As is written in Patricia Cheesman's Lao-Tai Textiles: The Textiles of Xam Nuea and Muang Phuan "Phaa sabai cloths were used in healing ceremonies as dancing shawls and shoulder cloths and were believed to have the power to assist healing through a dynamic combination of protective motifs and colors.
Phaa sabai were long red silk cloths with supplementary weft designs at each end of the cloth. They were 40-45 cm wide and 110-230 cm long. One end had a white silk ground with red silk supplementaries in a large lozenge-shaped motif call kaap khoam (lantern) or korng ngueak (box of river dragons.
The symbolism of the textile was a pathway, with the powerful box of river dragons, spirit birds and crested river dragons to chase out evil spirits and send them to the other end of the textile, which had decorative bands representing a ladder. It was also a path way for the souls of sick persons to return to their body, and for the helpers of the shaman to come from the spirit world.
