Baci Ceremony
I had a chance to attend a Baci Ceremony on Saturday, and a Baci is used for many special events, but it’s sometimes called Sou Khuane which we often hear in events such as a Lao Traditional Wedding, a homecoming, after a birth of a new born and the Baci is for both the mother and the baby, recovering from an illness, and many more. The one I attended was for a new born.
An important item for this ceremony is the Phakhuane, which is made from fresh banana leaves (can use green decorated color paper to substitute), cut and folded into cone shape, and decorated with fresh flowers, silk flowers, or plastic flowers. Since I was from out of town, I got there the day before, sort of, if you would call 2 am Saturday morning. I had a few hours of sleep, and got up early to help prepare the food. I also helped to decorate the Phakhuane, this one is decorated with fresh flowers, and the Phakhuane is made out of thick green paper to substitute for the traditional banana leaves. Around the base of the Phakhuane is the food for Khuane (Spirit), there are hard-boiled eggs that symbol the fetus, fruits, sweets and rice, a bottle of whisky for purification, and boiled whole chicken with head and feet intact for divination.
The Baci ceremony begins with Mor Phon, a person that performs Sou Khuane ceremony, he would take the white thread that’s connecting the Phakhuane, and give one end to the mother and the other to the father of the child, the baby is present at the Baci ceremony, the couple whilst holding the white thread in the palm of their hands in a Wai position, which is the upside down Y shape.
Mor Phon then closes his eyes and begins the ceremony of Sou Khuane by citing chant verses, very poetic in nature, this ceremony was about 30 minutes long, and at the closing of the ceremony, the crown of families and friends join in and say, “Khuane Aeh Ma Deh”, meaning “please come, spirit come.”
Mor Phon then does the honor of tying the white blessing stings on the baby’s wrists, then the parents’ wrists called Phook Ken, after he finishes, then everyone joins in to tie the baby and the couple’s wrists, and whilst doing so, they would also give blessing. I saw several people that roll up money and tie it on the white string, to give as a gift. The symbolic of sting tying is for good luck and a blessing, then friends and families tie strings for one another for good luck.
The best part is the food, as Laotians know how to wine and dine their guests.
Great post Ginger. What a perfect timing. I was going to post some pics of Sidney’s cousin who was recently born and they had a baci ceremony for him. There I was trying to figure out if I should call the post baci or sou khuane and was trying to figure out the difference if any. I’m used to hearing the term sou khuane or phook khuan. Now I can linkin to this post.
I’ve never heard of the term Baci until recently, I’ve always heard Sou Khuane. I’m thinking that Baci is a Pali (Buddhist religious term) and Sou Khuane is layman’s terms and have the same meaning. If anyone heard differently, I would love to know.
I’ve heard of both terms as a kid in Laos. For some reason I associated Baci with happy occasion like wedding or pee mai celebration.
I thought I saw a documentary about this and totally forgot about it until now. The word “khuane” is an old age term from the old religion or practice. Like when someone is scared or sick and then a ceremony would take place to call your khuane to come back to you.
The story went like this: Someone was out in the rice field and saw an animal, a tiger or something and got chase and he was so afraid and ran home to his parents. Then his parents would comfort him and call for his khuane to come back. Back then they believed that if your khuane left you, you could die. Then they would perform some sort of a ritual which became a practice ever since and later adapted with the influence of Buddhism. No one really know how sou khuane came about but this is one possible explanation.
Sou Khuane was later performed after someone has been sick. The man in the documentary said maybe it’s for psychological well being that how this practice was started. When I was in Laos and my Grand-Mama had Sou Khuane for her and me and that’s the term that she used, not Baci. Many people were saying that I had so much strings on my wrist as though I had just been out of a hospital.
When I find that clip again I will post it for everyone to see.
[...] nice to see a Baci ceremony for a new born; I wrote a post on Baci Ceremony once, Baci is used for many special events, but it’s sometimes called Sou Khuane which we often [...]
Thought you might like the reference.
http://www.laoheritagefoundation.org/ceremonies/baci.jsp
Hi Amy, thanks kindly for the link of the Baci Ceremony. I read about your son Calum, he is a brave little fighter, and my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.