Also known as Permainan Batu Selambut or Serembat, it is played individually in groups of two to four people. Five objects named as ‘buah’ are required, consisting of rubber seed, glass marble, bean bag, pebbles or small wrapping of cloth as some of them. Batu Seremban is well-known in Kedah, Selangor, Kelantan and Johor. Also known as Permainan Batu Selambut or Serembat, it is played individually in groups of two to four people. Five objects named as ‘buah’ are required, consisting of rubber seed, glass marble, bean bag, pebbles or small wrapping of cloth as some of them. Issues that may cause a ‘defunct game’ status is that, among others, if there is a ‘buah’ that touches another one when the player spread them onto the playing surface like the ground, floor and the like. Apart from the hand, other body parts such as the feet, the knees and the like are not allowed to be touched by the rest of the ‘buah’.

Momolisitik or catapulting is teenage children’s activity of the KadazanDusun ethnic in Sabah, akin to the same game popular in Peninsular Malaysia. The catapult is a type of weapon for small hurls using two bands of rubber ropes joint at both top parts of a "Y" shaped frame stick. There is a pouch for keeping the hurling objects joint at both the rubber ropes. To use the catapult, the hurling objects such as small stones, rubber seeds or dry clay are placed inside the pouch. One hand holds the “Y” shaped frame stick whereas the other grips the pouch and pulls the rubber rope backwards. The further or longer the pull of the rubber rope the higher is the hurling power and the hurling object moves faster, firmer and further.