Lantien people, or more correctly "Kim Mun Lantien Sha"
originally migrated to Northern Laos from China. their religion is Taoism, and all their religious manuscripts are in Chinese writing.
They have over the few centuries they have been in Laos kept fairly much to themselves as people, and preserved their culture.
I was fortunate enough to be invited by the priest of Ban Nam Lue, Mr Lao Lee, to attend several of their ceremonies over the past two years, in order to photograph them.
Most ceremonies take two or three days, with mainly the men participating in the formal proceedings, and the women being busy with cooking to feed the family and guests.

In order to not disturb the atmosphere during the proceedings, I restricted my photography by not using flash. This leads to somewhat grainy and sometimes high contrast images, due to often very low lighting levels in the house.

I wish to express my gratitude to Mr Lao Lee and the people of Ban Nam Lue for granting me the priveledge of attending their sacred ceremonies. I hope my work will in the longer term assist in preserving knowledge about the ancient Lantien traditions.
For more on this go to http://kees.zenfolio.com

All pictures from photo nr. 18 on page one are from an ordination ceremony in Ban Nam An. A narrative about this event is included with this photo nr 18, for those who have been wondering what it was all about.