essay

Fastening the soul: some religious traits among the Lamet (French Indochina)

Compass for fields afar: essays in social anthropology, by Karl Gustav IzikowitzGöteborg, SwedenPublished In 1985 • Pages: 212-257

By: Izikowitz, Karl Gustav.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Rmeet (Lamet) religion recognizes several spirits and supernatural beings believed to reside in human body parts, particular locations within villages, certain crops (most notably rice) and animals, and some natural features and entities. This essay discusses the centrality of such spirits and “souls” in shaping seasonal farming practices, organized rituals, settlement patterns, inter-village relations, burial rituals, clan totems, and other aspects of life at the family and community levels. The Rmeet also recognize certain religious personalities believed to help families and villages deal with malevolent spirits and souls through a combination of sacrificial appeasements and preventive magic.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
General character of religion
Animism
Animism
Cosmology
Cult of the dead
Organized ceremonial
Prayers and sacrifices
Clans
Tillage
Cereal agriculture
Division of labor by gender
Burial practices and funerals
Shamans and psychotherapists
Magic
Spirits and gods
Public structures
Sacred objects and places
Inter-community relations
Avoidance and taboo
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Rmeet
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southeast Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Anthropologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Teferi Abate Adem ; 2018
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
May 1937-January 1938
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1937-1938
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Luang Namtha, Oudômxai, and Bokèo provinces, Laos
NotesAdditional notes
Karl Gustav Izikowitz
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
86162478
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Lamet (Laotian people)