Unlike us
the modern folks, it is not easy for a hill tribe shaman to survive without
proper magical training and knowledge. Shamans in Indochina mountain ranges
need to defend their honors and that they are constantly engaging in magical
duels to fight for influence. The more masters a shaman defeats, the better
his/her social status is; hence the power and money.
I was lucky
enough to see a magic duel between two Hmong shamans in Northern Thailand. You
know that I have a hobby to collect magical items from old shamans, so this is
just one of the visits to a Hmong lady whose parents were shamans. As we were
discussing about the price, suddenly the Hmong lady stood up and said: “Someone
is looking for me!”
After that,
she proceeded to her altar and then prayed in silence for a while and then
turned her face towards me said: “There is another shaman of this village who
wanted to have a magic duel with me, whoever wins shall take over the rituals
business in this area. I have agreed. If you want to watch the show, then come
at night.”
So I agreed
and returned to her place after night.
The Hmong
lady has changed into her full traditional costume bare footed. In front of her
altar was a piece of black cloth, a cock, a Hmong knife, a bowl of water, a
plate of rice, a piece of weed, a piece of stone and one piece of iron. She
first lighted the incense and candles and then she offered rice wine and meat
to her patron gods and goddesses. After that the lady shaman kneeled in front
of her altar and started to recite mantra slow at first but the tone turned
fast and fierce.
A few
minutes later, the lady shivered, jumped up and then pulled out the ritual
knife and started to slash towards all four corners. I could only stand at far
fearing for my safety… The assistant told me that it was the ‘ghost of war’
that has possessed the lady shaman.
As such
after quite a while, the Hmong shaman uses a scissors to cut the black cloth
into the shape of a person; and then she lifted the cock and drew some blood
from its crown. Later she anointed the blood onto the head, neck, shoulders,
heart, stomach, hands and legs of the cloth manikin. When this is done, the
manikin is folded and then it is tugged into her hair bun. It was revealed by
the lady that that was her method of protection.
Now the lady
shaman kneeled before the plate of rice and covered it with a piece of cloth.
After some rounds of chanting, she lifted the cloth and there were some kind of
patterns on the rice. She said that this is to predict what types of ghosts her
opponent sent and what direction the spirits would come from.
Common ghost
employed by Hmong shaman are no other than the grass ghost, wind ghost, fire
ghost, water ghost, earth ghost, metal ghost etc. When the type of ghost is
determined, an appropriate countermeasure can be prescribed. For example if it
is predicted a fire ghost is sent then a shaman would light a candle. If the
candle flame crackles, then it would be 100% sure that it is a fire ghost. If
it is a water ghost, then a bowl of water would turn milky.
In this
case the lady’s opponent sent a fire ghost, so she put a cup of water under the
candle and then starts to dance and dance vigorously. I could see clearly the
candle flame flickers while the environment is filled with still air. At this
point, the lady shaman started to start a bon fire and then she kneeled down in
front of the fire and she used her ritual knife to point at the fire while started
another round of cursing.
It was
after quite a while and the fire started to crackle and slowly died down. On
seeing the situation, the lady shaman jumped into the fire and started to
dance. And finally she stabbed her knife into the ash and collapsed onto the
floor.
I was later
told by the Hmong lady that her opponent has died a few days later when I
returned to collect my items. The lady also said that when two Hmong shamans
engage in magic duel, one of the parties shall die. Luckily, we don’t see this
type of fatal magic duel these days…
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