Bride & Bridegroom
The protagonists of this Vientiane wedding picture series. You'll find the other pictures in my Laos album.
Their wedding was a so-called "little wedding", which isn't just a simple engagement, but a very official and formal affair with the presence of the district leader and with contracts that have to be signed and stamped. The couple is allowed now to live together and to have children, and this is accepted by society as a matter of course, but they aren't really married according to international civil status law. Many couples content to a "little wedding", the bride's parents also do so. As long as they don't seperate, there won't be any problems. But if they do so, the text of the signed contracts will be important.
And as sexual relations after a "little wedding" are still sexual relations before marriage, in case of a separation Article 8 of the Lao Family Law will be important, too. It reads as follows:
"If sexual relations occur before marriage and the man does not marry the woman, he shall have to make offerings to restore the spirit of the woman or of her family according to custom and tradition."
The Singapore translators of the Lao legal texts explain the phrase "spirit of the woman" in the following way:
"The phrase “restore the spirit” has both a secular sense of “repair the reputation” as well as a metaphysical sense of “undo any spiritual damage”. "
www.mfa.gov.sg/content/dam/mfa/images/om/vientiane/Lao%20...
It's very important not to annoy any spirit, and so before the wedding like before any important event a shaman seance had taken place, where friends and relatives had contacted relevant spirits with the shaman's help. For this purpose they had held long white laces in their hands during the seance, and at its end they had wound them around the bride's and the bridegroom's wrists pronouncing helpful wishes. You see lots of them on the bride's wrists, they're hidden under the bridegroom's cuffs.
Bride & Bridegroom
The protagonists of this Vientiane wedding picture series. You'll find the other pictures in my Laos album.
Their wedding was a so-called "little wedding", which isn't just a simple engagement, but a very official and formal affair with the presence of the district leader and with contracts that have to be signed and stamped. The couple is allowed now to live together and to have children, and this is accepted by society as a matter of course, but they aren't really married according to international civil status law. Many couples content to a "little wedding", the bride's parents also do so. As long as they don't seperate, there won't be any problems. But if they do so, the text of the signed contracts will be important.
And as sexual relations after a "little wedding" are still sexual relations before marriage, in case of a separation Article 8 of the Lao Family Law will be important, too. It reads as follows:
"If sexual relations occur before marriage and the man does not marry the woman, he shall have to make offerings to restore the spirit of the woman or of her family according to custom and tradition."
The Singapore translators of the Lao legal texts explain the phrase "spirit of the woman" in the following way:
"The phrase “restore the spirit” has both a secular sense of “repair the reputation” as well as a metaphysical sense of “undo any spiritual damage”. "
www.mfa.gov.sg/content/dam/mfa/images/om/vientiane/Lao%20...
It's very important not to annoy any spirit, and so before the wedding like before any important event a shaman seance had taken place, where friends and relatives had contacted relevant spirits with the shaman's help. For this purpose they had held long white laces in their hands during the seance, and at its end they had wound them around the bride's and the bridegroom's wrists pronouncing helpful wishes. You see lots of them on the bride's wrists, they're hidden under the bridegroom's cuffs.