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Laos
Index
Despite the importance of Buddhism to Lao Loum and some
Lao
Theung groups, animist beliefs are widespread among all
segments of
the Lao population. The belief in phi (spirits)
colors the
relationships of many Lao with nature and community and
provides
one explanation for illness and disease. Belief in
phi is
blended with Buddhism, particularly at the village level,
and some
monks are respected as having particular abilities to
exorcise
malevolent spirits from a sick person or to keep them out
of a
house. Many wat have a small spirit hut built in
one corner
of the grounds that is associated with the phi khoun
wat,
the beneficent spirit of the monastery.
Phi are ubiquitous and diverse. Some are
connected with
the universal elements--earth, heaven, fire, and water.
Many Lao
Loum also believe that they are being protected by
khwan
(thirty-two spirits). Illness occurs when one or more of
these
spirits leaves the body; this condition may be reversed by
the
soukhwan--more commonly called the baci--a
ceremony
that calls all thirty-two khwan back to bestow
health,
prosperity, and well-being on the affected participants.
Cotton
strings are tied around the wrists of the participants to
keep the
spirits in place. The ceremony is often performed to
welcome
guests, before and after making long trips, and as a
curing ritual
or after recovery from an illness; it is also the central
ritual in
the Lao Loum wedding ceremony and naming ceremony for
newborn
children.
Many Lao believe that the khwan of persons who
die by
accident, violence, or in childbirth are not reincarnated,
becoming
instead phi phetu (malevolent spirits). Animist
believers
also fear wild spirits of the forests. Other spirits
associated
with specific places such as the household, the river, or
a grove
of trees are neither inherently benevolent nor evil.
However,
occasional offerings ensure their favor and assistance in
human
affairs. In the past, it was common to perform similar
rituals
before the beginning of the farming season to ensure the
favor of
the spirit of the rice. These ceremonies, beginning in the
late
1960s, were discouraged by the government as successive
areas began
to be liberated. This practice had apparently died out by
the mid1980s , at least in the extended area around Vientiane.
Ceremonies oriented to the phi commonly involve
an
offering of a chicken and rice liquor. Once the phi
have
taken the spiritual essence of the offering, people may
consume the
earthly remains. The head of a household or the individual
who
wants to gain the favor of the spirit usually performs the
ritual.
In many villages, a person, usually an older man believed
to have
special knowledge of the phi, may be asked to
choose an
auspicious day for weddings or other important events, or
for
household rites. Each lowland village believes itself
protected by
the phi ban, which requires an annual offering to
ensure the
continued prosperity of the village. The village spirit
specialist
presides over this major ritual, which in the past often
involved
the sacrifice of a water buffalo and is still an occasion
for
closing the village to any outsiders for a day. To
liang phi
ban (feed the village spirit) also serves an important
social
function by reaffirming the village boundaries and the
shared
interests of all villagers.
Most Lao Theung and Lao Sung ethnic groups are
animists, for
whom a cult of the ancestors is also important, although
each group
has different practices and beliefs. The Kammu call
spirits
hrooy, and they are similar to the phi of
the Lao
Loum; the house spirit is particularly important, and
spirits of
wild places are to be avoided or barred from the village.
Lamet
have similar beliefs, and each village must have one
spirit
practitioner (xemia), who is responsible for making
all the
sacrifices to village spirits. He also supervises the
men's
communal house and officiates at the construction of any
new
houses. When a spirit practitioner dies, one of his sons
is elected
by the married men of the village to be his successor. If
he has
none, one of his brother's sons is chosen. Ancestor
spirits
(mbrong n'a) are very important to the Lamet
because they
look out for the well-being of the entire household. They
live in
the house, and no activity is undertaken without informing
them of
it. Ancestor spirits are fond of buffalos; thus buffalo
skulls or
horns from sacrifices are hung at the altar of the
ancestors or
under the gable of the house. Numerous taboos regarding
behavior in
the house are observed to avoid offending ancestral
spirits.
Hmong also believe in a variety of spirits
(neeb), some
associated with the house, some with nature, and some with
ancestors. Every house has at least a small altar on one
wall,
which is the center of any ritual related to the household
or its
members. Annual ceremonies at Hmong New Year renew the
general
protection of the household and ancestral spirits. The
spirit of
the door is important to household well-being and is the
object of
another annual ceremony and sacrifice. As with other Lao
groups,
illness is frequently attributed to the action of spirits,
and
spirit practitioners are called to carry out curing rites.
Two
classes exist: ordinary practitioners and shamans.
Ordinary priests
or the household head conduct the household ceremonies and
ordinary
divinations. The shaman may be called on to engage in
significant
curing rituals.
According to Hmong belief, spirits reside in the sky,
and the
shaman can climb a ladder to the heavens on his magical
horse and
contact the spirits there. Sometimes illness is caused by
one's
soul climbing the steps to the sky, and the shaman must
climb after
it, locate it, and bring it back to the body in order to
effect a
cure. During the ritual, the shaman sits in front of the
altar
astride a wooden bench, which becomes his or her horse. A
black
cloth headpiece covers vision of the present world, and as
the
shaman chants and enters a trance, he or she begins to
shake and
may stand on the bench or move, mimicking the process of
climbing
to heaven. The chant evokes the shaman's search and the
negotiations with the heavenly spirits for a cure or for
information about the family's fortune.
Hmong shamans are believed to be chosen by the spirits,
usually
after a serious or prolonged illness. The illness would be
diagnosed by another shaman as an initiatory illness and
confrontation with death, which was caused by the spirits.
Both men
and women can be summoned in this way by the spirits to be
shamans.
After recovery from the illness, the newly-called shaman
begins a
period of study with a master shaman, which may last two
or three
years, during which time he or she learns the chants,
techniques,
and procedures of shamanic rites, as well as the names and
natures
of all the spirits that can bring fortune or suffering to
people.
Because the tradition is passed orally, there is no
uniform
technique or ritual; rather, it varies within a general
framework
according to the practice of each master and apprentice.
Data as of July 1994
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