Pu Nyoe ('Grandfather Nyoe') is one of the two great guardian ancestors of Luang Prabang. In the myth, a colossal creeper, the khua khao kat, grew up over the world and hid the sun; at the command of the sky lord Phaya Thaen the aged Pu Nyoe and his wife Ya Nyoe descended to cut it down, and when it finally fell it crushed them both. For this sacrifice the Lao honor them as the founding ancestors and tutelary deities (devata luang) of the royal city, a cult that tradition traces to the reign of Fa Ngum, founder of Lan Xang. Their red-faced, white-maned masks are kept at Vat Aham, and at the Lao New Year (Pi Mai) dancers embodying the couple, together with their lion companion Sing Kaew Sing Kham, lead the processions and take part in bathing the Prabang, the palladium of Laos. Villagers still invoke the pair when calling blessings, and they are believed to bring prosperity and abundance to the city and its people.