Hmong Healing Ceremony

What is Hmong Healing Ceremony?

The Hmong religion is traditionally very animistic (animism is the belief in the spirit world and in the interconnectedness of all living things). At the center of shamanism is the Txiv Neeb, the shaman. According to the shaman healing ceremony tradition, the human body is the host for a number of souls. The separation of one or more souls can cause disease, depression and death. Curing rites are therefore referred to as "soul-recalling rituals". Whether the soul became separated from the body because it was frightened or kidnapped by an evil force, it must return in order to restore the integrity of life.

Hmong Healing Ceremony

Healers other than shaman?

What is the Shaman's Role?

The shaman's role is the ability to diagnose and treat spiritual illnesses. The shaman is granted authority as a healer in their community. The shaman is supposed to be able to serve people of all age and gender with wide-ranging perceived as spiritual-illnesses including stress, depression, breathing problems and more.

There are other healers that are not shaman but help heal and treat people. A healer that is not shaman is called Kws tshuaj. The Kws tshuaj is one who knows about herbal medicine. Naturally these healers are females. The problems they focus to treat are infertility, menstrual irregularities, impotence, broken bones, joint pains, wounds, kidney stones, abdominal pain, headaches, and nausea. Another type of healer is called Tu khw khawv koob which is also called magic healer. The magic healer isn't "chosen" by the spirits like a shaman would be. But would be taught as an apprentice. Khawv koob is healing through the use of powerful magic words. Problems they treat are burns, infertility, broken bones, eye infections, wounds, and removal of stones. Kidney stones for example.

Receives all knowledge and wisdom for this role from the spiritual dimension, conducts healing ceremonies at great risk of personal harm with no expectation of reimbursement.

The initiation

Discussion

Being "chosen" (yuav ua neeb) is the first step of becoming shaman which is sometimes precipitated by unusual illness. Men, Women, and children can be chosen. Once the person is chosen they have to look to the spirit world for "Treatment training." Another shaman may also help with the external details for practice. But they do not provide training or education. The understanding is to be provided by the spirits.

Interviewers has shown that the hmong community understands the needs for various types of health care services. Both shaman and practitioners and hmong patients recognize the need for medical treatment of both acute and chronic conditions. However, the perceived cause of illness determines health care choices patients make.

The professional practice

The act of being "chosen" requires the person to make lifelong commitment to be a healer. This mean being able to be open and accessible to the entire community. It often involves diet restrictions and ritual regimens. Hmong shamans do not provide a physical diagnosis of the people they help. They try to determine their "soul status" (Ua neeb siab) of the person through the entrance.

Conclusion

I personally am a christian so I don't know much about this and I hope I'm not judged for doing this but I personally think no matter what religion we believe in we should all respect that and even though we may be different in different way we can still all get along and smile. Thank you for listening!

Sources

http://www.ahc.umn.edu/img/assets/7443/Hmong.pdf