The Katu or Kathu people are one of 47 different ethnic groups in Laos, grouped into three main families: the Lao Theung, the Lao Sung and the Thai-Kadai. The Lao Theung (Lao from above) are often referred to as the khas. They live in the mid-altitude mountains (between 300 m and 900 m) on the Bolaven Plateau in Laos. Among the subgroups of the Lao Theung is the Austro-Asian ethnic group of the Katu people.

Language

They have their own language, which has nothing to do with Lao language and most of them don’t even understand any Lao language. This inability to understand the language spoken around them leaves them isolated in their community and they fear leaving it. They believe that outsiders might put a evil curse on them which would eventually kill them, if they leave their village.

Education and beliefs

Education is almost non-existent with villagers believing that the Earth is flat; that what they see on TV is real (though this is the case for most of people); that someone having pale skin is because they don’t need to work and drink a lot of milk; that Africans have dark skin because they work hard and live on higher ground, closer to the sun; that someone has a longer nose because they eat a lot of bread; that cameras can steal pieces of your soul.

Religion

They are animists, which is the oldest religion believing that everything on Earth has a spirit. The rock has a spirit, the grass has a spirit, the house has a spirit, everything. Spirits are both benevolent and malevolent, the latter being believed to possess people, causing illness and bad luck. Sacrificing an animal is a common practice to chase bad spirits away. Previously human sacrifice was also not uncommon, but it is not existing anymore. If you break a rule, you bring bad spirits to the village, so you have to kill an animal. Even knocking on a house is enough to bring bad spirits. Animals are also sacrificed during ceremonies to mark important events such as at the end of the rice harvesting season.

Nature

They are also very connected to the nature. As one part of our tour we learned different types of leaves and roots that can be used as medicines. Of course we don’t remember all but there were used against bleeding, toothache, against insects, malaria, nausea, kidney stones, menstrual pain, aches, impotence etc. We even learned how to use a plant as a weapon. Katu people also very commonly smoke tobacco, coffee leaves and weed. They start smoking in bamboo bongs at a very early age (3 years old) as it has many advantages: chasing the mosquitoes, the leeches and the bad spirits away. We realized that there are some striking similarities with modern medicine/big pharma: First, all these medicinal plants were tested first on animals. Second, the secret of their usage is well kept by the the old people of the village, even the old uncle of the person showing us the place is not telling him all of his secret, just because he went out of the community to learn english and see the outer world.

Politics

Three important people governed the village: the shaman, the guru and the medium woman. In Western terms that would be the doctor, the mayor and the priest (the intermediary between the human world and the spirit world). Shamans are consulted in many aspects of life, including the naming of a child and the interpretation of dreams.

Population

Around 700 inhabitants live in a little over 30 houses in that rustic village with no infrastructure. That’s about an average of 23 people per house with the largest house holding 69 people. Polygamy is a common practice, with children being married as early as 16 – 17 years of age (before it used to be 8 – 12). They draw the line at 5 wives per man. What makes a woman valuable is measured by virtues like if they know how to cook, how to make whiskey and if they are hardworking and humble.

Death and birth

There are three cemeteries in the village: Women’s cemetery, a cemetery for the people died of old age or disease and one for who died from an accident. If an accident befalls you it’s believed you had an evil spirit in you and in your family, and that the rest of your family could likewise be cursed. So as not to harbour bad spirits in the village, the whole family of the deceased has to leave the village and live alone out in the forest for five years, not stepping foot in the village for all that time. After those five years have passed, the family may return to the village and build a new house on clean ground; their old house having been pulled down years ago by the villagers.

The women’s cemetery is also where women were going to give birth. A labouring woman will leave the village with a friend or a woman from her family, and live in the cemetery in a makeshift shelter while she gives birth, and for 10 days afterwards. After this time she will return to the village with her child, and step over a symbolic fire that the men of the village have built to cleanse her and the baby of any evil spirits. Before she can enter her home her husband will ask her if she has brought him a “good” baby or a “bad” baby. If she answers “bad”, the baby will be disposed of (but this never happened). If the woman did not survive childbirth, she would be buried in the cemetery, upright over a period of three days. On the first day she would be buried to her knees, on the second to her chest and on the third her head would be covered. This is done as a cleansing ceremony to prepare her to go to Heaven, which happens to be the Moon.

Nowadays this birth ritual is not practiced anymore, women deliver their children at the hospital.