Black and White monkey--Thai shadow puppet*AEK Baan Don

Thank you for stoping by.

Aek, the puppet maker, is a puppeteer from Thailand who has created hundreds of Nang Yai shadow puppet and always invited to demonstate puppet making and playing including Greece and Sweden. This year Aek and his group just recieved Unima award as the outstanding performers in the field of puppetry from Interdock festival in Lund,Sweden. For this puppet, Aek spend 2 whole days to finish it.His work place is in the peaceful Buddhist temple.This puppet made from cow leather with the ancient method that Aek has learnt from his puppet master. Since we believe that cow sacrifices its life for our art,it's the tradition that the puppeteers have wowed not to eat beef for all their lives.  This is a piece of art and now he's the only in his town who is creating Nang Yai.  This Nang Yai is a very highly respected kind of puppet. We need to Wai (pay respect) to the puppet every time before we hold it up and after we put it down. It's very suitable for home decoration or a perfect gift for very special occasion. It is truly hard to find even in Thailand. 

These puppets in the pictures are black and white monkey. We use them as the prologue of every Nang Yai performance. They represent good side (white monkey) and dark side (black money). At the end,of course, the white will always win and most importantly, the black will be forgiven. This prologue is a good reminder for the audience to always have a good heart for ourselves and for the others.

Hand made by Thai well-known Nang Yai puppeteer
Perfect for wall decoration!