Many houses in the village had these posts in front. The village chief explained that this is where they will sacrifice water buffalo after someone builds a house, before they plant the rice, harvest the rice, etc. Bad news for the buffalo, good news for the village, as they all get together and have a feast. The guy who's field UXO Lao was clearing has 18 mouths to feed. 18 people live in his house, including his wife, kids, some in-laws and a grandkid. They currently have 1 hectare of rice fields, and that's not enough to feed everyone all year long. They basically have enough for about 11 months per year. The cleared land will give him another hectare, and allow him and his family to have enough to eat, plus maybe a little to sell.