The pidaan is mainly hung above the images of gods such as Shiva, Vishnu or Lord Buddha. Khmers believe that the pidaan preah serves to protect Buddha images from falling objets and conveys the symbolic meaning of the parasol (Buddha statues are often covered with a parasol to offer protection from rain or sun). In a religious sense, a parasol offers protection from unfavorable influences and symbolizes spiritual power. The pidaan preah is a religious object that pious people make and donate to the temples or Buddhist monasteries to accumulate merits.

Pidaan are called according to their motifs. Among these are pidaan rub prah (with buddha images), pidaan rub prasad (with temples), pidaan rup dan (with flags) or pidaan rub duk (with ships). Motifs are classified in six types:

The tradition of weaving pidaan sacred cloth has almost disappeared in Cambodia due to the war and have survived only a handful of weavers with the skills to tie-and-dye the complex motifs of a panel. Pidaan are valuable and expensive because of their rarity and their beauty. Sadly, this rarity is continuing as weavers are reluctant to engage in such activity: weaving pidaan requires an investment in time which weavers can't economically afford.

It can takes up to one month to tie-and-dye a set of 12 pieces, then another 2-3 weeks to weave just one kben (4 meters). Because weavers are also taking care of the ricefields, household tasks, the lead time needed from the first day of preparation to the selling of the piece can take up to three months. Thus limiting their ability to generate revenues in specializing in pidaan weaving. They would prefer to weave easy pieces of cloths (scarfs, etc) which can be produced and sold quickly. It is said that less than 5 worskhops specialized in pidaan weaving exist in the country. We are proud that Moradok is one of these.