Week 4 - Matthew Mandel

In this weeks reading we look at the essay written by Karen Fjeslstad called “ Possessed by Spirits - We Have Len Dong Too”. This essay touches upon the Vietnamese community and them settling into the Silicon Valley south of San Fransisco and practicing the spiritual ceremony of Len Dong. In the article it explains how when the the Vietnamese people moved here and started to practice Len Dong, the government came in and started to monitor the practices to see what it was. Commotions were brought up as the religious ceremonies were not being allowed in spite of religious freedom. The practices got to the point where it was illegal and they had to do the ceremonies in secret and in hiding.

When I hear that people are given a hard time due to the practices of the religious ceremonies that creates a problem for me and the people practicing it. The Vietnamese people became refugees and hardships to come to a places that explains that their practices are not materialistic. Though I have never heard of this until now I still feel that when a new religion or practice that is part of a culture in being introduced to the people regardless of what it is it shouldn’t become illegal just because it is considered “too materialistic.”

Question: Should materialism and the spiritual practices be separated?

Source:

Fjelstad, Karen, and Possessed by the Spirits: Mediumship in

Contemporary Vietnamese Communities. Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell U, 2006. Print.

Image Source:

http://static.new.tuoitre.vn/tto/i/s1280/2016/10/10/hau-dong-nguyen-a-5-1476090647.jpg