Baci Ceremony, Luang Prabang

Baci/Basi and su kwan (meaning "calling of the soul") is an important ceremony practised in Lao culture, Sipsong Panna and Northern and Lao Isan.

Baci is a phi ritual used to celebrate important events and occasions, like births and marriages and also entering the monkhood, departing, returning, beginning a new year, and welcoming or bidding etc.

The ritual of the baci involves tying strings around a person's wrist to preserve good luck, and has become a national custom.

The flower tray (Pah Kwan).
The practice involves preparing the pah kwan or the flower trays and placing at a central location for people to gather around it in reverential prayers.

The pah kwan is normally prepared by the elderly ladies of the household or the community.

The flower tray with plates of food around it.
The paw kwan is elaborately prepared on a silver tray on which a cone or horn made of banana leaves is placed at the centre and is decked with flowers and white cotton and silk threads tied to a bamboo stalk as flags.

The decoration with flowers is of different flower types with specific connotation of dok huck (symbol of love), dok sampi (longevity), dok daohuang (cheerfulness/brilliance) and so forth.

The white threads.
During the Baci ceremony, a white (symbolizes purity) thread of silk or cotton is tied on the right hand wrist of the individual who is being wished for his well-being and good luck and also around the wrists of all guests who assemble to wish a person.

The thread is first knotted before tying on the wrist of the person to be blessed and other guests.
Before the thread is tied, the hand is held chest high as a mark of respect.
The white thread is symbolic of "peace, harmony, good fortune, good health and human warmth and community".
The thread is worn by an individual normally for a minimum of three days and is untied thereafter (thread is not to be cut).

The elder who leads the ceremony (Mor Phon).
The ceremony is performed by a senior person of the community who has been a Buddhist monk at some stage.

Behind the elder are his assistants.
The elder is helped by other community members of all ages.

All participants sit on the floor or on low chairs.
All participants wear a sash across their chest.
The sash (Pa bieng) is traditionally warn over one shoulder and across the chest. It can be pinned together or folded across the body loosely or as firmly as the person would like.

Lighting a candle on top of the flower tray.
The ceremony begins with the elder lighting a candle on top of the flower tray.

Reciting Buddhist chants.
The elder (Mor phon) begins the recitation of Buddhist chants, in a mix of Laotian and Pali languages.

Buddhist devas, local deities and spirits are invoked amidst the chants for the return of kwans (souls) from wherever they are back to the body to ensure equilibrium.
It is said to be a fusion of the traditions of Hindu and Buddhist religious practices.

Invoking the 32 spirits (Kwan).
The crux of the ceremony is to invoke the kwan, which in specific terms is an ancient belief in Laos that the human being is a union of 32 organs and that the kwan watch over and protect each one of them.

It is of the utmost consequence that as many kwan as possible are kept together in the body at any one time.
Since all kwan is often the attributed cause of an illness, the baci ceremony calls the kwan or souls from wherever they may be roaming, back to the body, secures them in place, and thus re-establishes equilibrium.

The elder hands the threads to his assistants.
When the chanting is finished villagers take the thread from the elder and begin tying it around the wrists of the guests.

The elder and his assistants tie the threads to the guests' wrists.
At this point the ceremony becomes a lot of fun. Villagers move around the room, stopping at guests to tie thread around their wrists.

They’ll often start by waving the thread across your hand, three times outwards accompanied by ‘out with the bad, out with the bad, out with the bad’, or something similar, and three times in with ‘in with the good.’
As they tie they’ll also wish you a safe journey and good health, with the more comedic calling for beautiful wives, many children etc.

Threads tied around the wrists.
The thread is worn by an individual normally for a minimum of three days and is untied thereafter (thread is not to be cut).

Recommended practice is to allow the thread to fall off on its own.
In recent times, the thread in yellow, red and black colors are also used representing particular occasion; red symbolizing bravery, yellow representing faith and black sharing a person's loss or grief.

More Buddhist chants.
After all the threads are tied around the guests' wrists, the elder continues with more Buddhist chants.

Offering food and rice whisky.
Now the elder and his assistants offer the food and rice whisky that were on the plates around the flower tray.

Lao-Lao is a Laotian rice whisky produced in Laos. Along with Beerlao, lao-Lao is a staple drink in Laos.
It is traditional to serve two glasses of lao-Lao on ceremonies, feasts and other comparable situations.
The drink is customarily expected to be drunk with a single gulp.