Laos Essential Artistry

Festivals of Laos - Available on Amazon March 15!

2010-03-10T19:28:40-08:00

I try to keep up with books being published having to do with Laos, and of the few that are published most aren’t memorable. A good example of a book with a good title, Siho and Naga, is a mishmash of research and personal anecdotes and some rather strange collages of small photographs that really don’t serve any purpose. I love the title, Siho and Naga, they are two of my favorite motifs in Lao textiles, but what the author has to say adds no new insights. I would not recommend this book.

But what I'm really looking forward to this coming March 15 (5 more days!), is when Amazon will begin selling the Festivals of Laos by Martin Stuart-Fox. He’s the same author of the book, Naga Cities of the Mekong I favorably reviewed in an earlier post. I am eagerly looking forward to his new book!

I know most people traveling to another country like Laos tend to get all their information from the guide book of their choice, like one of the Lonely Planet Guides series. I call this “Wal Mart traveling,” and can you imagine if you did all your shopping just at Wal Mart? OMG. The same with traveling in a country like Laos. If you’ve gone to the expense of buying round-trip tickets and are using your valuable vacation days to come explore this magical country, please don’t just skim the surface of Laos and its rich multi-ethnic cultures by only relying on one guidebook to lead the way. If you read books like the Naga Cities of the Mekong, or Ancient Luang Prabang, or the soon-to-be released Festivals of Laos prior to your travels to Lao, you won’t really need a guide book. Most of the time guidebooks are out of date and are often biased by whomever the author knows and how much time he/she has to really check out guesthouses/restaurants in a particular city/town. If you’re new to a town or city it’s worth the time to explore and decide for yourself where the best place to stay is and what restaurants/stalls have the best food.

Which reminds me of On beyond Zebra by Dr. Seuss where he writes, “...most people stop at the Z, but not me. I’m telling you this because your one of my friends, my alphabet starts where your alphabet ends. My alphabet starts with a letter called YUZZ. It’s the letter I use to spell Yuzzamatuzz. You’ll be sort of surprised what there is to be found, once you go beyond Z and start poking around.” And we guarantee these books will be perfect companions for your exploring and poking around in Laos.

Not only by reading these three books will you become primed for your travels, but I believe they can set the stage for your travel in Laos to become a tremendously memorable experience.. Backpacker types can read them before they go and take some notes to jog their memory when looking at a particular wat or witnessing a particular ceremony, but for all others I recommend bringing these books with you so you can constantly refer to them. And luckily, if you forget one of the books, they’re probably available for sale at Monument Books in downtown Vientiane, next to the Vaykorn Guesthouse and across from Carol Cassidy’s Textile Gallery. In fact, backpacker types could buy one of the books at Monument Books, read it and “use” it in their travels and then sell it at one of the many used book stores now in Vientiane and Luang Prabang. What a great way of gaining merit! Remember, it's all about karma...

I’ll post my own review of Festivals of Laos probably in early April, but here’s a recommendation we found on the Silkworm publishing site. “There is no better way to enjoy the culture of a country than through the eye of a true artist and the mind of a real expert. Northup and Stuart-Fox are to Laos what Stanley and Livingston were to Africa. These two produce my favorite insights into the Mekong region, full of compassion and perception.” — Colin Cotterill, author of the Dr. Siri Paiboun series

Aerial Photos of wat and village in Laos - Favorite Photo Series

2010-03-04T19:56:42-08:00

It's easy for me to write lengthy posts sometimes, but I know people don't have a lot of time these days and attention spans are short, so I like to feature some of my favorite photos of Laos from time to time.

Aerial photography in Laos if one is traveling in the ATR or MA 60 going to destinations like Luang Prabang is not great because your flying at a relatively high altitude. But if you can fly on a small aircraft like Lao Airlines used to fly and Lao Air used to fly, such as when flying to Sam Neua there can be outstanding opportunities for getting some great aerial shots because the planes fly much lower than the ATR and MA 60's.. Lao Air has now stopped flying commercial flights and so we will find out what it's like flying Lao Capricorn (we're hoping they still have flights to Sam Neua...)

The first photo below is of a village located at the bend of a small river with only one narrow dirt road/path leading down to it, and even then you can only cross over to the village by a walking bridge. This is a village far away from paved roads and "civilization." Doesn't it look like a village you would want to visit?

The second photo is taken of a wat compound which really shows all the essential "components" of a wat, including the sim, monks quarters (with motorcycles parked out in front), a stupa, drum tower (being constructed), etc. From John Holt's Spirits of the Place, "While every wat is presided over by its venerated guardian phi, it is also the case that every wat contains a stupa symbolizing the presence of the Buddha and smaller votive stupas containing the cremated ashes of various pious laity as well. The stupa for the Buddha is always located in a position of central prominence, while the votive stupas of the deceased laity are invariably located alongside of one of the compound walls marking the sima or boundary of the wat." You can see both the main stupa and laity stupas as described above in the photo.

Skill of the weaver in Laos

2010-02-24T19:09:42-08:00

"It is the skill of the weaver rather than the complexity of the loom that produces intricate and varied Lao textiles."

This is one of my favorite weaving quotes and is taken from Mary Connor's Lao Textiles and Traditions, unfortunately out of print. I came upon the quote when looking through the book, along with several others we have and trying to define exactly what is a "pha biang." Yes, it's a shoulder cloth, but is it a term more used for describing the shoulder cloths worn by Buddhist women or those worn by "animist" ethnic groups like the Tai Daeng.

You can see one of our weaving videos on YouTube that illustrates Connor's quote below. The weaver is from Muang Vaen and you can see the beautiful textiles these talented weavers weaver here.

The Renaissance of Sinxay in Laos

2010-02-21T20:05:37-08:00

Sinxay, an important folk hero in Laos, seems to be gaining in stature by the Lao government who featured Sinxay in the opening of the SEA Games where he shot a flaming arrow to light the cauldron in the beautiful new stadium built especially for the SEA Games. You can see a video clip further below in this post from our YouTube channel showing Sinxay shooting the flaming arrow. But we're really writing this post because we recently learned in reading the flyer above (in Lao language) that the government is featuring a day about Sinxay, with lectures and performances and we wish we were there to enjoy all the events on this momentous day.

Sinxay is an important Lao mythological hero who goes back hundreds and hundreds of years and over the last year-and-a-half Bai and I have been working on the first English translation of this epic and are now completing our final edit. It's a great, great story, and when involved in a translation of this depth, where one really lives and breaths every aspect of the story it's easy for us to think of Sinxay being very real.

We became interested in the story for a number of reasons. One reason is tied in with our interest in Lao textiles and understanding the rich meaning of all the motifs, and one important motif in Lao textiles is Siho. Siho is often referred to as an lion-elephant, a figure with a lion body and elephant head. Motifs in Lao textiles aren't always easy to identify and often Lao weavers will identify a Siho as a Xang (elephant) or as Patricia Cheesman might say, a Xang Hong, a combination of the shamanic hong serpent and bird and a Buddhist elephant-bird-lion from the Himmaphan forest called nok hadsadiling. You can see Sinxay riding Siho in the illustration in the lower left of the flyer above.

Well, one day when we were browsing in the Dokked Book Shop owned by Douangdeuane Bounyavong, also the headquarters of her small Lao-based publishing house, we saw a book in Lao about Sinxay, which showed a young boy with a bow and arrow and sword, and by his side was one of his brothers, Siho, who had the body of a lion and head of an elephant. I had never heard of Sinxay before and there were two volumes in Lao and we bought both of them. And when Bai was skimming the book she told me there was also a Phanya Khut and Phanya Nak, and I had been extremely interested in learning more about these important mythological figures since I witnessed their "return" to the river in Bai's village after they had been invited to join the village during their celebration of Boun Kong Khao.

We talked with Douangdeuane two summers ago about Sinxay and she told us there was only one story about Sinxay, divided into two volumes and they sold both a Lao and French translation of both volumes. And that was it. There really weren't any other references to Sinxay. Thankfully she allowed us to copy an original copy of Sinxay and we have been working off of that copy to do our translation.

Not being very proficient in reading Lao I asked Bai if she could translate the copy Douangdeuane gave us and that I would help her. Little did I know that it would take hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of painstaking hours. I've never been involved in translating anything from one language to another and it's not an easy task because there are Lao words and phrases that don't easily translate into English and it takes a lot of research and thinking about the English words which would best convey the original meaning in Lao.

So we've been laboring on this in "obscurity" with no real goals in mind, but know have come to realize that Sinxay is being brought back to life by the Lao government as the "Sinxay of the New Era" who was featured in the opening ceremony of the SEA Games in Vientiane when he shot a flaming arrow to light the stadium torch. You can see the video of Sinxay below.

The timing really is amazing considering that as we are completing our translation of the Sinxay Epic, Sinxay is being promoted as an important Lao hero in Vientiane's 450th anniversary.

When we go to Laos in June and July we will be doing research for a background chapter that will help place Sinxay within a historical and cultural context within Laos. There are a lot of people we want to interview and with the sudden limelight being shined on Sinxay it's going to be really exciting to be able to tell "the rest of the story..."

So our thinking is that we will try to get Sinxay published so falang (foreigners) will be able to appreciate the story and gain insights into important Lao mythological figures like Khuts, Naks and Nyaks. It's also a story that older children should really enjoy, especially Lao American children who maybe are less aware of their Lao roots. If anyone has any suggestions we're open... So here, for the first time in English is a very condensed version of Sinxay.

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The epic of Sinxay begins with a description of Muang (Kingdom of) Pengchan and it's king, Phanya Kousarath. He is married to Queen Chanta and they don't have any children. He has a sister, Soumountha, who is the "crystal center" of Muang Pengchan. She is very beautiful and everyone admires and loves her. Unfortunately, so does Nyak Koumphan, the Ogre king of Muang Anolat.

Khoumphan finally decides that he will abduct Soumountha and one day swoops down from the sky while she is enjoying a beautiful afternoon in the palace gardens with all her servants and steals her away. He flies back to Muang Anolat where she becomes his queen. Meanwhile everyone back in Muang Pengchan is very upset and Phanya Kousarath decides he needs to become a monk to cool his heart and when the time is right go on a pilgrimage to find out what happened to Soumountha.

After becoming a monk, Queen Chanta takes over as ruler of Muang Pengchan and Phanya Kousarath leaves on his pilgrimage, which after many months takes him to Muang Champa. In talking to a monk he learns that Nyak Koumphan had flown over Muang Champa with Soumountha and the monk told him it would take someone who had special powers like Phra In (The leader in heaven) to bring Soumountha back.

When Phanya Kousarath went out the next morning begging alms there were seven sisters giving alms and Phanya Kousarath fell in love with them. He decided to return to Muang Pengchan the next day and when he arrived back at his palace they had a ceremony where he stopped being a monk and became king again. And shortly thereafter he sent some of his nobles to Muang Champa to arrange the marriage of the seven sisters for him, partly because Queen Chanta had not had any children and he knew he would have to have heirs who would eventually inherit and rule Muang Pengchan. He especially wanted sons with special powers like Phra In who could go and rescue Soumountha.

The seven sisters were brought back to Muang Pengchan and became his wives and queens. Queen Chanta and Queen Loon (the youngest sister) prayed one night to Phra In that they would have extraordinary sons with good karma and that night Queen Chanta, Queen Loon and Phanya Kousarath all had special dreams. The next day Phanya Kousarath had an astrologer come to make a prediction about the dreams and he said Queen Loon and Queen Chanta would have three extraordinary sons and the other six queens would have the most vile sons. Of course Queen Chanta and Queen Loon were very happy and the other six queens were mocked by all the people in the muang and were very unhappy.

An evil witch, Meenyafet, learned of the predicament of the six queens and met with the eldest sister and told her she could change their luck if they would give her some "red gold." They did and she made up some evil medicine which they put into the bath water of Phanya Kousarath and when he bathed with this water his mind became cloudy and confused and he asked the astrologer to come back and make another prediction. The six queens intercepted the astrologer and paid him in gold to say that their luck had changed, which he did, and he now predicted that Queen Loon and Queen Chanta would have strange looking babies that weren't human and were evil, and the six queens would now have normal sons. He told Phanya Kousarath that he would have to wait and he would see the truth when all the babies were born.

Shortly thereafter all of the queens, including Queen Chanta, gave birth to sons. Queen Loon gave birth to twins, a boy who was holding a bow and arrow and sword (Sinxay) and a boy with the body of a snail (Xangthong). Queen Chanta gave birth to a boy with the body of a lion and head of an elephant (Siho). The other six queens gave birth to normal looking sons. Shortly thereafter Phanya Kousarath declared that Queen Chanta and Queen Loon's sons were bad luck and must be released in the forest, and rather than abandon their babies Queen Chanta and Queen Loon left the palace with their babies and walked out into the forest.

It was a difficult life for them, living off fruits and roots and finally Phra In looked down from heaven and saw them living this destitute life and made a palace for them in the forest with delicious food, clothes, everything they needed. By the time Sinxay turned seven years old he had already grown wise beyond his age and one day he asked his mother for his bow and arrow and sword and shot an arrow into the sky which fell into the land of the khuts (half men/half birds - the Thai would call them Garuda).

Phanya Khut (king of the Khuts) saw the arrow and knew that it has been sent by someone with the powers of Phra In and brought all the khuts, millions of them to the palace, where they swore their allegiance to Sinxay and pledged to be his friend and protector.

Several months later Sinxay shot another arrow into the sky which fell into the ocean (mahasamut) of the naks (mythological and magical water serpents) and Phanya Nak (King of the Naks) )brought millions of naks to the palace where they too swore their allegiance to Sinxay and pledged to protect him and be his friend.

During this time the six brothers grew up and were quite impressive looking, but were in fact quite devious and one day Phanya Kousarath met with them and told them he wanted them to go seek out Nyak Koumphan, kill him and bring back Soumountha. They said they would, but first needed to go on a quest for saddtasin, the power that would allow them to conquer all foes.

After paying their respects to their father and mothers the six brother left the palace, but quickly became lost in the forest and feared for their lives. Phra In saw their confusion and created a road for them to reach the palace where they met their brothers, Sinxay, Xangthong and Siho and their two aunts, Queen Chanta and Queen Loon. They soon discovered that Sinxay had the power, saddtasin that they themselves coveted and begged him to show them how they could get the same power. But Sinxay told them all he did was shoot an arrow into the sky, that was it.

Realizing they couldn't get the power themselves the six brothers tricked Sinxay into commanding all the animals, including the naks and khuts to enter the palace at Muang Pengchan after the six brothers returned to the palace. When the six brothers returned to the palace and all the animals, including the khuts and naks came, everyone was quite scared, including the six brothers, terrified really, and thankfully the animals left as quickly as they came, just as Sinxay said they would. Phanya Kousarath and everyone in the muang thought that it was the magic and power (saddtasin) of the six brothers who had brought all the animals and they were tremendously impressed. That night Phanya Kousarath held a ceremony and baci and honor of the six brothers who he then ordered to go and bring back Soumountha.

The six brothers left and again ended up at the palace in the forest where they lied to Sinxay about how Phanya Kousarath was impressed at his powers and that Phanya Kousarath was so sad he had banished them all from the kingdom and now begged Sinxay to go bring back Soumountha and kill Nyak Koumphan. Sinxay, being good-hearted, believed them and so he, Xangthong and Siho left with the six brothers to bring back Soumountha.

After several days they came upon a large snake, huge, several stories tall, and when the six brothers saw the snake they were terrified and ran and hid behind some rocks and Sinxay and Siho fought the snake fought the snake themselves, and when Sinxay shot an arrow into the head of the snake it finally died. All of them then continued on their journey and when they came to a wide raging river the six brothers were again terrified and begged Sinxay to take them back to Muang Pengchan because they were too scared. It was then Sinxay knew their true nature and ended up having Siho stay by the river with the six brothers.

Xangthong then transformed himself into a boat and he and Xangthong crossed the river in seconds. Xangthong always went first, clearing the way with Sinxay following him. They had many adventures, first fighting Valoona Nyak and then intimidating Phanya Xang (King of the Elephants) and his millions of elephant followers into submitting to them and accompanying them to the border of Muang Anolat (Nyak Koumphan's kingdom). After crossing the border they had to fight four nyak guards, and then Sinxay met Nyak Khinee who transformed herself into a beautiful girl trying to entice him to become her husband. He could tell by her eyes what her true nature was and quickly left. He then had to fight some Phanyathones (a kind of forest spirit) and then Nyak Atsamoukhi (with a face like a dog) who grabbed him and wanted to carry him off to her cave, and after he couldn't convince her to let him go, reluctantly killed her.

Sinxay then climbed to the top of a mountain and came upon the Tree of Life (Tdon Kalapheuk). It was an incredibly moving experience for Sinxay looking at all the gorgeous textiles hanging from the gold gilded branches and he kept one, Pha Goxai for himself, which he folded carefully and put in his quiver.

Coming down from the mountain he came upon a waterfall where he saw a group of kinnaris ( "half-bird, half-woman creatures. One of the many wondrous creatures that inhabit the mythical Himavanta forest. They have the head, torso, and arms of a woman and the wings, tail and feet of a swan. They are renowned for their dance, song and poetry, and are a traditional symbol of feminine beauty, grace and accomplishment") bathing and fell in love with one, Nang Kiengkham, and they spent seven wonderful days together.

Sinxay then left her promising to return in a month and met up with Xangthong and they located Nyak Koumphan's palace where Sinxay finally met his Aunt Soumountha in the palace while Khoumphan was out hunting for food. The truth was that after being abducted Somountha had accepted being Khoumphan's wife and queen and they had a daughter together, Sidachan. Soumountha didn't really want to leave Khoumphan, but when Sinxay demonstrated his power by shooting his arrow which lit up the sky like the sun, Soumountha realized Sinxay's powers were greater than Khoumphan's and she agreed to leave with Sinxay, although very reluctantly.

When Nyak Koumphan realized Sinxay had taken Soumountha he became very angry and confronted Sinxay and Xangthong after they had secured Soumountha in a cave. In their first fight Sinxay cut off his head, but Koumphan was able to regenerate himself into seven nyaks with gold clubs and when Sinxay used his sword in fighting the nyaks it gave off bolts of lightning killing swarms of nyaks, but for each nyak who died, seven nyaks emerged. Finally Sinxay had to use his arrow which gave off a current of hot fire killing almost all the nyaks and for those who still showed some life, Xangthong smashed their heads with his body. The nyaks still alive quickly dispersed and Sinxay and Xangthong went back to the cave to get Soumountha and and quickly set out on a road that led into the forest.

It was here they discovered a palace Phra In had created for them. It was in this forest where Sinxay, Xangthong and Siho had incredible battles with Koumphan and all the nyaks. The numbers were incredible, hundreds of millions of nyaks, hundreds of thousands of horses and millions of elephants. The nyaks showed many kinds of powers and some of them transformed their heads into elephant heads, heads of cows, heads of bears and also their bodies became the bodies of horses able to jump and fly up. Some of them were half-buffalo and half-rhino or half-goat and half-tiger, or half-rhino and half-giraffe, but they always failed to frighten Sinxay. They even tried transforming themselves into a Brahmin, but Sinxay did not fall prey to any of their tricks.

Eventually Sinxay killed Koumphan, and Soumountha, although with Sinxay, was quite sad to see her husband killed. It was then she told Sinxay that her daughter Sidachan had married Phanya Nak (another Nak king), and his name was Valunnalat, and she wanted Sinxay to bring her daughter back to her since she was going to have to return to Muang Pengchan. After three days rest Sinxay and Xangthong began their travels to Muang Nak and Xangthong parted the ocean revealing a road that led them quickly to Phanya Nak's palace.

It was there Sinxay challenged Valunnalat to a game of maksaga (chess) and he bet his bow and arrow, sword and Xangthong, who had transformed himself into an ordinary snail. Valunnalat bet his kingdom (muang). After three games, Sinxay won them all and Valunnalat was angry and tried to arrest Sinxay since he looked just like a harmless boy, but Sinxay and Xangthong easily defeated the naks and Sinxay asked that Sidachan return with them to her mother. But before they left Sinxay lectured Valunnalat about how to rule his kingdom in a fair, Buddhist way.

After returning back to Muang Nyak they held a funeral ceremony for Koumphan, worthy of being the honorable king he was. Sinxay then went and located Koumphan's brother, Pannula, and lectured him like he did Phanya Nak about how to rule his kingdom fairly and in a Buddhist way.

Then Sinxay, Xangthong, Soumountha and Sidachan left to travel to the river where his six brothers and Siho were waiting for them. The six brothers were excited to see Soumountha and Sidachan and began scheming how they could take credit for rescuing Soumoutha and Sidachan themselves. Sinxay wanted the six brothers to take Soumountha and Sidachan back by themselves so he, Xangthong and Siho could return to their mothers who had been waiting for them for so long. But the six brothers pleaded with Sinxay for him to accompany them to assure their safety and again he consented to their demands.

Several days later in their travels on their way back they stopped at a tall waterfall and the six brothers asked Sinxay to join them in bathing at the top of the waterfall. It was there they pushed him over the edge and came back and told Soumountha and Sidachan that he had slipped in the water and gone over the edge and was now dead. Soumountha was suspicious and left three items by the river for someone to find if Sinxay was still alive. Soumountha and Sidachan were then forced to go with the six brothers who treated them quite rudely.

When they reached Muang Hon, the muang right before Muang Pengchan, the brothers stopped and had the muang leader build a pavilion for themselves and one for Soumountha and Sidachan to relax in while they sent a messenger to their father, Phanya Kousarath, telling him they had brought back Soumountha and Sidachan. They then warned everyone to stay away from Soumountha and Sidachan because they had nyak hearts and that when they saw people it was like they were seeing fish or meat!

Phanya Kousarath was of course extremely happy to hear that his six sons had returned with Soumountha and Sidachan and sent one of his nobles to accompany them from Muang Hon to Muang Champa in a royal procession. Sidachan was extremely sad thinking she would be abandoned by her uncle because she had nyak blood and a nyak heart, but Soumountha told her Phanya Kousarath loved her like he loved Soumountha, that they all had royal blood and that he would always take care of them.

When they arrived at the palace in Muang Pengchan there were crowds of people gathered along side the road and within the palace eager to welcome back Soumountha, the crystal center of Muang Pengchan. After the ceremony welcoming back the victorious six brothers, Soumountha settled back in the same room she stayed in before Koumphan stole her away. Even thought their lives were very comfortable now including such luxuries such as being served delicious deserts on gold trays, it was clear that Soumountha and Sidachan were very unhappy, and it wasn't long before Phanya Kousarath knew about the unhappiness of Soumountha and Sidachan.

Phanya Kousarath finally "woke up," realizing something was terribly wrong and ordered his six sons to come and pay their respects to their father and he interrogated them about what had really happened on their travels. They continued to tell their father lies and Phanya Kousarath still suspected something was wrong so he ordered Soumountha and Sidachan to come and pay their respects and he asked if there was anything provoking their hearts. It was then they told him the truth about what had really happened and how Sinxay had been the one who had fought to set them free.

Soumountha told Phanya Kousarath she had deep suspicions about what really had happened at the top of the waterfall when the six brothers said Sinxay had fallen to his death and she had left three items and asked Phra In to have someone return them if Sinxay was still alive. Phanya Kousarath was excited, happy and sad, all at the same time because while he realized he had made a mistake in banishing Queen Chanta and Queen Loon and their three sons after they were born, he now knew they were still alive! If he only had some proof of what his six sons had done...

Several days later a mariner coming from China came to pay his respects to Phanya Kousarath and gave him three items he found by a stream on his travels to Muang Pengchan. Phanya Kousarath called in Soumountha and she said that yes, they were indeed the three items she had left by the waterfall where the six brothers said Sinxay had died. Soumountha and Phanya Kousarath were overjoyed and immediately Phanya Kousarath put together a procession which he would lead in searching for Sinxay and his brothers. Before the procession left he had his six sons arrested, along with their mothers and the astrologer and the evil witch, Meenyafet, and they were all put into a jail with studded walls.

Sinxay, when he was pushed over the waterfall was being watched by Phra In, who prevented his death, and had transported him to his palace in the forest where his mother, Queen Loon, and his aunt Queen Chanta and Xangthong and Siho were waiting for him to return. Since the fateful day when Phra In had returned Sinxay to the palace they all had been living their lives peacefully.

The day came when one of the naks watching over the palace heard the noise from Phanya Kousourath's procession and he went and told Sinxay that he heard what he possibly thought were the sounds of a foreign army. But Sinxay, when he listened carefully, said he thought they were just the sounds of his family looking for him and he sent a nak who transformed himself into a handsome young man to go meet the procession and bring them back to the palace.

And it was when the nak led the procession to Sinxay’s palace that finally Phanya Kousarath got to meet his three sons, Sinxay, Xangthong and Siho and begged them and Queen Chanta and Queen Loon to come back to Muang Pengchan. He told them if they didn't come back he would come to live in their palace in the forest because he regretted with all his heart the mistakes he had made in the past.

They agreed to go back to Muang Pengchan and when they arrived there was a ceremony where Sinxay became the new king and was given a new name, Phanya Xang Sinxay Mahaajakapadtila. Sinxay ruled the muang fairly and treated all people equally and released his six brothers and their mothers from the jail and sent them back to their grandfather in Muang Champa.

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Yes, this version is very condensed, 3110 words vs 39,500 words in the full translated version! But it does provide a good overview of the story and will have to do until we can figure out a way to publish the full version with illustrations. Two sample illustration by Bai's sister's boyfriend are below. The first one shows Sinxay with his two brothers, Xangthong (with the body of a snail) and Siho (with the body of a lion and head of an elephant). Both Xangthong and Siho have magical transformative powers. The second illustration shows the palace of Phanya Kousarath in Muang Pengchan.

What is a muang? In the Spirits of Place by John Holt, he writes that "Transcending the individual ban (village) is the muang, a nearly untranslatable term, but essentially a cluster of ban related to each other not only because of geographic proximity, but also for politically defensive reasons as well, with the ban that has the most economic means and most politically powerful family (usually meaning the greatest ability to produce rice) serving as its hub in hierarchical relation to the other ban."

What do Khuts and Naks look like? Below is a photo I took of a graphic on a t-shirt I bought in Bangkok. The Thai call their khuts, Garuda...

Boun Kong Khao, Phanya Khut, Phanya Nak and the Village Spirit in Ban Na Ang, Laos

2010-02-19T21:17:28-08:00

Welcome to one of our “slow” videos. I know a video should be short and sweet because most people's attention spans are pretty short (thanks to our multitasking culture in part...) but that’s not how life is in Laos, especially in rural Laos (80+% of the country) and it would be impossible to really learn much about village life in Laos in fast food “nuggets.”

In the village in this video the villagers recently had a celebration called Boun Kong Khao, also known as Boun Ban. Boun Kong Khao is a ceremony for the spirit of the rice and the word “kong” means pile. So literally the villagers will take rice that they have harvested that season and bring it to the wat and add it to a huge pile on the floor of the wat as seen in the photo below. It is up to each family on how much rice they want to give to the wat and it really varies from family to family, maybe from about 10 up to 40 kilos of rice, which will then be sold and the money used by the monks for the wat upkeep. This celebration usually happens in December or January after the rice is harvest. Sometimes even as late as February or March, it’s up to the village.

After every family has brought their rice then the monk(s) and elders in the village will give a special blessing for the rice spirit and thank her for the recent harvest and with prayers that next year’s harvest will be even better. After the temple blessing, in the late afternoon and evening, there will be music with lots of food and drinks, for at least one night, often for two nights. It’s a very festive occasion the villagers look forward to.

This is where the video comes in. Whenever there is a festival like this the village has to invite the spirits of Phanya Khut and Phanya Nak to come and protect the ceremony and village so nothing bad will happen, and if Phanya Khut and Phanya Nak want to join in the festivities, all the better. Phanya Khut and Phanya Nak are featured in the Lao epic, Sinxay which we wrote a post on here. They are brought to a haw (small spirit house) on the temple grounds, along with the village spirit which is brought from the village shrine on the edge of the forest.

If Phanya Khut and Phanya Nak and the village spirit are not invited they could get upset and become mischievous and who knows what bad things could happen. As John Holt writes in Spirits of the Place, “In Laos although phi [spirits] are often protective in nature, their power, rather than being understood as unambiguously good or morally based, is also understood to be potentially destructive, if not sometimes downright malevolent. For phi can be of many kinds. Rather than begging a comparison to the devatas of Sri Lanka, the power of phi is more reminiscent of the power of yaksas, a power to be feared because it is ambivalent in nature and less morally informed or engendered. The power of phi seems less domesticated, less morally guided, less buddhisticly channeled, more intrinsic rather than cultivated and hence more to be feared because of its ambiguity.”

What happens when Phanya Khut and Phanya Nak are invited is that the village spirit guide will lead a group of elders to the river and invite Phanya Khut and Phanya Nak to join them and then someone will wade out into the river and pick out two rocks, which represent their spirits. And then they are carefully place on a small platform carried on two poles by a couple of the men accompanied by the sound of a kong, seng (cymbals) and drum. They are then carried (royally) to the haw on the temple grounds where they stay during the duration of the celebration, along with the village spirit. Once the celebration is over then they are taken back “home” to the river.

In the beginning of this video you can see Phanya Khut and Phanya Nak being taken back to the river after the Boun Kong Khao is over. Then the same group which includes the village spirit guide and elders comes back to the haw (spirit house) on the temple grounds where the village spirit has been residing. They then invite the village spirit to go back with them to the village shrine which is located on the boundary between the village and forest which is where the village spirit normally resides. In the video I followed the procession as it wound through the village in the early morning finally arriving at the village shrine. For those of you unfamiliar with Lao animism, you may be surprised at how ramshackle the shrine is. But there is a reason as Holt writes about in Spirits of the Place. “In Laos the representation of the supernatural thewada and phi is much more subtle and is almost always aniconic, that is, there are virtually no artistic traditions of sculpting anthropomorphic images of phi or portraying their mythic or supernatural exploits in temple mural paintings, and so forth. While diminutive spirit houses for phi are regularly positioned near the boundaries of premises for many commercial establishments, the shrines for village guardian phi are usually either very humble sheds or ramshackle canopies with little or no symbolic representation located in the forest outside the boundaries of the inhabited village area, or their presence is indicated simply by a pole or pillar placed at a central location in the village, often in front of the house of the village headman.

The spirit house usually remains an empty dwelling, precisely because the spiritual force that it symbolically represents refuses, ultimately, to be permanently embodied, for in essence the phi are actually not embodied personages at all. Rather, they are fundamentally bodiless or “post-embodied” forces, wills or powers.”

This is the same shrine seen in the four part video I upload to our channel about my father-in-laws ceremony to thank the village spirit for its part in helping him get well after an almost fatal illness.

The interaction/fusion between Buddhism and spirits in Laos fascinates me and anyone similarly interested will love John Holt's new book, Spirits in the Place. A MUST read.

Who are Phanya Khut and Phanya Nak. You can see them below with Sinxay.

Bali, Indonesia. Sayan Village Photos taken at Rice Festival by Eric Crystal

2010-02-18T08:52:13-08:00

My good friend Eric Crystal, retired anthropologist and photographer/videographer extraordinaré just put up a slide show of some of his black and white photos taken in Bali on his YouTube channel. He writes, "Bali. Black and White Portraits of Villagers at a Rice Festival in Sayan Village, Gianyar Province, Bali. Indonesia. The ceremony took place in the open air village Hindu temple Photographs by Oakland anthropologist Eric Crystal. Photographs taken in December, 2005. Nikon FM film camera. Negatives scanned on Epson V700 flatbed. Keynote software used for slide show. Music by Cudamani, contemporary Balinese gamelan orchestra led by Dewa Putu Barata of Pengosekan, Bali."

Eric has an absolutely great, amazing video of Hmong girls harvesting rice in their traditional "Blue Hmong" skirts that I'm hoping he will upload soon. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll embed videos that Eric uploads that I think our viewers will like.

Reaching for the Sky - The Lotus as a Symbol of Buddhism in Laos

2010-02-13T16:58:51-08:00

The lotus is a symbol of spiritual growth. It grows in muddy water, but its stems and flowers reach upward to the Sun, as if toward nibbana. Likewise, the Lord Buddha rose above his suffering to gain enlightenment. And the Buddha is often depicted on a throne made of lotus petals, and the Lao, like all Buddhists bring lotus flowers as offerings to their wats.

We have some beautiful pinkish-red silk scarves woven at Phaeng Mai Gallery with the lotus as the main motif. You can see them here.

Remember, all the photos and videos we feature in our blog are taken by Laos Essential Artistry!

Sharing Literacy with Lao children in Sam Neua, Laos

2010-02-10T12:29:36-08:00

At Laos Essential Artistry a big component of what we are about is giving back. We talk about our philosophy on our website here. When we go to Laos we always buy a quantity of books from Big Brother Mouse and distribute them in rural villages in Laos as we pass through. And sometimes we give a set to a teacher if we are fortunate to meet some in our travels. Because we have lately been traveling in June and July, and since schools close in early June we don't usually have the opportunity to drop in on a school in session like we would if we were traveling in December.

But the whole reason for writing this post is to include a photo that Elli took of Phonchit's granddaughter, the owner of the Chittavanh Restaurant in Sam Neua and now proud owner of the new Chittavanh Guest House. In the past we've stay at the Khaem Xam Guest House and eaten at Phonchit's restaurant, but now that his new guest house is open we will definitely stay there. He, or his son, also are our drivers as we travel all over Huaphan Province. If you need transportation when you're up in Sam Neua they are the people to contact.

Big Brother Mouse has made available some of their books in PDF form and we have printed out copies of pages of the picture dictionary and then have had them laminated and bring these to Laos. We hole punch the pages so they can be put in a binder or they can be looked at individual or pinned up on a board or??? They're great for teachers and of course young children really like them and when we gave Phonchit's granddaughter a set of the laminated pages she sat down at a little table and immediately began copying words from the book. We think it's a great photo and shows how Lao children, if given the opportunity and materials, are eager to learn.

Hmong New Year in Ban Phu Leuy, Luang Prabang Province, Laos

2010-02-06T08:23:16-08:00

This video was taken ten years ago when I spent Christmas in this remote Hmong village, visiting a former student's grandmother and uncles. I've uploaded some of the video to our YouTube channel and it's always fun to see what comments people might make about different videos. The latest comment about this video was written in Hmong and stated, "kwv tij hmoob cas nej yuav txiv hlub ua luaj li os...hmoob lub neej uas txom 2 nyem...ib txwm."

Translated into English it says "Hmong Brothers, you guys are very sad/adorable. The Hmong lives are very tragic/ heartwarming... always."

It takes a lot of work to edit videos and upload video to YouTube and write a description that helps viewers understand more about the context of that particular video. But it's part of our mission and passion to help people understand Laos from multiple perspectives. And most of the time videos get viewed and no comments are give, but when we receive a thoughtful response like this it makes it all worth it. It's only through a "conversation" that we all gain a greater understanding of the world around us.

This comment in Hmong is really quite profound because it begs the question of how do the Hmong fortunate enough to have immigrated to other countries and living in better circumstances, think about their Hmong "brothers and sisters" still living their traditional lives in Laos? I don't think they get thought about a lot and I think that they are a diminishing reservoir of traditional Hmong culture and somehow the Hmong who are living in the fast lane of the 21st century in that US and other countries could/should be more appreciative and supportive of these Hmong, who for various reasons are still living their lives as Lao Soung, the Lao of the mountain tops. For better or worse...

In the Hmong storycloths we sell at our Yahoo store here, you can see so marvelously embroidered the kinds of traditional activities that make up the lives of the Hmong still living in these remote villages. We wrote a blog describing all the activities shown in one storycloth here.

Carol Cassidy's Weaves of Cambodia Silk Scarves

2010-02-02T20:38:47-08:00

Someone recently emailed us telling us that they saw the same Weaves of Cambodia Silk Scarves that we sell for $55, for sale at the Asia Society Museum Store in New York for $70! And we provide a more compelling story behind the weaving of these scarves. So if you want a "deal," just check out the same scarves we sell at your Yahoo! store HERE. Plus, I like our photos of Bai modeling one of the scarfs much better. How can you resist?

Kitten Warming up on top of a Sticky Rice Container in Ban Na Ang, Laos

2010-01-31T14:34:20-08:00

As those of you who are veterans at making sticky rice know, after steaming the rice and "kneading" it the rice is put into various size wicker containers to keep it warm. On this cold morning the kitten you see here had the "best seat" in the house!

Favorite Laos Photo Series: Dok Champa flowers framing Wat Mixay Gable

2010-01-31T08:39:04-08:00

It's just about this time when the Dok Champa trees in Laos seem to have the most flowers. They bloom all year long, but not as fully as they do around February. Not only are they beautiful flowers, their smell is exquisite and perfumes the nearby air at night. I can remember when I lived in Laos and would go see Bai when she was living at her aunt's and would walk back to my house in the warm evening and it was enchanting to walk by Dok Champa trees with their intoxicating fragrance. Just one part of the spell Laos has woven for me...

We have some nice paintings by Khamla of Dok Champa that you can see on our Yahoo Store website here and one of them you can see below.

Taykeo Textile Gallery Weavers in Vientiane, Laos

2010-01-24T14:58:35-08:00

This video was taken about three years ago when Taykeo had some of the best Lao weavers working for her. We're a little biased because the first weaver you see in this video is Bai's sister Bouasai. She wove for Taykeo part-time while she was attending the university. She graduated over a year ago and now works at another job, but still helps us out in managing our business interests in Vientiane. In this video you can see some very complex weaving and with one weaver you can see her picking out a pattern by looking at an antique Lao textile. All the Lao silk you see has been naturally-dyed and the colors Taykeo chooses for her textiles are simply gorgeous. You can see some of her beautiful textiles at our Yahoo store here. The textiles aren't cheap, but our prices are half of what you would pay in any of the museum shops where you might see her textiles for sale.

Avatar/Na'vi Language & Lao Language --- To see into someone's heart ...

2010-01-18T10:11:50-08:00

About a month ago we put up a video we made of Keynote slides showing how Lao language incorporates the word "heart" - "jhai" into many other words. That post can be seen here.

This morning when we heard James Cameron talking about his winning the Golden Globe for Best Director for Avatar and he was asked to say something in the Avatar language, Na'vi, we thought about how Lao language shared an important connection. What he said in Na'vi he translated as meaning, "I see you" which he explained as being much more than seeing someone just in the physical sense, that it was about seeing into someone one, respecting them and cherishing them.

The Lao too have a word for "I see you" which is their word for empathy, "hen jhai," which means to see into someone's heart, and this word is one of the words we feature in our original video. What we've done in this post is to include the video clip of James Cameron speaking the Na'vi words for "I see you" and below that is a short segment of our original video showing the Lao word "hen jhai."

So there you have the Na'vi and Lao language connection! And by the way we loved the movie. Great story, great animation and the message about the importance of connection, connecting with people and the environment is powerful. The blurring of the real and the imaginary and the material and spiritual worlds, really capture your imagination. It's a movie I know will resonate in our hearts for a long time...

Laos Essential Artistry Northern Laos Textile Arts & Culture Tours

2010-01-16T19:40:00-08:00

We've decided not to do a tour this June, a planned generic tour just seems to difficult to actualize. But we're always interested in working with individuals and small groups who want to arrange a custom tour. And if you're interested in going to Laos in December contact us at peterlaos@hotmail.com and we can put you on a "mailing" list. Not sure if we'll plan a generic tour, but as we stated previously, we're always glad to put together a custom tour with a focus on the textile arts.

Are you an adventurous person? Do you look at the picture above (from a postcard) and think you would like to go there? Then maybe you're ready to join Laos Essential Artistry and experience the magic of Laos with Peter and Bai. As Peter Greenberg, Travel Contributor wrote for the Today Show when Matt Lauer finally visited Laos on April 30, 2008 as part of his Where in the World is Matt Lauer series, "Laos is a true magical mystery tour. Few Americans visit. Fewer understand it. However, more and more savvy travelers are slowly discovering this small country.”

At Laos Essential Artistry we have been leading tours to Laos since 2002 and we totally agree with Peter Greenberg about the magicality of Laos. Our tours are designed explicitly to promote meaningful cross-cultural understanding that enables participants to expand their historic and cultural insights while making important connections, and on our tours we like to focus on illuminating the world of the Lao artisan, especially in regards to the textile arts. And of course, as always, we cater to photographers.

If you’ve browsed through our website at gotlaos.com and have been following our blog our passion for Laos and the textile arts is clearly evident. The textiles arts have always been an important part of everyday life in Laos and on our tour we will experience fascinating blend of old and new, traditional and modern, formal and innovative. We will visit famous galleries in Vientiane, like Carol Cassidy’s Textile Gallery and Phaeng Mai Gallery, boutique galleries in Luang Prabang and perhaps the highlight of our tour, visit the remote weaving villages of Sam Tai and Muang Vaen in Huaphan Province. Besides being incredibly picturesque, the weaving in these villages is among some of the best in Laos and participants will have the opportunity to buy museum-quality silk textiles right from the weavers/artisans themselves.

Write us at peterlaos@com if you're interested in traveling to Laos and let's see what we can arrange.