Thai people's soul calling ceremony
The Thai people in Nghe An call the soul calling ceremony “hoong van” or “hang van”. It is a ceremony for people who are sick, have just recovered from illness, have just encountered bad things, have just survived a major disaster, and even when they have great fortune. The soul calling ceremony is also held for people who are about to go on a long journey, such as joining the army, or people who have been away from home for a long time.
(Baonghean.vn) -The Thai people in Nghe An call the soul calling ceremony “hoong van” or “hang van”. It is a ceremony for people who are sick, have just recovered from illness, have just encountered bad things, have just survived a major disaster, and even when they have great fortune. The soul calling ceremony is also held for people who are about to go on a long journey, such as joining the army, or people who have been away from home for a long time.
Shamans and sorcerers are the ones who conduct soul-calling ceremonies. They act as intermediaries to contact people's souls and lure them back to humans, so that from now on the souls will not stray far from people.
The offering tray for the soul calling day does not need to be elaborate, usually only a chicken, two plates of sticky rice, a cup of wine. Sometimes just two boiled eggs are enough to perform a soul calling ceremony. One thing that has become a rule in each soul calling ceremony is that there must be shirts of family members placed on the offering tray. And when the soul calling ceremony is finished, each person is tied with a black or red thread to pray for health, so that from now on the soul will not stray from its owner.
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In the concept of the Thai people of Nghe An, each of us has many souls. There are 30 souls called “van cau” and 900 souls called “van hua”. In addition, objects, rice plants or buffaloes all have their own souls.
Until the end of life, a person must go through many soul-calling ceremonies because few people live their whole life without being sick or experiencing big and small events. The main purpose of the soul-calling ceremony is to pray for health for the sick person, to bring faith and the will to live to each person.
From birth, the first worship ceremony for a newborn child is on the naming day. On this day, the child will be entrusted to the gods and his spirit, asking supernatural beings to watch over the newborn so that he will be healthy and lucky throughout his life.
After each wedding, the Thai people of Nghe An also hold soul-calling ceremonies for the young couples. These soul-calling ceremonies are usually simple, with the hope that the newlyweds will live in harmony and be together for life.
The elderly are often like a candle in the wind, not knowing when it will go out. They need the attention of their children and grandchildren, especially spiritually. Children and grandchildren often organize a ceremony to call their spirits to pray for the elderly in the family to enjoy a long life with their children and grandchildren.
Sometimes the soul calling ceremony still has superstitious features. That is the case when a person has been sick for a long time and cannot recover, people think that their soul has wandered away. The soul calling ceremony is held to call back the wandering souls in the streams and mountain corners.
There are cases where the Thai people of Nghe An hold a ceremony to call the souls of those who have saved their lives or those of their families. At that time, people bring chicken, sticky rice, wine and meat to the house of their "benefactor" to both hold a ceremony to call the souls and to repay their kindness.
Ha Phuong
