Boun Pi Maï Lao 2565
Lao New Year 2565
– April 16, 2022 –
Samedi 16 avril 2022
Pi Maï Lao, or the Lao New Year, is celebrated over three days across the country in April, corresponding to the 5th month of the Buddhist calendar.
For this year 2022, the festivities take place from April 14 to 16 where we welcome the new year 2565.
For this occasion, and on the first day of the new year on April 16 (Meu Sang Khane Kheune), a traditional and family ceremony takes place at Ho Gou where we once again honor our ancestors by preparing “Vane Mak Vane Phou” and also dishes and desserts intended for them as offerings.
A total of 9 trays are set up, 6 of which are reserved for desserts. They are presented with two lighted candles on each of them, in front of the places of the two main deities, Thou Pou and Thou Gna.
As with the Kham Ho ceremony, the dishes prepared for the offerings must not be tasted under any circumstances, at the risk of being sanctioned by the deities.
You have to wait patiently for the candles to go out on their own before removing the trays. Then follow the sharing and tasting between mortals.
After the offerings, it is traditional, and especially for this occasion, to move the carved wooden snake, originally hung on the wall above Thou Pou and Thou Gna, and has been for generations. Only the Kouane Ho and the medium are allowed to touch it. It is then placed on a large tray, and each in turn we delicately pour scented water with fresh flower petals on the snake.
This gesture has the meaning of marking not only our respect for the ancestors, of honoring them, of thanking them, but also, they help us to drive out and purify the negative energies which are in us, in order to welcome the new year on a new start. Of course, it depends on each person’s behavior. It is not enough to ask for their help and their blessing for our living conditions to improve. The deities see and hear everything that is done and said in the world of the living.
The snake is put back in its place at the end of the ceremony. The Kouane Ho, the medium, as well as all the people present, thank and greet (“Nob”) the deities by joining both hands.
This ceremony, although it looks simple and is far from being spectacular, is all the more important since it is from this moment that the other Ho (like Ho Luang – Pou Gneu Gna Gneu, Ho Paa,…) can begin to celebrate each in turn, in their respective sacred place, in Luang Prabang.
