Spiritual aspects in the buffalo sacrifice ritual

(Baonghean) - The Thai people in Quy Hop district (Nghe An province) have a custom of giving possessions to the deceased to take to heaven. One of the most "valuable" possessions is a buffalo...

There are many differing opinions surrounding this custom. Some argue that this practice of "when a person dies, the buffalo dies with them" should be stopped immediately, as it causes double losses for the family and also affects livestock and draft power. Others explain that food is needed for a funeral, sometimes with hundreds of people, so slaughtering a buffalo is necessary to provide enough food for a few meals while the coffin is still at home... Some suggest campaigning to persuade the Thai people to abandon this "outdated custom." Once it is considered an "outdated custom," the practice of sacrificing buffalo becomes a social issue, transcending the realm of mere spirituality...

From our perspective, having devoted considerable effort to researching Thai culture, we hold our own views. Of course, we do not intend to analyze a custom in order to defend it. The existence of a custom, especially when it has become a spiritual cultural practice, does not entirely depend on the will of any single individual; it belongs to the community. No one can arbitrarily "order" its removal unless the people themselves feel it is no longer suitable for the new society and times.

The ritual involves walking around the buffalo offered as a sacrifice to the deceased.

Originating from the folk worldview and cosmology of the Thai people from ancient times to the present day, the Thai people have always believed that "death is not the end." The souls of the deceased, having completed their period of time under the Thén Na ritual to be reborn as flesh and blood beings on earth, must now return to "Mường Then" according to the will of heaven.

Returning to Muong Then, people still have to live and work as usual, just like when they were in Muong Nguoi. Therefore, they need a buffalo for pulling loads, serving their livelihood in this eternal place, because the buffalo is always closely associated with life and is the most cherished animal among the people. The buffalo not only helps people plow fields and pull wood to build houses. To have bountiful harvests, a high stilt house to live in, and rice to eat... a buffalo is necessary. The buffalo is also the most valuable asset in the household, capable of multiplying and being inherited from generation to generation.

The buffalo is not only a source of food, but more importantly, it holds a special place in the spiritual life of the local people. According to ancient legends, most clearly found in the epic poems "Quam Tô Mương" and "Lai Lông Mương" of the Thái people in western Nghệ An, which tell of the time when heaven and earth were first separated, when Heaven sent humankind down to earth, buffaloes asked to follow to help people with farming. People did not forget the buffaloes' contributions; during the day they found delicious grass for the buffaloes to eat, and cool streams for them to bathe in after a hard day of plowing and hauling wood. In the cold winter, they sheltered the buffaloes from the wind. The stilt house was also divided into two parts, with the people living on the upper part and the buffaloes on the lower part. In the summer, before going to bed, they would make a large pile of garbage, burn it to create smoke to ward off mosquitoes for the buffaloes... Every year, they would also hold a ceremony to worship the buffaloes with a separate feast to thank them for their tireless efforts in helping them produce wealth throughout the year, and to pray for the buffaloes' health, good reproduction, and protection from risks such as disease, snake bites, and falling off cliffs or getting lost while grazing. The bond between humans and buffaloes was strong both in life and in death.

When someone dies in the family, the Thai people usually choose a buffalo from their own herd or buy one if they don't have one and circumstances allow. The buffalo sacrificed for the deceased, whether large or small, must be black. White buffaloes are only used for meat or are only permitted as offerings to the sky (Pò then); they are not allowed to be used for human sacrifices. The task of slaughtering and butchering the buffalo is usually undertaken by the sons-in-law of the family or extended family.

Immediately after the buffalo is slaughtered, the ritual of offering the buffalo's spirit to the deceased begins. This ceremony is quite unusual for people of other ethnic groups who have never seen it before. The brides wear long red dresses, carrying small bamboo tubes filled with clear spring water; the grooms, performing the "good deed," usually wear long white or yellow robes, with a knife sheath at their waist, and carry a bundle of torches.

The brides and grooms begin walking around the buffalo. They must complete three full circles, lighting torches on the buffalo as a way of warding off slugs, leeches, mosquitoes, and other insects clinging to its body. The brides sprinkle water on the buffalo, symbolizing cleansing it before butchering it for the deceased. After the third circle, everyone extinguishes the fires and pours the remaining water from the small bamboo tubes held by the brides onto the buffalo's carcass. When the ceremony of walking around the buffalo (liệp quai) is finished, the grooms butcher the buffalo. A small portion of the meat, offal, etc., is boiled and placed on a tray as an offering at the head of the coffin in the house for the deceased to "eat" beforehand.

The buffalo's head, however, is left intact. During the funeral procession, two people will carry the head and hang it on a tree branch next to the deceased's grave. That's regarding the physical body of the buffalo. As for the soul, the deceased's descendants offer a buffalo as a sacrifice to take its soul to heaven.

The shaman's incantations included verses like: "The son offers a buffalo with thick horns / Offers a buffalo with beautiful horns to go to Muong Bon to sow rice seedlings / To Muong Then to plant rice in the deep fields / Offering one buffalo will make a herd of buffaloes / While alive, tie it with rattan rope to lead it / Now, take a rope made of thread / Lead the buffalo's soul back to Muong Then..."

The night before the funeral, a shaman or priest will sing songs to guide the soul of the deceased and the buffalo to Muong Then. Along the way, the soul of the deceased leads the buffalo ahead, while the shaman follows behind with a whip to urge the buffalo on. The shaman escorts the soul to the boundary separating the three realms: the heavenly realm, the earthly realm, and the underworld, at which point the shaman must return.

The shamans of the Thai people in western Nghe An province escort the souls of the deceased and their buffaloes along the path to Pu Quai mountain in Muong Ton (now Que Phong district, Nghe An province). The shaman's song describing Pu Quai mountain includes the following lines: “Having arrived here, looking up at the sky, one sees swirling dark clouds / Under the sky, this place is called Pu Quai / The road to Muong Then is still very far!” At this point, the shaman dares not accompany the spirit any further, but only describes the path the spirit must continue on to reach Muong Then. At this point, only the soul of the deceased, leading the buffalo's soul, remains to reach Muong Then.

In funerals, almost all Thai people, regardless of their wealth or poverty, always try to find a buffalo to offer as a sacrifice to the deceased. Even without money, they may borrow or go into debt to acquire a buffalo, only doing so as a last resort, and still feeling regret and remorse for the rest of their lives. Thus, the custom of slaughtering buffaloes in funerals, according to Thai tradition, was once considered superstitious, wasteful, and wasteful because it was thought that the slaughter was solely for food; and due to a lack of understanding of the deeply spiritual customs of the Thai ethnic community, the criticisms raised, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, were also made...

Thai Tam