In the Hmong Religion, people believe in shamanism. [This process paper will show how one becomes a shaman, how ceremonies are perform, and the purposes of it, why animals are sacrifice, and the tools they use]. To the Hmong people that go to church and to other ethnics, Hmong shamanism seems like voodoo. Once they get to learn the purpose of the tools the shaman uses and ceremonies they perform, it will become interesting. .
How does one become a shaman? Men or women, either one can become a shaman, but most likely men are the one to become one. When one is become a shaman, the first sign is encountering a deathly sickness caused by the "nang spirits" (qhua neeb) or the shaman spirits. Although one can become a shaman by learning the basics, a true shaman is one who has been chose by their greatest grandparent's nang spirits. A person cannot practice becoming a shaman quickly, for they have to go through six years of training. If one was chosen to become a shaman and does not become one, it can cause them a life of interminable sickness or torture. That chosen person will not die, but they will always be sick until they agree to become a shaman. The Hmong shaman is believed to be a man/woman with a power to heal the ailing and those whose spirits are believed to be lost. A shaman or "txiv neeb" (literally term: father or master of spirits) acts as a physician, spiritual minister, dream interpreter, psychiatrist and an elder statesman who serves between the physical and spirit worlds, in his/her community. To outsiders, a shaman could be view as a primitive medical doctor. Without a shaman, many Hmong believe they cannot appease restless spirits that can cause illness and bad luck. .
The shaman has the ability to go into the spirit world and to communicate with the spirits by being in the possession of the "nang spirits." The shaman in transported to another world via a "flying horse," which to use when we watch, it is just a wooden bench.
