Adventures of Kristin & Ethan

Hog-tied and Sacrificed to Reunite Your Souls

The fat, hog-tied sow kicked and squealed as the slight men hoisted her up onto their shoulders and walked towards us.  Teeth gnashing and foaming spittle spraying from her open snout,  she screamed in fury and terror.  The men swung her toward where I sat in the truck’s passenger bed.  Instinctively, I leapt aside.

They stopped short of the bed, however, and landed the beast with a thud on the rear bumper, by my feet. Struggling for her life, she squirmed as they strapped it to the metal grate.  I returned to my seat on the edge of the bench that was already packed to overflowing with passengers.  Her eyes wide and seething with fear, the sow looked up at me for help as we took off and careened up the dusty, treacherous mountain roads.  I tied my hankerchief across my face to keep from choking on the thick plumes of dust and black exhaust, hanging on tight to avoid being bounced out the back of the truck.

The young man across from me in a green soccer jersey smiled and explained it all in one word: “Basi.”

Basi is an ancient animist ritual practiced in Laos. Humans are believed to have mulitple souls that occasionally wander off, causing an imbalance within the person.  The ceremony reunites these souls in the body. 

A basi ceremony involves a sacrifice of a chicken or dog—and for special occasionsm a hog or mua, pronounced “moo.”  The participants sit in a circle around an elaborate centerpiece, known as the sukhuan, made of banana leaves rolled into a conical “party hat” shape and adorned with marigolds and a single white string. Offerings of food and liquor are made to entice the wunderlust souls to return. At the end, participants tie the threads around their wrists and wear them until they fall off, indicating the need for another ceremony. 

Here are some other animist rituals in Laos: 

• Healing Severe Illness: When someone has been very sick for an extended time, they are exiled to live alone in a solitary hut outside the village. They remain there until an old man approaches and gives them a new name. They are then considered “healed” and can return home. Our trekking guide, Bounsi, was healed in such a ritual at an early age. 
• Healing Minor Afflictions:  An egg is rolled over the afflicted part of the body by a sprirt-doctor and the yolk is broken to determine the source of the illness. Sacrifices and incantations are performed to excorcise the bad spirit that has afflicted the patient. 
• Spririt Gates: These gates mark the major paths into the villages and protect the inhabitants from evil spirits. They are adorned with symbols of woven sticks and the paw, claw, or hoof of the last animal that was sacrificed there as an offering. 

Though I’m not an animist, the fractured modern world sometimes makes me feel like my souls have been scattered, too.  Unfortunately, I’m a vegetarian.  I wonder if a fried tofu sacrifice would appease the spirits?

-E