Yao Ritual is a ritual related to the religious beliefs of Thai people in the Northeast. It is popularly made in the Phu Thai tribe in Kalasin Province, Nakhon Phanom Province, Mukdahan Province, and Sakon Nakhon Province.
This ritual is a gamble. When there is an illness in the family By this illness it is believed to be an act of ghosts. Therefore, the ghosts had to be asked what they wanted. Or if the sick person does something wrong, they can follow it. Believe that when they do what the devil wants, Illness will be healed.
"Yao Ritual" is one of the beliefs and rituals for maintaining the health of people in the Thai community that has been passed down since ancient times due to the traditional beliefs of animism. It is a ceremony to communicate between ghosts and people. Let the ghosts help solve the troubles, especially the sickness.
The reason why the Yao ritual is performed comes from the traditional social conditions of Thai people that do not have a medical facility to guarantee illness. causing the need for Thai people to struggle to find refuge when they are sick Most of them use local herbs for their treatment and health care. In the past, the treatment of sickness required the use of ghosts to diagnose diseases and tell them how to treat them.
At present, although there is modern medicine that can diagnose the disease correctly. But some diseases or symptoms are incurable. The defenseless patients had to rely on rituals. At least it will make the patient's mind better. Therefore, it is organized as a ritual that creates morale and morale with the patient primarily.
When the patient is at the end of his life or the patient has recovered from disease and illness, the Yao ceremony is performed. The one who performed the Yao ceremony was called Doctor Yao the person who inherited from his ancestor's grandparents, mother, and doctor Yao before the child will inherit the leadership of Yao.
But nowadays, the succession of Yao leadership has disappeared from the Thai ethnic society, leaving only those who perform Yao rituals. who are the elders of the community only And the Yao rituals still visible to only some communities?
This is because modern society has played a role in changing some traditions of the Thai people. Yao is the communication between humans and spirits. Communication will use the melody of music or what Thai people call Klon Lam (Mo Lam) with a Cane-type instrument to accompany the rhythm communication method The verse and melody are called Yao.
Types of Yao Rituals
1. Yao to control ghosts Because the patient believes that the illness that occurs is caused by the act of a ghost or spirit causing illness Which must have a guess from Doctor Yao performs a ceremonial exorcism from Doctor Yao's dance and music that uses Caen as a musical instrument.
2. Yao for morale, Yao for renewal, Yao for life, Yao vows for life's prosperity. Family, relatives, and family members during important festivals of the community villages. or farming season in order to obtain the expected abundance of produce
3. Yao to feed ghosts to give thanks to ancestral spirits during the year This kind of Yao ceremony is only performed once a year between April and June. to ask for forgiveness and to pay homage to the spirits that help protect the community to be healthy, nothing that causes disaster or danger to the people in the Thai community
4. Yao at the annual merit event Most of them perform rituals in the merit-making ceremony only. With Yao only once a year, performed every three years in succession, then the Yao ceremony in this year's merit-making ceremony will be paused for 1 year, and then come back to perform the ritual again and continue like this.