The Lao Community in Weed: Preserving a Local Cultural Treasure

The Lao community in Weed, consisting of 35-40 families, has been thriving since Lao refugees from the Vietnam War moved there in the 1970s.Sponsored by local families and churches, “they moved here because they love the beautiful mountains, the rivers and waterfalls and the forest which reminds them of their homeland and brings them peace and happiness,” says Phetsamone Jenny Virasonh, co-owner, with her husband Mickey, of Lao’der Phet restaurant in Weed. Phet is also a member of the Weed City Council and the first woman Khmu, the Indigenous people of Lao, to be elected to public office in California and perhaps even in the U.S.

Phetsamone Jenny Virasonh, co-owner and of the popular Lao’der Phet restaurant in Weed is, along with her husband Mickey, working to raise awareness and appreciation of Lao culture.

A Lao Culinary Legacy

After Phet retired from the medical field, her grandmother, who taught her how to cook, said “Why are you retiring? Why don’t you do something you love? You love to cook, why don’t you do that?” So Phet and Micky started cooking hot food for a Lao market in Fresno. On a visit to Weed, they fell in love with the area and decided to relocate. They opened Lao’Der Phet’s Kitchen Farm-to-Table on Main Street in Weed. Renowned for delicious, freshly made Lao and Asian food, it has become a popular area dining destination.

Lao Cultural Identity

“Since the Lao community has been here, many of the children have been assimilated into Western culture,” says Phet, who, along with Micky, is a member of the Lao Association of Weed. “Any culture that is assimilated into a culture tends to forget their native culture, language and traditions,” she says, noting that she and other Lao community members worry about this loss of original cultural identity.

A Lao Cultural Home in Weed

The Weed Lao temple will be a meditation oasis surrounded by a peaceful garden where all are welcome.

Lao Buddhists are Theravada Buddhists. To conduct a funeral in a Lao Buddhist temple, Lao people in Weed must travel to a Lao temple in Redding or Sacramento. They must ask a monk to travel to Weed to locally perform proper prayers for loved ones who have passed and to perform other significant ceremonies.

Phet and Mickey saw the need for a religious and cultural center in Weed to serve the local Lao community. “The sad thing is that the Lao people who have lived here for 40 years have no place to congregate, to practice their religion” says Phet. “A lot them have felt they would not get the support from the community to build a temple. But since I became a member of the Weed City Council, I have found a great deal of cultural diversity in the area.” “My dream,” says Phet, “is to have a summer program at the temple on how to read and write in the Lao language and to teach kids to play Lao instruments like the Khan, [a musical pipe] – not just for Lao children, but for anyone who wants to learn about a different culture.”

To make this dream of a way to preserve the rich local treasure of Lao cultural a reality, Phet, Mickey and the Lao Association of Weed have been working for the past couple of years to plan a Theravada Buddhist temple in Weed and to raise funds to build it.

Property for the temple has been donated by a local philanthropist, Bruce Shoemaker, and the Lao Association of Weed held their first fundraiser last year. This year’s fundraiser will be held Saturday May 16 at the Weed Community Center, 161 Lincoln Avenue, and is an all-day event, with prayers, meditation and almsgivings from 9am to noon. “We give alms of fruit, sweets and rice to the temple monks to bring prosperity and good merit to our family and loved ones,” Phet says. The afternoon will be filled with traditional Lao music and food and performances by Lao dancers and musicians. Everyone is invited to attend both the morning and afternoon festivities. It is the hope of Phet, Mickey and the Lao community that the temple will be a cultural treasure and a source of healing and unity for the Weed community and beyond.

“All are invited to come to the temple to meditate and find peace,” says Phet.

The recent Walk for Peace by Buddhists monks has been an inspiration to Phet and Mickey. “The monks say you don’t have to make a huge change,” says Phet. “You just have to start with you. A little change, a kindness, a little humanity, goes a long way.” That is the Buddhist way.

Donations to support temple construction can be made at laoassociationofweed.org.