Lanten of Luang Namtha

When we arrive in Luang Namtha we normally go and visit Nam Dee Waterfall (‘Nam Dee’ means good water in Lao…such an original name…).  The waterfall, which is quite pretty when it actually has water going over it in the wet season, is not nearly as interesting as the small ethnic village we walk through to reach it though...

The Lanten or Lao Huay (meaning ‘Lao of the brooks’ since they tend to live along streams) people who live in Nam Dee Village migrated south from China over the past hundred years or so in search of farmland and better opportunities. Like the Hmong, Khmu, and other ethnic groups found in Laos, the Lanten have their own legend of their ethnic origins that is passed down through generations.   According to the legend, once upon a time when the Lanten lived in East Asia, a serious drought occurred where the earth became so arid that it split into large holes.  With the drought came famine, which became so widespread that people began to kill and munch on each other.  Fed up with having to eat each other for food, definitely an unsustainable practice, the Lanten decided to build bamboo rafts and sail to the west of the Japanese Sea to an area where the land was supposed to be humid and fertile.  While bamboo rafting aimlessly around the Japanese Sea, the Lanten continuously asked the god Pan Wang, who created both the earth and the heavens, for help, promising him a pig in return.  Finally, several days later, they found land and immediately went off to go find a big pig to sacrifice to Pan Wang for his assistance.  Even now, Lanten people continue to offer a sacrifice of a big pig to the gods in rituals.  Instead of practicing Buddhism like the majority of Lao people, the Lanten hold cultural beliefs based on a mix of Taoism, ancestor and spirit worship.  Just as they practice a different religion, they also speak and write in a different language based on ancient Chinese characters.  So Lanten people can assimilate better into Lao society, children are taught the Lao language in school.  A pretty cool people for sure!