THAILAND: National Elephant Day in Ayuthaya with several events and fashion show in Chiang Mai

Record ID: 185016

  • Title: THAILAND: National Elephant Day in Ayuthaya with several events and fashion show in Chiang Mai
  • Date: 15th March 2008
  • Summary: (L!3) CHIANG MAI, THAILAND (MARCH 12, 2008) (REUTERS) MODELS ON STAGE PEOPLE LOOKING ON MODELS POSING ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) MODEL SIRINE BAUDE, SAYING: "I didn't believe until I came here and saw them painting. It's beautiful and it came out with flowers painted. It's amazing." ELEPHANT PAINTING ELEPHANT DRAWING LINE (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) ANCHALEE KALMAPIJIT, HUG ELEP
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Fashion
  • Reuters ID: LVABGWJ4ZPEP6H0ZK52QDUDSEEHP
  • Story Text: Nearly 70 elephants were given a party to celebrate Thailand's National Elephant Day on Thursday (March 13) in Ayuttaya, a former royal city 76 kilometers from Bangkok.
    Festivities began with an opening ceremony where 13 elephants in special costumes paid respect to their elephant ancestors and to elephants which had gone to the war in the past.
    Monks arrived and splashed holy water on the animals, after which the elephants trumpeted loudly three times.
    Then the eating started. And with eight tonnes of fruit laid out on 69 tables, one for every elephant, there was more than enough to go around. Each table was sponsored by individuals or groups of people.

    "Today is the day when all the elephant lovers gather, and what the elephants will get is their future," said Laithongrein Meepan, the owner of elephant camp in Ayuttaya where the event was held.
    Thailand has a rapidly ageing domestic elephant population and few take responsibility for caring for them in their old age.
    Over 400 people, including many foreign tourists, watched the ceremony.

    "There is something for everybody to do here," said French tourist Julien Sera. "There are lots of things to see and do and you definitely have lots of good memories."
    Meanwhile, the northern city Chiang Mai played host to another jumbo-themed event with a slightly different twist.
    The Maetaman (pron: mae-ta-man) Elephant Camp held a fashion show on Wednesday (March 12) to present a collection in which the textiles were painted by elephants. The artistic jumbos also modelled some of the colourful creations alongside 22 human models.
    London-born designer Lawrence Goldberg, 57, who has worked on numerous fashion shows, exhibitions and wedding fairs in London, designed over 50 pieces ranging from sportswear to wedding gowns with his Thai counterpart.
    He said the project, which took eight months to complete, was inspired by the elephants but was hard work.

    "Yes, it's very hard. Because it's unlike silk screen printing that you paint yourself. You know exactly what you want to do and you do it correctly," he said. "But with the elephant, I have an idea in my mind and I want the elephant to paint a certain picture but when the elephant painted, it comes out something completely different from what I wanted which meant that I have to redesign, I have to think about it again and change the concept," he added.
    Elephant artwork has developed over the past couple of years from jumbos painting on sheets of paper and canvas to painting on silk and other fabric such as Thai silk, chiffon, cotton, satin, organza and linen.
    The show is believed to be the first in the world to use fabric created by elephants and many found it difficult to believe that the artwork had been done by the elephants.

    "I didn't believe until I came here and saw them painting. It's beautiful and it came out with flowers painted. It's amazing," said 20-year-old model Sirine Baude.
    The talented jumbos use their trunks to hold a paintbrush. Some of them draw elephants and flowers, others take a more modernist approach, splashing swabs of colour on the fabric.
    The fashion show aimed to publicise the development of elephant art in Thailand and to raise funds for the country's elephant conservation campaign.

    "It's abstract. It's only lines or dots. To make realistic pictures, it will need sometime because it needs to put all the lines together. Recently we used many elephants to make one painting as each elephant has a different skill - some can make lines, some can make dots - then we will combine them together," said Anchalee Kalmapijit (pron: An-cha-lee Gal-ma-pi-jit), Hug Elephant Club founder.
    The World Conservation Union's Asian Elephant Specialist Group estimates the total wild Asian elephant population at 30,000 to 50,000, with captives making up at least half that figure.
    Thailand, where elephants have been domesticated for more than 4,000 years, has around 1,000 domesticated or captive elephants, compared to 3,000 left in the wild.
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