Page:Siam and Laos, as seen by our American missionaries (1884).pdf/516

One ceremony which was originally peculiar to the Peguans (descendants of war-captives), but has been to a considerable extent adopted by the Laos, is observed at this season. All the family connections join in having a spirit-festival. A booth is built; food and drink are provided in abundance for those who participate in the ceremony; the booth is canopied with white muslin supported by light bamboo posts, and is open all around, with arches made of cocoanut-leaves; at one side of the booth is a space partially enclosed with gay screens, in which the offerings to the spirits are placed on a table. These offerings consist of food and drink, also clothing. From the centre of the canopy is suspended a white cotton sheet. The ceremony is a dance performed only by women, who enter the enclosure, and, after partaking freely of the food—these spirits have a special weakness for pork and whiskey—bury their faces in the suspended sheet mentioned above, waiting for the descent of the spirit. The dancers do not have to wait long for the entrance of the spirit, for the whiskey has made them very sensitive to the spirit-influence; when the spirit has entered the medium begins to sway her body to and fro and to gesticulate with the hands and arms, after the fashion of Laos dancing, to the music of a Laos orchestra. Laos music is appropriate to such an occasion, for it