OF SOUKHUAN AND LAOS Elena Gregoria Chai Chin Fern Faculty ...

Spiritual beings are held to affect or control the events of the material world, and
man’s life here and after. It is also believed that they hold intercourse with men, and
receive pleasure or displeasure from human actions. The belief in their existence lead
naturally sooner or later to active reverence and propitiation. Thus animism in its full
development, includes the belief in souls and in a future state, in controlling deities
and subordinate spirits.
Malinowski added that “the real nucleus of animism lies in the deepest emotional fact
of human nature, the desire of life” (1948:81). This, Heinze said, goes back to
psychology and she specially referred to Freud’s thought (1938) as follows, “Human
beings have souls which can leave their habitation and enter into other beings; these
souls are the bearers of spiritual activities and are, to a certain extent, independent of
the ‘bodies’. Originally, souls were thought of as being very similar to individuals;
only in the course of a long evolution did they lose their material character and
attained a high degree of ‘spiritualization’ (1938:866). Animism is a system of
thought which gives an explanation of a single phenomenon, but makes it possible to
comprehend the totality of the world, as a continuity. It is said that in the course of
time, three such systems of thoughts came into being; the animistic (mythological), the
religious, and the scientific.
The soukhuan is largely in connection with the human soul, often affecting one’s well
being and health. The accounts of events observed in this research has a strong
resemblance to the ideas of animism as described above. The animistic and religious
beliefs of the people practicing soukhuan are widely discussed here, very often
without a clear scientific explanation of why such event is performed or held.
Heinze noted that animism is the first conception of the world which man succeeded
in evolving and was therefore psychological. It did not require any science to establish
it, for science sets in only after we have realized that we do not know the world and
that we must therefore seek means of getting to know it. Animism was natural and
self-evident. We are therefore prepared to find that primitive man has transferred the
structural relations of his own psyche to the outer world. On the other hand, we may
make attempts to transfer back to the human soul, what animism teaches about the
nature of things (1938:867, 877-78). Heinze provided a coherent definition of
animism, which can be understood in the context of soukhuan. Nevertheless, in the
following discussions, the soukhuan is portrayed as an identity bearer. Rather than
analyzing in detail the true relevancy of animistic definitions as described above with
the subsequent accounts of event, I will discuss soukhuan in the context of Laos
nationality.
A brief history of religious practices in Laos
Animism with ancestor-worship is the traditional belief of the Laos people. It formed
the first layer of Laos religion. When Buddhism spread from Sri Lanka to Laos in the
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