Burial Practices In The Hmong Culture

Ceremony and rituals have played a vital and essential role in Native American culture for a long time. Often referred to as “religion,” most Native Americans did not think their spirituality, ceremonies, and rituals as “religion,” the same way that Christians do. Instead, their beliefs and practices form an integral and seamless part of their being. Like other aboriginal people around the world, their beliefs were heavily influenced by their ways of getting food, – from hunting to agriculture. They also did ceremonies and rituals that gave power to conquer the difficulties of life, as wells as events and milestones, such as puberty, marriage, and death.

I have driven by the Makawao Veterans Cemetery but have never stop and paid my respects. I respect those like your friend’s grandfather and your own grandfather for serving their country in order for us to have our own freedom. I thought it was so sweet that your friend’s grandmother shared stories about the love she had for her husband. There is something I like about how the military cemeteries are mad and organize. They are so put together and nicely maintained and with the American flags these cemeteries just command respect.

The book represents the Hmong and western medicine as being static. Throughout the book the Hmong are depicted as being very hard headed and not willing to adapt. It however also shows mainstream western medicine being just as stubborn to change. Historically the Hmong have faced many challenges, from being used by the American Army as cheap labour and soldiers to becoming refugees but they never gave up their cultural beliefs (Fadiman 1997). A specific example of this can be seen she talks about the tensions the Hmong faced in China, and how the Chinese government tried to change the Hmong community, and make them wear Chinese clothing, cut their hair short etc, however the Hmong responded to this by first fighting and eventually migrating(Fadiman 1997:16).

Ethnomedicine has been historically defined as any healthcare system not present in the West; now, ethnomedicine is defined as the any cultural beliefs which surround healing in a community. The Hmong—an ethnic group located within present day Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand—have a particular system of ethnomedicine which is described as personalistic. Within a personalistic system, an active agent is the underlying cause of a disease—or etiology. Humans can be the cause of the disease as well as a number of non-human and supernatural agents. When Lia Lee began seizing at three months of age, her parents understood that the active agent which caused her epilepsy was a door slamming which caused her soul to fly from her body, an illness called quag

Musicians would attend with wind instruments playing in deeper tones. Mourning men and women were hired to sing praises of the dead. They would wear funeral masks that resembled the descendants of the deceased. If a body had been lost at sea and unrecovered, it was still important to have ceremonies.

Native Americans have many values, and to choose just one that is the most important is hard to do. The one that stands out as the most important is family, this played a huge role in the culture of the Native Americans. Discrimination has affected many kinds for many years, we have to learn from the history and the stories of Native Americans. We build common ground to connect with people through life, learning from Native American’s values. Kinship is important, who could see that in the stories of Coyote and The Buffalo Bull, World on a Turtle’s Back, and The Way to Rainy Mountain.

When it was time to bury Teofolio, members of this Pueblo community including old men with candles and medicine bags, went to the funeral as a sign of respect to the dead and to say their goodbyes.

The lack of sexual education also contributes to young marriage and motherhood rates (Ngo & Leet-Otley, 2011). Hmong parents do not understand sexual education and do not discuss it with their children. In Meschke and Dettmer’s (2013) study on sexual health communication, Hmong daughters inferred that parents believed the talk about sexual health might encourage their daughters to be sexually active. Talking about sex is impolite and embarrassing so Hmong families do not usually have discussions on that topic. However, when they do give out information it is often wrong and exaggerated (Meschke & Dettmer, 2012).

Hmongspeak by May Lee Hmongspeak is a way of describing the cultural aspects of the Hmong language. If a person uses it, that person gets labeled as a Hmong society member, and there’s some people who want to put a stop to these cultural aspects of the Hmong language. Because these people are affected by this language in an unpleasant way. One such author, May Lee wrote, “Hmongspeak” to educate the Hmong society. Lee defines it and says: “Hmongspeak is universal”.

A ritual is a religious or solemn ceremony in which certain actions are performed according to a prescribed order; rituals are seen across all religions and cultures. Tibetan Buddhism, is a part of the practical philosophy of Buddhism, which was first taught by Prince Siddartha Guatama (The Buddha); The philosophy is over 2,500 years old and currently has 376 million adherents worldwide (BBC , 2014). A ritual that is evident in Tibetan Buddhist culture is the Sky Burial, which has been performed for centuries with the first rites being recorded in an indigenous Buddhist community in the 12th century. This ritual entails the deceased to be dismembered and fed to Sky Vultures (Danikis) in the rocky Tibetan Autonomous Region as the most common

In the documentary, “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America,” portrays the journey of an immigrant Hmong family battling to maintain their cultural traditions alive in the United States. In the Hmong culture, it is believed that every individual has seven souls and if they have an illness, for example sickness, it means that their soul has departed or taken by evil spirits. Hmong people believe in Shamans, who are gifted and respected people who can make contact with their ancestors and return the lost souls of people. In this documentary, the main character Paja Thao is a shaman who is challenged by American customs to keep his cultural Hmong traditions alive and pass it down to his children. Paja becomes sick because he feels like his children don’t care about the Hmong tradition anymore because they don’t participate in his rituals and realizes his children have assimilated to the American culture.

Although these two cultures differ on their approach to death, both celebrate October 31 annually. Americans view death as final and permanent. It is common for loved ones to seek time to say goodbye to their deceased family member or friend (Kaleem, 2013, para. 5), and to mourn the fact that they will

After someone dies, there will be a two to three day celebration with the body present. They play the person’s cherished music and eat their favorite food. This is the best way to honor the dead because it is a good way to memorize the person’s

Sky burial might not be widely known about here in Malaysia but in Tibet, the particular practice that they call jhator, which defines “giving alms to the birds”, is a common affair. Also known as ritual dissection, sky burial is a process for the dead to go through that usually occurs at dawn. The human corpse will be cut at peculiar places and then is put on a mountaintop for it e to exposed to the elements and of course, the animals – in particular, the predatory birds. The whole concept of where the preparation is done and where the sky burial takes place are perceived in the traditions of Vajrayana as charnel grounds. Most Tibetans believe in Buddhism – this also means that they believe in rebirth.

The mortuary feasts is ceremonial that honoring the spirit of the deceased and other ancestor spirits, at which these goods are given to heirs of the deceased in acts of public, ritual generosity. With the help of enchantment and custom, Vanatinai people amass awesome amounts of stylized assets, pigs, privately made family products, and sustenances, for example, yam and sago starch so as to host a years long arrangement of elaborate morgue feasts. The feast is a way for the Vanatinai people to communicate with the ancestor spirits. The assets exhibited at the zagaya and at all previous mortuary feast events, including the funeral, are trades between the living and dead. If the feasts is properly done all mourning taboos are clear from individuals