Up on the Boloven Plateau in south Laos are scattered many small villages of whose inhabitants began to move into this elevated landscape during the Vietnam war to escape the repeated bombing and have remained ever since. Being more remotely located with a only handful of local buses over many kilometres of dusty roads to arrive the people are more isolated from the western influences and its trappings. A people who live a simple life off the land and are far more connected with their environment with almost an ability to read the terrain in which they work and inhabit. Its easy to see the connection from the main economic contribution of agriculture and through the energetic children whose long playful days are spent at the river along side quite evenings sat with the family under the shelter of the wooden built houses looking out as the sun meets the scorched fields, silhouetting the palms and stimulating the many species of wildlife into a quite hum only accompanied with the nearby waterfall. However there is a similarity in this south east asian village on its raised rock, as with almost every culture in the world despite how remote, a spiritual connection to some higher being that overseas and provides the glue to hold everything in its place.

In 2011 i was privileged to be invited to share the experiences with the Tahoy people in a festival near to the Tad lo village that honours the coming of new luna year and the Alak sacrifice of a Buffalo to appease the spirits and bring prosperity for the new harvest. A ritual which happens annually where around 15 of the local men will congregate at dawn in the meeting hut (Kuan), placed in the centre of the village clearing that is circled by its inhabitants. There they begin to dress in a a couple of simple red sashes and are made up with piecing red lips and a ghostly white painted on the cheeks and forehead. Even at such an early hour there is bustle in the village and preparations are accompanied with the melodic beating of a drum while shots of the laos whisky are trust in the hands of all participants, whether its to settled nerves or prolong a hangover is unclear. This acts goes on for around an hour as the men collect themselves for the offering of the new year. Some look as though they are still shaking off the events of the prior evening in which the villagers danced and drank into the night on the dusty common square whist most of the men squatted around various painted casino mats with hand paintings of tigers, crabs and fighting cocks with animated scenes as bills are frantically thrown into place before the dice is rolled. The offering of the buffalo, which is a gift from the villagers, has been tied to a totem pole complete with ribbons in the centre for a few days now and has witnessed all of these activities, weather he is aware or not of his fate is debatable as he has maintained a distant look throughout the festivities, quite in contrast to the brightly coloured neck piece that he wears. Once dawn arrives the children are alive with a mixed excitement in the knowledge that the time is near as the more curious sneak up and observe from a safe point the condemned animal. Inside the Kuan the men already made up in full outfit, complete with a thin rusty sword and a decorated mesh leaved shield. One man still works the group with shots which is clearly affected the posse in different ways, although no one refuses a drink. With the word given, the group half organise themselves outside into a line outside and being to slowly walk the parameter of the Kuan in a semi synchronised state. A couple of passes are taken with the men trying to keep coherent in their movements as they slowly go through some rehearsed steps bringing the sword and shield together to the rhythm of the drum in mini circular motions. Perhaps the lack of practice or the heavy whisky shots are taking their toll but there is a clear split between the level of seriousness in the participants. The atmosphere is a mix of nerves, some maintain a deadly silence with a look of intense concentration, other appear to be spiritually somewhere else with the youngest wobbling in a giddy motion as he may be giving his first performance, or just one shot too many. 

As the second pass comes to a halt the shields are lowered and the buffalo, who until this time has only made casual moves to clear the path of the march, seems to realise his role in the ritual as the men encircle his with the swords drawn to an offensive pose. They take turns to try and lunge at the buffalo, who makes no attempt to defend himself, save from running around the pole that he is attached to. It is not until the third man that he first struck with the blade that enters between his ribs, he makes no sounds and only exhales though his nose as he continues to move around the pole. From this point he is stabbed maybe four more times with the blade always entering around the same side as the first. With each one he continues in his eerily silent pain only becoming visibly more dizzy until he can no longer hold his weight when a last fatal blow sends him to ground and he wheezes his last.  Once the top of his ear has been slit off and placed in a basket at the top of the totem the men retreat back to the hut as children surround his body in a kind of awe that is clear that this is part of life for them and they will participating in the short coming years. His death signifies the beginning of the new, it is an offering to keep the village with a rich harvest and keep harm at bay. Although graphic, its has not been gratuitous nor violent. It's a sacrifice and the villagers share in its act with it not played out behind closed doors by an elite, its a communal gift as this is an animal that works hard from them and the loss must be felt but they feel that without this then their own greed would not please the higher beings that they look up to, the ones that they love and fear which is prevalent in all of us. What ever the outcome of the year, i am unsure but what was for certain is that they again at the dawn of a new beginning and come what may, everyone is going ate well over the following days as the meat is distributed around. A very real experience.