​​​​​​​​​​• The shaman is the traditional healer who leaves the material world and navigates the spirit world to determine and treat the spiritual causes of disease.​

 

• Traditionally, disease is understood as disruption in balanced, dynamic interaction of souls, spirits, and persons.
 

• Cure is effected by the shaman by retrieving lost or captured souls of the ill person in a special ritual.
 

• Traditional Hmong religious beliefs are considered animistic. Life is seen as a continuous circle of birth and rebirth, and the Hmong believe that there are two worlds- physical and spiritual – that coexist side by side.​​​​

• Believe in many spirit types including ancestral spirits, house spirits and spirits in the natural world

​​• Many ritual ceremonies performed by Hmong for the purpose of fulfilling the will of the ancestors and natural spirits
 

• Hmong use Shamans as a way to maintain communication between the physical and spiritual world
 

• Hmong use Shamans to perform rituals and sacrifice animals with the goal of pacifying the various spirits and curing illnesses
 

• Hmong believe in reincarnation
 

• About 70% of Hmong in U.S. practice traditional Animist Hmong Religion and Shamanism
 

• About 1/3 of Hmong population in U.S. are Christians. They belong to many denominations, but the largest number are members of the Christian Missionary Alliance Church











​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

Sources

• ​​www.pbs.org/splithorn/shamanism.html
• Numrich, Charles, Plotnikoff, Gregory A., Wu, Chu, Xiong, Phua, and Yang Deu. “Hmong Shamanism Animist Spiritual Healing in Minnesota.” Center for Spirituality & Healing: Clinical & Health Affairs, Vol. 85, No. 6 (2002), pp. 29-34. 12 February 2012.
• http://joelpickford.com/photo-featured0607.php
• ​http://www.wausauhmong.org/wahma_v1/index.php?q=content/typical-year-life-hmong-family

SHAMANISM