... there has been continuity in the symbols of the New Year ceremony, the ritual context which invests these symbols with meaning has changed. This change reflects the diminution of the power of the putative ruler of Campasak who plays the crucial role in the ceremony. The New Year Ceremony at Basak (South...

... high commissioners (khd luang yai) were sent to Campasak, Ubon, Nongkhai, and Khorat, to begin instituting a new political system in NE Thailand and neighboring areas of Laos.37 These high commissioners, whose authority was increased in 1890 and again in 1891, occupied a new position intermediate...

... alterations in social structure and social experience. While there has been continuity in the symbols of the New Year ceremony, the ritual context which invests these symbols with meaning has changed. This change reflects the diminution of the power of the putative ruler of Campasak who plays the crucial role...

... ceremonies in which outlying nobles pledged fealty to the king (Figs. 3A and 3B). The ruler of the kingdom of Campasak in Southern Laos, for example, received oaths of allegiance twice a year from his subjects (Archaimbault 1971, 18), until he himself had to swear allegiance to the French. The principal...