Shaman Chu Nenh/Na Nenh in the Mong people's perspective

In the Mong language, txiv means father, nam means mother; so txiv neeb means father of neeb; nam neeb means mother of neeb. If we translate neeb into Vietnamese as worship, we will see the original meaning of txiv neeb - nam neeb is father - mother of worship instead of shaman. To understand why shamans are considered parents of neeb, we need to understand what neeb is, where it comes from, and how it comes?

Mong cosmology

The Mong people believe that the world was created by the Sau (Yawm Saub - Puj Saub) and consists of three parallel realms: the living realm (yaaj ceeb) - where living individuals have both body and soul, the dead realm (yeeb ceeb) - where living individuals without body are ruled by Ntxwg Nyoos and the upper realm (saum ntuj) - where gods live and reincarnate souls to the living realm or exile them to the dead realm. These three realms have basic interactions with each other so that life operates in a state of balance. If the balance of these three realms is no longer maintained, the universe cannot exist.

A shaman (a man wearing a turban) performs a prayer during a longevity celebration in Nam Can commune, Ky Son district. Photo courtesy of BNA

The Birth of the Ancestral God

God Chù Nhù (Ntxwg Nyoos) is a god who has a lot of livestock and poultry; he always needs a large enough labor force to raise them, so he always finds a way to bring souls from the living world (yaaj ceeb) to the dead world (yeeb ceeb). Meanwhile, many people in the living world do not fully understand the life in the dead world and often violate and offend this world, causing the world to go crazy.

To restore balance to the world, Mr. and Mrs. Sau (Puj Saub - Yawm Saub) decided to send their youngest son, Shen Si Di (Siv Yis), directly to the living world to live as a human. Shen Si Di was given by his parents a force of servants to handle the inter-realm affairs, the hard-working faceless fairies called Khua Nênh (Qhua Neeb). Shen Si Di, with the help of Khua Nênh, quickly restored balance to the world with the ability to prescribe medicine (muab tshuaj) and the ability to reconcile conflicts between the realms through rituals (ua neeb).

The life in the living world of the Goddess Si Di went very smoothly, he got married, had children and lived a simple life besides the task of keeping the world peaceful and balanced. Then, one day, the people in the living world betrayed the Goddess Si Di. It is believed that many people in the living world climbed the ladder connecting the living world and the upper world created by the Goddess Si Di, this led to the upper world being overloaded and the Goddess Si Di had to return to the upper world to deal with the people from this living world.

Another view is that the people in the living world did not consider Than Si Di and his family as normal people. One time, they killed Than Si Di's son, causing him to become angry and fly back to the upper world. Whatever the reason, the end result was that Than Si Di returned to the upper world and threw his knowledge (txuj ci neeb) down to the living world from above, leaving behind the Khua Nhenh to live on in many small, heterogeneous clusters.

Those in the living world who are lucky and have good temperaments will accidentally pick up the knowledge of the Goddess Si Di and through the training of the Khua Nênh will become the new leader of this Khua Nênh group, thereby being able to guide the Khua Nênh to travel through the realms and partly continue the career of dispensing medicine to cure diseases and reconcile conflicts between individuals from different realms of the Goddess Si Di. These chosen people will be called the father or mother of the Năngh (txiv neeb/nam neeb).

Gongs and homemade worshiping papers are necessary items for shamans to perform rituals. Photo courtesy of BNA

Onionprocess of becoming Chu Nenh/Na Nenh

According to the Mong people's concept, the human body consists of three basic parts: the physical part (lub cev), the mind and the soul (ntsuj plig). When a person is chosen to become a shaman, the soul (ntsuj plig) will be tested and brought to study by Khua Nhenh. Because the soul is often away from the body, the chosen person often gets sick and ill throughout the training process.

If the chosen person's family or himself does not know, they physically abuse or have offensive behaviors towards Khua Nênh, which can lead to the soul not only not being able to train to be able to control the Khua Nênh to work, but can also stray from the body, leading to the death of the chosen person. This training process is called Mo Nênh (Mob Neeb), the length of time it lasts depends on each individual and the journey that each Khua Nênh group requires.

During training, Mo Nênh will have many dreams, always meeting one or a group of people who will lead him to many strange places such as super high cliffs, super wide ravines or deep, dense forests. These guides often teach the chosen person how to talk to individuals from other realms. This is explained that, because the soul has accompanied the Khua Nênh to study, that person feels like he is dreaming.

This Mo Nênh journey will last until the chosen person has learned enough ability to control Khua Nênh. At that time, the chosen person and his family (may have additional companions, especially those with similar abilities to the chosen person and have become shamans) will need to organize a Chang Thang (Tsaa Thaaj) ceremony to set up an altar right next to the altar of the Su Cang house god (Xwm Kaab), placed in the middle of the house, so that Khua Nênh can officially have a place to reside in the chosen person's house and will accompany them under the control of Chu Nênh or Na Nênh.

The Mong people believe that the power of a shaman depends entirely on the power of the Khua Nhenh group serving them. And because this group is never as complete as Than Si Di's group, there will never be an omnipotent shaman, only teachers with supernatural powers, different from others but not omnipotent.

Healing by ritual

The Mong believe that a person is sick when their body, mind, and soul have problems. If the illness is due to physical problems, people will treat it with medicine and modern medical intervention. If the illness is due to mental damage, people will be able to seek a mental health care doctor or through a ritual to see and calm them down - called ua neeb saib. If the illness is due to a soul damage (Ntsuj plig), a ritual will be needed for those who are Na Nenh or Chu Nenh to use their ability to connect the realms and reconcile through the command of Khua Nenh. Thus, the treatment of illness through rituals among the Mong people both includes and goes beyond the concept of mental health care.