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| To help you plan a holiday in Laos, we provide the complete travel fact resource. Whether you are looking for geography, climate, government, economy, people , religion, language , literature, custom, festivals, costumes, music, handicrafts or architecture of Laos. You will get all and more by clicking the sections below. |
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THE ETHNIC MINORITY CRAFTS
Craft production has long been one of the most important functional aspects of material culture amongst the ethnic groups of Laos. Some ethnic crafts carry a ritual function, but most are produced purely for domestic use.
Basket weaving is practiced widely by ethnic minority groups from all three major language families and includes the production of fish and animal traps, mats and all kinds of household containers, including the ubiquitous back-basket in which products are carried to and from the market.
Woodworking also features prominently amongst the ethnic minority handicrafts practiced in Laos. Renowned amongst the Austro-Asiatic Mon-Khmer groups are the carpenters of the Bahnaric-speaking Brau, Loven, Oy, Sedang, Sou and Talieng, the Katuic-speaking Nghe, Pa-co and Ta-oi and the Khmuic-speaking Khang and Xinh-mun. South Western Tay-Tai groups such as the Lao Isaan, Lu, Tai Khao and Yuan and highland communities such as the Hmong, the Yao and the Lolo-Burmish Akha, Kongsat, Phanna and Poussang are also known for their proficiency in this area.
The Hmong, the Yao, the Sou, the Khang and the Xinh-mun are all known for their boatbuilding skills. However, woodcarving is more commonly associated with the production of items such as cross bows, spears, bows and arrows, tobacco pipes, bowls, spoons and combs. Certain ethnic communities also preserve the art of creating musical instruments such as lutes, fiddles, flutes, reed trumpets, mouth organs and ideophones, which are manufactured from a variety of natural materials including gourd and bamboo.
With a few notable exceptions (inspired perhaps by their close proximity to Tai weavers), textile weaving and dyeing has largely died out amongst the Mon-Khmer ethnicities of Laos, but it remains alive and well amongst most Tai-speaking communities. Of particular note are the textiles of the Tai Chiangki, Tai Mene, Tai Meuy, Tai Pouark, Tai Sam, Tai Souei and Tai Then (Northern Tay-Tai); and the Lu, Kalom, Phuan, Tai Daeng, Tai Dam, Tai Gapong, Tai Khao, Tai Khoen, Tai Wang and Yuan (South Western Tay-Tai). Hmong, Yao and Sino-Tibetan ethnicities such as the Lolo-Burmish speaking Akha, Ha Nhi, Lolo and Phunoi are also proficient weavers and dyers, but they are perhaps best known for their sewing and embroidering skills, which have given rise to some of the most spectacular and colourful traditional costumes in the world.
In many parts of the country these colourful costumes are decorated with copious amounts of silver jewelry. Accordingly, silversmithing is still practised by a number of ethnic groups, predominantly by the Hmong, the Yao and Tibeto-Burman ethnicities such as the Akha, but also by some Mon-Khmer groups in the southern half of the country.
The several ethnicities still utilise bronze drums in their propitiation ceremonies, though sadly in many areas the art of casting these drums is dying out. In times gone by bronze drums were a symbol of wealth and status in many communities, but today an increasing number have been sold to tourists.
Other important traditional crafts practiced by ethnic minority communities in Laos include iron forging (a skill in which the Kui and several of the Bahnaric-speaking peoples were once famous), bamboo paper making and the production of jewelry from multi-coloured glass beads. Some Bahnaric and Katuic ethnicities - notably the Oy, Yae and Kui – also create rudimentary pottery.
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