THE LAOTIANS (ASIAN CULTURE) 1
The Laotians (Asian culture)
Student Name (First M. Last)
Counselor Education and Family Studies, Liberty University
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THE LAOTIANS (ASIAN CULTURE) 2
The Laotians (Asian culture)
Laotians is a group of people from Southeast Asia and is mostly concentrated in Laos.
The group is also distributed in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and other parts of the
world. Most of Laotians practice Theravada Buddhism with others practicing Christianity and
Islam among others. They believe in and pray Buddha, prayers and religious services are
performed in temples. Most of the Laotians speak in Lao or Tai languages. Body language is
very important in the Laotian culture; this is because it is used to show respect and honor to the
Buddhist god as well as the elder people in the Lao community (Enfield, 202). The Lao culture
accommodates a number of festivals, ceremonies as well as rituals where important things are
celebrated and remembered. One of them is them is marriage ceremonies that are performed
during the union of a man and a woman into marriage. Another one is the Elephant festival, a
Buddhism religious festival done to celebrate an elephant which is a very significant animal in
the Buddhism culture (Rehbein, 2007). I was required to attend two events in the Lao culture and
then give feedback about my experiences. Thus, in this context, the discussion below entails the
experiences that I went through in the two events and a discussion of counseling theories and
techniques that have been empirically validated as effective with the Laotians.
Events Attended
I attended two events namely, a Lao wedding ceremony and the Elephant Festival in
Thailand. The wedding belonged to a Lao couple, which took place in the bride’s residence. The
event started with the bride price negotiations where the families of both the bride and the groom
took part in the discussion. Afterwards, the groom marched to the bride’s home in company of
others who were dancing and singing. Later when we got to the bride’s place the grooms team
were asked some questions which they gave answers to, gave out some money to the bride’s
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family and then a young girl washed the feet of groom right before he made an entrance into the
girls house where the ceremony happened. The couple were joined and blessed by a religious
leader. After the ceremony, the reception followed where celebrations happened and different
delicious cuisines were served.
On the other hand, the Elephant Festival happened in the middle of Surin city in Thailand
where hundreds of elephants marched around the city. I understand that the festive happens
every year and as always, was started with a word of prayer from the congregation. The
elephants, children with uniform attires and adults lined up wearing different traditional Lao
outfits marched around the city. The elephants were served with lots of fruits for breakfast. Later
after the march, the elephants were engaged in playing football as well as acrobatics for
entertainment and also to show case the ability these animals. This was followed by folk dances
and other cultural activities from those in the line-up and everyone who attended the festival. I
also got to enjoy a ride from one of the big elephants that were in the procession.
Comparison with Expectations
Interestingly, my experience was way much better than what I expected in both
occasions. I concur that it is one thing to read and watch about it, but it is a totally different thing
to have the experience of the Lao beautiful weddings. This is because I got to experience the
mood and get to share the joy with the people which I missed in my reading. The experience
made it easy for me to understand the flow of the events of the Lao wedding which was
challenge when I was doing my research about the group’s wedding occasions. I also got to learn
things like Lao dances and experience the traditional Lao cuisines which were not the case
during the learning process.
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On to the elephant festival, the experience was also different from the learning
experience. This is because like the wedding, I also got to experience the joy and the mood of the
event which I failed experienced when reading about it. Also there is nothing better than
watching hundreds of elephant as well as the children and the adults with uniform attire march
right in front of me. During the event, I got to utilize skills such as observation, social skills and
communication skills which were not utilized when I was reading and watching from media
about the festival. In addition, I also got to witness the abilities and skills of the marching
elephants, they could bend, kick the ball, dance and very cooperative with acrobats when
performing. Despite all that I like the entire experience.
Emotional Impact
Attending these events was the closest thing I have ever been to the Lao people and the
Laotian culture. This was therefore all new to me but it was exiting at the same time. First it was
amusing for me that the Lao people settle dowry negotiations on the same day as the wedding. It
was also fascinating to me that the groomed marched to the bride’s house with dances and songs.
I liked how the wedding ceremony was conducted and even though I did not quit understand
some of the things they were doing. My curiosity was very high during the event hence I asked
around why certain activities were carried out. The most captivating one was where the Buddhist
Priest offered eggs to the couple which signified fertility in the marriage. I however felt out place
because of the most of the people there had worn traditional outfits which was not the case for
me.
The Elephant festival was also alluring. I have to admit that watching the elephants
march was one of the beautiful things I have ever seen. Seeing them perform, decorated as well
as having a chance to ride on of them was very exciting. The music and the dancing were very
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entertaining for me. Although, the people there explained to me the importance of an elephant to
their religion, I still could not bring myself to view it the same way they did. In both occasions I
got to enjoy the delicacies and the cuisines of the Lao culture.
I think the reason why some of the things practiced in the Lao culture were so fascinating
was because of the difference in our cultures, especially religion. As a Christian, although things
are changing, most of our wedding ceremonies take place in churches and the couple is joined by
a priest. Unlike the Laos, the newlywed couple is not given eggs or anything to signify fertility
(Rehbein, 2007), as a matter of fact, the priests blesses the couple and in some denominations,
they offer them the first Holy Communion as a married couple. In my culture, bride price
negotiations are done before the wedding day; they tend to take time and I therefore wondered
how they would finish it and make it to other events of the day which apparently, they did. The
kind of food people eat is highly dependent on the culture of the people; hence it is different in
different parts of the world. Since Thailand is far away from home, I got to try some things I did
not know about and I like them.
Most of the Lao people attend weddings especially traditional with wearing their
traditional silk clothing, I felt out of place because I was among the few who were not in those
traditional attires which made it easy for me to be noticed, an outsider. This is different from my
culture which allows people to dress to a wedding any how they prefer. During the Elephant
festival, I tried to view the elephants with the same perspectives as the Lao Buddhists but I could
not. I think this is because I grew up knowing that God is the only holy being, thus no matter
how hard I tried my mind could still not view an elephant as a holy animal.
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Key Things Learned
The two events were of great importance to me. This is because I was able to learn a lot.
This experience led me to a realization that although they are different, every culture is beautiful
in its own way. There it is important for people to learn to appreciate other people’s culture as
they would want others to appreciate theirs. It is also clear to me that all religions narrows down
to having a society that treats people fairly, having values for people to follow and a supreme
being who people worship. This is evident with both Buddhism and Christianity. They both have
values and a supreme being that the people follow. People should therefore appreciate and avoid
judging other people’s beliefs because like them, they also have beliefs based on a supreme
being and values their religion except them to follow. Therefore, in as much as my faith denies
me the chance to accept an elephant as a holy animal, I learnt to accept that it is holy to the
Laotians and I did not judge them for that.
This experience has made it evident that people behave and carry out activities are
dependant to the environment of a person. The Lao people’s way of life is greatly dependant on
the environment. This includes their staple food which is determined by what is mainly grown in
the region. I also got to learn about the hospitality of the Lao people, they are welcoming people
and really friendly to visitors. I must admit that it was a life learning session.
Counseling Theories Validated for This Group
Theoretical approaches
Behavioral cognitive approach, biological approach theory and reality therapy theory are
the approaches that are evident to be effective to the Lao people. Behavioral approach because
their behavior and way of thinking is greatly influenced by the environment they are in
(McGoldrick et al, 2005; McLeod, 2013). For example, their stable food is influenced by the
THE LAOTIANS (ASIAN CULTURE) 7
main type of crops grown there which is rice. Biological approach theory is also effective in this
region; this is because most of the activities carried out by such as festivals, the religion they
practise is inherited and passed down from generation to generation. Lastly, the reality therapy
theory is also widely used by the Lao people; they make decisions basing on realities. For
example in wedding matters, families budget and pay bride prices in accordance to their wealth.
They also believe in suffering and they believe it is caused by people unwise decisions.
Counseling techniques
Thought stopping technique, miracle question technique and reflective listening are the
counselling techniques that effective to the Laotians. Thought stopping technique is used in the
concept of meditation which is common in Buddhism religion. It is a technique used to dispel
negative thoughts (McGoldrick et al, 2005). The same case applies to miracle question technique
which is also use to remove thoughts especially negative ones (Lin, 2016), thus helps clear the
mind which is effective for meditation. Reflective listening is also commonly used by Laotians
and in their basic lives for they are good listeners and are supportive towards each other. This
helps them solve problems and gain support when chasing after their dreams.
Conclusion
Generally, the Laotians are a group of people from Southeast Asia and they commonly
practice Buddhism religion. During their weddings ceremonies, the events takes place at the
bride’s residence and the groom is expected to march there after bridal negotiations. They
celebrate the Elephant festival every year to pay respect to elephants which are considered holy
by the Buddhism community. Behavioral cognitive approach, biological approach theory and
reality therapy are the theoretical approaches that are effective to Lao people while Thought
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stopping technique, miracle question technique and reflective listening are their counselling
techniques.
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References
Enfield, N. J. (2010). Language and culture in Laos: an agenda for research.FJournal of Lao
Studies,F1(1), 48-54.
Lin Y. (2016). The framework for integrating common and specific factors of therapy: A
resolution. International Journal of Psychology and Counseling. Vol.8 (7), pp 81-95.
https://doi.org/10.5897/IJPC2016.0398
McGoldrick M, Giordano J., & Garcia-Preto N., (2005). Ethnicity & Family Therapy. The
Guilford Press.
McLeod, S. A., (2013). Psychology perspectives. Simply Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/perspective.html
Rehbein, B., (2007). Globalization, Culture and Society in Laos. London, Routledge
