Thanking Village Spirits in Ban Na Ang, Laos Part 4

This ceremony/event is divided into four parts. Probably a little long for most people, but it documents my wife's father having a ceremony to thank the village spirits that he believes helped him escape near death in a hospital where he had been extremely ill for two weeks in Vientiane. There is a sacrifice of a water buffalo, though I do not include any video of the actual sacrifice. The village altar is on the outskirts of the village, at the edge of the village, the transition point to the forests. In the video you can see the village appointed shaman leading the ceremony and during this ceremony you can see him asking the spirits (phi) if they can sacrfice the water buffalo back at my father-in-laws home, but the spirits told him (by looking closely at the groupings of rice grains) that they wanted the water buffalo sacrficed here and have some food (including laap) cooked for them. And what the spirits asked for they got, and if you can understand Lao and you're interested in how animism dynamics effect a village and individuals in a village, you might like watching all four parts of this video.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Laos
• spirits
• animism
• village spirits

[deejaigirl]

thanks...