Basi Ceremony

Yesterday I got home too late to make a post, so here it is!

Jackie having white strings tied around her wrists and people saying blessings as they tie them.

PoP family dinner after the ceremony

Baci is 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. The ritual of the baci involves tying strings around a person’s wrist to preserve good luck, and has become a national custom.

Yesterday was my coworkers last day in Laos before heading back to the PoP New York office.  She has been here for 2 weeks and so we had a baci ceremony to wish her luck on her travels and work back home. They also incorporated me into this ceremony because I have just arrived, another reason to celebrate (the Lao celebrate a lot). Both Jackie and I had white strings tied around our wrists (you need to keep them on for at least 3 days), ate a lot of chicken, rice cakes, and spring rolls, and drank BeerLau (the local beer). It was a great welcome into the PoP Lao family.