MARCH 25TH - DEDICATION and BLESSING (BACI CEREMONY)
The day started with beautiful weather, the vendors, the staff and the team dignitaries getting right to it, putting the program together. Soon folks started arriving and around 11AM the traditional Blessing Service began under the main tent. For those not familiar with most LAO events such as birthday parties, cultural and art festivals, holidays and just about any occasion with meaning there is a ceremony performed for the participants.
Whereas string (usually braided) and displayed on a blessing tree, and after the blessings are given everyone has a chance to offer blessings of good fortune, good health, good prosperity, basically anything good to someone else and completes the vow by tying a string around the recipients wrist.
Baci (Lao: ບາສີ; Thai: บายศรี, rtgs: bai si) and su kwan (Lao: ສູ່ຂວັນ; Thai: สู่ขวัญ, RTGS: su khwan; meaning “ alling of the soul") is an important ceremony practised in Lao culture. 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.
History
The observance of Baci as a spiritual ceremonial event was prevalent in Laos even before Buddhism made inroads into the country. It is also a common heritage in Southeast Asian countries, particularly
in Thailand and Laos.
This practice is linked to the ancient belief that Baci is invoked religiously to synchronize the effects of 32 organs of human body considered as “Kwan”
or spirits or the “components of the soul.”
Its observance to establish as social and family bond to maintain “balance and harmony to the individual and community, is done in its original format in Laos, as a substantiation of human existence.”
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). 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.