Abstract
The Bun Pha We:t of the Laotians of Northeast Thailand by Bernard Formoso Constructed around the recitation of the story of Vessantara, the next-to-the-last incarnation of the Buddha, the bun Pha Ve:t mingles aims which are spiritual (the acquisition of merit) and material (an abundant harvest), and observers such as Condominas and Tambiah have presented it as the most important of Laotian peasant festivals. The author confirms this point of view with new ethnographic information which makes it possible to refine the interpretation of the festival and place it more precisely in the religious calendar year. He shows that it integrates, in a single ritual complex, motifs which "are developed separately at other times of the year and that it makes of the organising community a temporary cosmic center toward which converge not only the representatives of surrounding villages, but also the many divinities of the upper and lower worlds who are invited for the occasion.
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