The Katu eth­nic group in Laos main­ly inhab­it the Xekong Province along the Upper Xekong Riv­er. Part of the ​“Katu­ic” eth­no­lin­guis­tic group, these pop­u­la­tions usu­al­ly live at a dis­tance from the mod­ern world, in moun­tain­ous dis­tricts, glades, jun­gle copses, or small vil­lages along a water source. They prac­tice slash-and-burn cul­ti­va­tion, ani­mism, shaman­ism, hoax sac­ri­fices, and they nur­ture a close spir­i­tu­al con­nec­tion with the jun­gle, which they con­sid­er a ​“house of genies”. The Katu vil­lages in Laos are locat­ed south of the Xe Xap nation­al park. Boast­ing a broad, rolling mas­sif with sum­mits at an aver­age of 3500 ft and cov­ered by vast jun­gle, the Xe Xap is a nat­ur­al sanc­tu­ary, refuge to over forty mam­mal species of inter­est such as tigers, wild ele­phants, gaurs, munt­jacs, bears and endan­gered species includ­ing the beard­ed lan­gur mon­keys. There are also more than a hun­dred bird species and fifty rep­tile and amphib­ian species, among which is the molu­rus python.

<figcaption>Katouic slash-and-burn</figcaption>

<img alt="Upper Xekong Katu" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/testthe-katu/upper-xekong-katu-1578372206.jpg" />
<figcaption>Upper Xekong Katu</figcaption>

Like oth­er pro­to-Indochi­nese groups, the Upper Sékong Katu dis­tin­guish them­selves with their ele­gant com­mu­nal hous­es. Called gwal, the hous­es are locat­ed in the vil­lage cen­ter and are char­ac­ter­ized by totemic sculp­tures and poly­chrome draw­ing, inside or out­side. They are used for var­i­ous social func­tions, such as ani­mist rites, notably the buf­fa­lo sac­ri­fice. Sculp­tures of the strange, mag­i­cal androg­y­nous katu deity may be found around the cen­tral pil­lars. Because the Katu uni­verse is cir­cu­lar, a Katu vil­lage rep­re­sents a series of cir­cles, the most vis­i­ble one formed by hous­es ori­ent­ed towards the com­mu­nal house. This set-up made it pos­si­ble to house more than 30 mem­bers of a patri­lin­eal kin­ship sys­tem, two or three fam­i­lies, and more than one hun­dred oth­er peo­ple. Around the vil­lage, cir­cles are formed by rivers and by the high wood­en ridges over­look­ing the vil­lages. The cos­mo­log­ic cen­ter of this world is the com­mu­nal house and the sac­ri­fice pole, which are typ­i­cal­ly made of kapok tree and rep­re­sent a door to the three worlds of Katu cos­mol­o­gy dur­ing a sacrifice.

<img alt="" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/testthe-katu/2013%20-%20Image%20num%C3%A9ris%C3%A9e%203-1577677489.png" />

Before 1950, com­mu­nal house could be of an impos­ing size, with the cen­tral pil­lar mea­sur­ing more than 12 meters high. The gwal struc­ture is built from wood and bam­boo, and the roof is made of thick lay­ers of palms. The inte­ri­or planks are dec­o­rat­ed with draw­ings rep­re­sent­ing scenes from mythol­o­gy, his­to­ry, or dai­ly life. The inte­ri­or walls are dec­o­rat­ed with war masks (kâbei), weapons, and var­i­ous tro­phies such as buf­fa­lo and tiger skulls, skulls and tails of pea­cocks or tou­cans, and even some­times human skulls as a memen­to of the infa­mous Blood Hunts. The Blood Hunt is based on the con­cept that blood calls blood, sim­i­lar to the Aztec Flower War or the cus­toms of Bor­neo, New Guinea and Naga head hunters. Pris­on­ers were cap­tured in neigh­bor­ing set­tle­ments and brought back to the vil­lage, where they were hung on sac­ri­fi­cial poles or trees. The vil­lagers would eat the prisoner’s heart and liv­er, believ­ing that they would absorb the victim’s vital­i­ty and might.

<figcaption>Katu com­mu­nal house</figcaption>

<img alt="Upper Xekong gorges - Katu hamlet" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/testthe-katu/upper-xekong-katu-hamlet-1578372258.jpg" />
<figcaption>Upper Xekong gorges — Katu hamlet</figcaption>

Since 2012, Secret Indochi­na has been devel­op­ing a local sus­tain­able project in Ban Paleng, a Katu ham­let locat­ed in the heart of the Upper Sékong. The project pro­motes and con­serves the Katu cul­tur­al her­itage, as endorsed by UNESCO, to pro­tect and re-estab­lish tra­di­tions of some autochthones peo­ples and groups. In this spir­it, the Paleng com­mu­nal roof was ren­o­vat­ed by the locals and Secret Indochi­na in 2017.

<img alt="Katu buffalo sacrifice" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/testthe-katu/katu-buffalo-sacrifice-1578372280.jpg" />
<figcaption>Katu buf­fa­lo sacrifice</figcaption>

<img alt="Upper Xekong gorges - Katu" src="https://www.secretindochina.com/upload-images/programmes/testthe-katu/upper-xekong-gorges-katu-1578372302.jpg" />
<figcaption>Upper Xekong gorges — Katu</figcaption>