Hmong Shamanism
Also: pictures of shamanism in action
in Cambodia – south of where the
Hmong live.
Defining “shamanism”
• “Shaman” is not a Hmong word; it
is a Tungus word. The shaman in
Hmong is known as Txiv Neeb
(“master of spirits”)
Defining “shamanism”
• Shamanism is a belief system found throughout the world
in which
– an individual is chosen by the spirits to heal the
afflictions of others, and does so by
– achieving an altered state of consciousness (ASC),
– thereby enabling his soul to cross over to the spirit
world
– in order to dialogue with the spirits, either to
– tap their power or to persuade them to cease and desist
– and then to cross back over to the world of the living
– key point: shamanism is not spirit possession
Dale’s affliction
• Dale is young Hmong man who lives in
Syracuse
• About a year ago, began to lose weight,
energy, desire to interact
• Went to a doctor, who diagnosed
“depression”; prescribed counseling and
visit to neurologist for possible chemical
imbalance
• Family dissatisfied
Hmong: A People from the hills
of Southeast Asia
• Small rice and maize
villages in the hills of
south China, Thailand,
Laos, Vietnam
• Strong value of
independence
• Hmong: “free people”
Where the Hmong now live
•
•
•
•
In China: 3 million
In Vietnam: 200,000
In Thailand: 200,000
In Laos (“the
homeland”): 100,000
• In the U.S.: 100,000
A devil’s bargain: becoming
guerrilla fighters for the CIA
• 1960s: recruited by
CIA to fight Viet
Cong
• Experts in mountain
and forest habitats
• In proportion to
population, lost 10
times as many soldiers
as did the Americans
Becoming refugees
• Reprisals against
Hmong after 1975
• 10s of 1000s fled to
refugee camps in
Thailand
• Horrible exodus
Hmong refugees in the United
States
• About 100,000
• Seattle, Minneapolis,
southern California
• about 600 in Syracuse
• Syracuse community
small and traditional
Dale’s diagnosis by the shaman
• Dale’s mother went to cousin who is a “txiv
neeb”
• the cousin threw divination “horns”
• diagnosed Dale’s illness as loss of soul: it
had wandered in search of girl, captured by
evil spirits
• Agreed to go to Otherworld and negotiate
release
The Hmong View of Souls
• The body houses between five and thirty
different souls or life-forces
• These occupy the body loosely, especially
the younger one is
• Can wander off at night, or when visiting
unfamiliar places
Health, Illness and Soul-Loss
• For Hmong, the body is healthy when all
souls remain in the body, cooperating
harmoniously
• Illness is due to prolonged separation of one
of the souls from the body: getting “caught”
in the Otherworld
• Soul-loss due to longing for a loved one,
sudden frights, spiritual kidnapping,
wandering into the otherworld
Soul-loss fear as reflection of
Hmong social values
• The body sometimes called the soul’s “house” or
“village”
• The idea of a solitary soul that has strayed from
the body is frightening and dangerous
• reflects Hmong value that a person should not
want to be independent of the group; one who has
strayed from the group is dangerously vulnerable
and alone
• Physical health is achieved by return of soul to
body; social health achieved by return of person to
group
The shaman’s journey for Dale
• Family built altar and “horse”
• Extended family filled house
• Shaman entered trance (opium, sonic
driving)
• Traveled with his spirit-helpers on a horse
to the Otherworld to find lost soul
• Pig sacrificed, blood daubed on Dale
• Negotiated with evil spirit for soul’s release
• Returned and bound the soul to Dale’s body
• Feast
Why did it work?
• The Hmong view
• The non-Hmong view?
How shamanism looks
• Watch how the shaman gallops into the
Otherworld
• The sacrifice of the pig
SHAMANISM IN CAMBODIA