Washoua & Bao
1. Their Home
The front door of Was Shoua and Bao’s house has a fake puppy hanging on the left side of their door. There is a pair of red corns dangling from the middle of the door. The fake puppy and the red corn are use to defend bad spirits from entering the house. Wa Shoua, Bao and along many other traditional Hmong families believe that the bad spirits will be afraid of the red corn and the fake puppy, therefore, they will not enter the house. In other words, this is a way to protect their house and their family. When entering, I took of my shoes on the small rug in front of the door. The dining room is to the right and the living room is to the left. Their neeb altars were there on the corner, covering half of the wall. There was an upstairs and a narrow hallway. They sat me down on their dining table. The dining table had a flowery tablecloth. The tablecloth two calendars on top of it and an American flag. The top layer of the tablecloth was a transparent plastic cover. Rested on the center of the table was a big bowl full of oranges, bananas, apples and mangos. On the corner of the dining room, there were two sewing machines and a tall glass cabinet full of beautiful glass cups.
As we sat down, I introduced myself and told them my name, where I go to school and what was the purpose of this project. Before coming, my mom had call to ask for permission and they have said yes. My parents also came along with me to my uncle and aunt’s home. They sat at the end of the table listening attentively. I begin recording and asking my questions. I check the digital audio recorder after every ten minute to make sure it was recording. What is so weird is that after I had ask all my questions and my uncle and aunt have told me their story, I listen to the recorder but nothing got recorded. Why is this important to note? My mom says that usually when people want to study Hmong Shamanism, one must “thov,” meaning ask politely. Since shamans have something call, “Qhuav neeb,”” the spirits that guides the shamans to negotiate with other spirits, one must ask permission from then in order to study and write about them. My mom said we should’ve bought some incense sticks and asks permission from the “Qhuav neeb.”
2. Their Story and Insights
Wa Shoua Vang and Bao Kha have been married for more than thirty years. Vang and Kha are both shamans themselves and have been for fourteen years. He says
Wb ua tau ua, ziag no wb ua tau los xyoo 2014 no ces, wb ua tau 14 xyoo neeb no lawm. Wb ua tau 14 xyoo neeb nos ces wb yeej kho cov neeg nos los mus tau 14 lub xyoo no. Nws yeej tsis muaj qhov ua yuav, ua niam no, npua tau ntawm wb thiab. Kho ces yeej kho tau txhua tus mus ntxiv thiab. (We’ve done, uh conducted ceremonies since 2014, so we’ve been doing it for 14 years now. We have done it for fourteen years now and had healed people for fourteen years now. There isn’t something we can’t heal or done wrong. We have and will continue to heal people successfully).
They identified themselves as “txiv neeb” (shamans) that conduct the type of neeb call “Neeb pog thiab yawg.” There are two types of neeb pog thiab yawg. The one that Wa Shoua does is call neeb tswb zeej. This means they wear the black headscarf instead of the red one. This type of neeb is passed down through generations. In other words, Vang’s dad was a shaman, therefore he was one and his grandpa was also one. The qhuav neeb (Shaman helper'shelper spirits) from his family had passed down through generations. One of his children one day will also have these qhuav neeb and will become a shaman.
Vang particularly focuses on what he feels when he “ua neeb.” He describes it as voices, his qhuav neeb, guiding him to find the spirit and reason to the illness of the person he is healing. He expresses the following
Pev kev ua neeb nos tsis yog lav tau lav ua. Peb yeej muaj coj tau, ib cov, uh niam no, muaj ib cov suab npe, los yog tias suav nrob qhia tau rau yus uh lub siab lub ntswb kom yus ua. Yog yus tus neeb ntawm mob txoj hov twb, mas nws yuav tsum qhia txoj kev rau yus kom yus mus khov tus tiv neeg mob ntawm kom zoo. (The way we do neeb is not like you just do it for fun. We have voices that speak to our hearts. If the person you are healing is hurt somewhere, that particular voice will tell you the pathway to go heal that person so he or she can be cure).
He also explains to me that the voices seeing sparkles. He compares these sparkles to firecrackers when it booms in the sky and the sparks fall down. He says that the voices would see black, red and blue ones. Each color of sparks that bloom tells him what type of illness and cause he is looking for in the person. The red one is call “shu,” meaning it sees blood, murders or the killing of someone. If you see the black ones, they are define as illness and causes relating to someone bad who had come into your home and being relentless to the “Txiaj Meeg.” The txiaj meeg is the guidance in homes and also the spirit that watches over money and wealth. If someone harms this home spirit, the family may stresses over money and is need of a shaman to fix it. Vang explain the seeing of sparkle during his practice of ua neeb as the following
Qhov kev ntseeg ua peb ua hau mas, nws...nws, nws pom mas nws zoo li um, qhov kev ntseeg peb ua pom mas yog peb mus saib txoj ib tus tiv neeg los yog saib txoj ib lub vaj lub tsev twb mas peb paub hais tias lub tsev nos nws muaj zoo li no nawb mas, nws special tias nws sau qhiab rau yus, no nas. Qhia rau lub qhov muaj nos mas nws pom li uh, nws pom li uh niam nos lawm tso cov tawg tawg paj, ib yaj li lawm tuav cov tawg tawg paj ya dawb vog, liab vog, liag vog rau uv rau nos, ces koj yeej paub hais tias lub tawg zoo li nos mas yog haib mob li nos, lub tawg li nos mas yog haib mos li nos. (The belief we do during ua neeb, it...it, it sees like this, um, this believe that we see looks at a person or a person’s house so we know that this house is like this, its special so it tells you. It tells the eyes to see, to see things like, like sparkles (blooming of flowers), just like when someone does firecrackers, white and red everywhere. Then we know that if it blooms like this, it must be this illness, if it blooms like that, it must be that illness).
This process occurs when the shaman is beginning his neeb. If you are a shaman and you conduct a ceremony or ritual (neeb) to someone but doesn’t see any of these sparkles, that means that person doesn’t have anything bad related to the house or their illness isn’t that big.
Homes and houses also play a huge role in Hmong Shamanism as I learn talking to Wa Shoua and Bao. Vang continues to talk about the importance of a home. He says that in every home, their live young spirits that protects the house, therefore being a shield to the family that lives there. Therefore when the shaman travels to spaces, like a home, these spirits tell the shaman where and why the person is ill. For example Vang describes that if the dab qhua in the house is not happy because it has been touched, it causes a person in the family to be ill so they can realize that they need to better protect it. The dab qhua relates to the xwb kav, which is the most holiest and more protective thing in the house. It is made of paper money, feathers and chicken blood. This is another thing that protects the home.
Bao Kha started being a shaman when she gave birth to her third child. She knew she was a shaman when she was young back in Laos. I’ve asked her, “How do you know you are going to be a shaman?” and “How do you become a shaman?” She answers that it is going to be a long story; therefore she will give me the shorter version of it. Kha first explain to me the difference between being “crazy,” and becoming a “shaman.” When you become a shaman, it is as like you are crazy. Crazy people hear voices but to her the voices are helping her guide to become a shaman so she can heal others. When one becomes a shaman, one will become really sick and go through a lot of illness and pain. These types of illness and pain that a shaman feels are the types of sickness that he or she can heal and cure. For instance she explain a story that one day she felt a pain on her arm. She was already “ua neeb” at the time and have conducted several ceremonies to heal people. Two days after she felt the pain on her arm, a lady have asked her to go “ua neeb” for her because her arms hurt. This is an example of how the types of sickness that shamans go through are the types that they can heal.
For her she says that she was so sick that all her hair fell off. She also faints and would come back to reality by herself. These are some of the types of illness that she can heal because prior to becoming one, she already experiences those types of pain. For most part, a lot of Hmong shamans are like this. They experience a lot of different types of minor to extreme pain and illness before becoming one. Some of these pain and illness are not well explained by western medicine; therefore that is how one know one is going to be a shaman.
My aunt Bao Kha and my mom also gives insights into the types of shamans that exists. As previously mention, there are two groups of neeb. The first group wears the black head scarf over their face when they “ua neeb.” The second group wears the red headscarf. The black headscarf has two kinds of shamans within it. The first is neeb tswb zeej, which is the neeb of great ancestors that has been passed down for generations. Kha and Vang both comes from shamans that conduct neeb tswb zeej. The other kind of neeb is the neeb xua npleg which is only for healing those who is going to die. In this type of neeb, the shamans do not wear the finger bells on his or her hands. In fact this neeb is very quiet so that the shaman can go steal a spirit in the bad spirit world in order to bring it to the original body. This is different from the neeb tswb zeej because those who does the neeb tswbzeej, does it with finger bells. Kha explains the differences of shamans as the following
Peb yog ua, peb yog cov neeb ua tswb zeej. Peb yog cov neeb tswb zeej. Peb nrhoob thiv hau dub. Hov muaj ua ib cov ces yog thiv hau liab yog ua, yog neeb xov. Mas peb muaj ua ob hov neeb yog cov ua li nos. Hov ib hov, yog cov neeb xua nplej. Cov ntawm mas cov ua es tus neeb mob twb yuav tuag lawm mas, mas ua. Cov neeb xua npleg ntawm mas cov ntawm mas mus nyias nplig puv tos dab npua teb li luag hais lawm os. Mus dua tos mas nws mus nyias tus nplig tos rov qab los ces tus neeg ntawm yuav tsum ciaj xwb. (We are the shamans who conduct neeb tswb zeej. We are neeb tswb zeej. We wear the black headscarf. There are those who wear red, which are call neeb xov. These are the two types of shaman. There is another kind call neeb xua nlej. These are for those who are going to die and are in need of a soul. The shaman would go to the evil spirit world and steal a spirit and comes back. The person healing must become alive again afterward).
Neeb sov is the only type of neeb with the red headscarf. This type of neeb as my mom explain to me, are shamans who, when in heaven coming to life, was fated to become a shaman. They are different in that this type of neeb is not pass down through generations. Only the special ones are pick to become a txiv neeb (shaman) that does neeb sov. There is also the last type of neeb that shamans conduct near the stove. This is the last type of neeb. In total, there are five types of shamans.
Bao, Wa Shoua and my parents also discuss a bit about how Hmong shamans not only heal the Hmong community but also other non-Hmong, such as people from different backgrounds. My mom told a story of an aunt who lived next door to a white family. The wife of the family didn’t like them because my aunt’s family would hold religious ceremonies and rituals that would annoy them. One day one of their kid was sick and the family next door didn’t know what to do. Therefore, the shaman in my aunt’s family say if the family like, she can call the kid’s soul to come back. The mother was desperate for help so she agrees. After the shaman call the soul and tie a red string to the kid, the kid got better the next morning. This is an example of how Hmong shamans are also open in healing those who are not Hmong. My aunt and my mom put emphasis that, those who ask for help from shamans should believe that they are doing their best to heal.
Last my aunt, Bao Kha, spoke about why being a shaman and neeb is beneficial to her, her home and her family. She says that it is beneficial in that, the voices comes and tell her if her children are in harm spiritually. For instance she gives me this example
Qhov ntawm pab los mas, rau qhov vim hais tias thaum yus txawm kiag cov neeb nos ces, teb, ib yaj li yus tus me nyuam, yus tus me nyuam mus poob nplig qhov twg los, ib tsim yus pw, lawm twb los qhia hais tias, lawm twb los qhia hais tias oh, nws mus poob nplig qhov nos lawm nas. (Being a shaman helps. It helps because when you start to conduct neeb, like, when your kid lost their soul somewhere, when you go to sleep later, a voice will come tell you that your child had lost their soul and will tell you where they have lost it).
In the Hmong community, if no one in your immediate family is a shaman, you must go find and “thov” a shaman to come help heal. Therefore if you are already one, it is much more convenient and easier to protect and heal your family.
She and my uncle Wa Shoua felt a need to prove to the western side of medicine that what they believe was real and it works in healing people. My aunt mentions that it is not just about healing people physically but spiritually. Everyone she says has a spirit and that is our belief, in healing spirits between worlds.