Advertisement
Published: January 9th 2014
Edit Blog Post
Our first stop today was in a small village and it was today that we learned a lot about the indigenous tribes and people of Laos. According to the tour guide on the boat there are different indigenous groups and two different religions - spirit worshippers and Buddhists (similar to Buddhism in Thailand, they worship daily at shrines in their own houses and temples, in Laos too.) Spirit worshippers on the other hand make offerings every ten days (such as pigs) and sacrifices to the spirit Gods. If they get ill they believe it is because they have angered a spirit and therefore make sacrifices to make up for their crime. Illness is caused by evil spirits. They marry at the age of 15 or 16 and usually don't get an education as they live in the mountains. There is nothing for them to do but marry. Buddhists on the other hand in Laos can serve as a monk for a certain period and is then sent to school to get an education. A spirit worshipper cannot pretend to be a Buddhist just so that they can go to school. Buddhists are clearly marked with a tattoo on their body. Women
cannot get an education but can marry a monk and then become a nun when he dies and profit that way as his widow.
Each tribe has its specific rules and way of life. In Aka, one of the mountain tribes, a man marries a woman so that she can look after his parents when they get sick and elderly. Once she is married she cannot see her family and must leave her old family behind. If she has twins rather than just one baby, she must kill both as it is considered unlucky and will anger the spirits. Once she has killed her twins th couple must leave the village for 3 months and then return. In this tribe people can only shower three times in their lives (as there is not enough water in the mountain for them to shower often.) They can shower on three special occasions usually when they marry, have children and when somebody dies. Before the woman's wedding night when she consumes her marriage, she must spend the night with the village chief. Who is elected as the village chief? The only man in the village who can count to 100 (as there
is no education for them, this man would be considered very intelligent.)
When we arrived at the village lots of women came to sell us handmade silk scarves for $4 each (it is their main product.) They were intricate and beautiful. I bought one for now, one for Japan and one to use as a table mat in my own house if I settle down one day.
In the village we were given a tour by one of the Lao guides, and everything was explained clearly. It seems villages such as this and anybody who doesn't live in the main cities Luang Probang or the capital Vientiane doesn't really have access to health care, transport and education. Laos as a country cannot trade internationally, it only has transport links via the Mekong River to China and to Thailand. If it wants to sell a product (it exports silk and wood for example,) it must send it by boat to China or Thailand to trade indirectly. Lao people can get education through monks and Buddhism, and also doctors come to the rest of Lao from the main cities. This village had recently realised why so many people were dying
of malaria (because of mosquitos) and why they were having ten children per family (now they are given condoms and sex education classes.) Before they boiled water from the Mekong river but now they have made wells to get water from the mountain tops and they boil this water.
In the second trip we went to Buddha's cave which is a cave off the river, full off statues of Buddha's and people often come to worship here. The guides did a good job at showing us the difference between Buddhists and spirit people.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.055s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 7; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0315s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb