Why Rice is More than Food in Laos

Text and Photos by: Mick Shippen

Rice is the staple of Laos. It is a grain that has shaped the country’s landscape and its culture. Its importance in life is evident in the language. Khao, the word for rice, is also the word for food. Little wonder when you consider that on average, Lao people consume 171 kilograms per person of rice per year, which accounts for almost 70% of their calorie and protein intake. Rice, whether it be in the form of cooked grains or noodles, is present on every table for every meal. 

Laos is close to the region known for the origin and domestication of Oryza sativa, Asiatic rice (some 6,000 years ago), and is acknowledged to be at the center of the origin of glutinous rice. Today, the country produces more than three million tons of rice per year, most of which is grown by subsistence farmers on parcels of land under two hectares. Laos is also known for having the widest diversity of indigenous rice varieties in the world. From 1995 to 2000, 13,193 samples of cultivated rice representing 3,160 distinct varieties were collected in Laos, making this one of the most comprehensive collections of cultivated rice. In fact, Laos’ contribution to the International Rice Genebank ranks the second highest in the world. 

Growing rice 

Rice is grown in three farming systems: rainfed lowland, irrigated lowland, and rainfed upland. It’s a fast-growing crop. Cultivation in the rainfed lowlands normally commences at the beginning of the wet season in May or June, with the harvest taking place in October or November, depending on the maturity of the varieties planted. In irrigated lowland areas, a second crop is often planted in December for harvest in April or May. In the rainfed uplands, planting is done on flat and terraced fields in May, and the crops are harvested in September or October.

Rice & Culture 

To the Lao people, rice is not simply sustenance. It plays an important role in many rituals and ceremonies.

Tak Baat

The daily merit-making ritual of offering food to monks, known as tak baat, is still widely practiced in Laos. Monks emerge from the temples at 5.30 a.m. and walk the streets collecting donations of food and money. Most people will include a small amount of sticky rice, cooked or uncooked grains, as part of their donation. 

Baci 

The most common ceremony in Laos is baci sou khouan, or “calling the soul” – a ceremony that blends animism and the belief in phi or spirits with Buddhism. The purpose of a baci is to bring unity and restore harmony to an individual, group, or community. During the ritual, everyone taking part in the ceremony is linked by a white cotton thread while the elder recites mantras that call on the spirits to come and restore unity. After the chanting, scented water is sprinkled on guests, and grains of uncooked rice are tossed into the air, so it rains down on people’s heads.  

Boun Khao Jee 

In mid-February, locals celebrate Boun Khao Jee, the grilled rice festival. On the morning of the festival, market stalls sell sticky rice cakes pressed around bamboo sticks, dipped in seasoned, beaten egg, and grilled over charcoal. In the past, everyone would prepare the dish at home. The cooked rice cakes are taken to temples as alms for monks in a ceremony that honors ancestors for passing down the knowledge of rice production. This particular dish is given because, according to an old Buddhist tale, there was once a poor woman who had only khao jee to eat, but instead of eating it herself, she offered it to Buddha.

Pi Mai Lao

In mid-April, Boun Pi Mai, the Lao New Year, is celebrated all over the country with three days of boisterous water fights from dawn until dusk. New Year in Laos is also a time for cleaning the house and washing Buddha images at home and in the temples. As part of the festivities, sand pagodas are built in the grounds of temples and on the banks of the Mekong River. It is believed that the grains of sand will keep the worshippers from sin. Offerings of sticky rice are made, often left at the feet of Buddha images.

Boun Bang Fai 

In May and June, rice farming communities across Laos celebrate Boun Bang Fai, the rainmaking rocket festival. Several days before the actual celebrations begin, villagers gather to mix gunpowder and make rockets of varying sizes, some several meters in length. In the past, the explosive was pushed into bamboo tubes. The rockets are fired into the sky in the belief that they will provoke the gods into unleashing the season’s rain and thereby produce a good rice harvest. 

Boun Hor Khao Padap Din 

The literal translation of hor khao padap din is ‘wrapped rice decorating the ground’. Held during the ninth lunar month of the Buddhist calendar in late August or September, this beautiful festival pays respect to hungry spirits that come out and wander that night. To placate them, relatives place small banana leaf trays with offerings of rice, fish, fruits, and sweets around the perimeter of the house. 

Boun Khao Salak 

This festival to honor the dead is considered one of the most important on the Lao calendar. Boun Khao Salak is held during the tenth full moon of the lunar calendar, usually in September. Typically, offerings will include sticky rice with banana, dried meats and fish, vegetables, and much more. Families paying respects to the

ir deceased relatives will also prepare their favorite foods.