Week 2: Nouriyah Saleh

The Pa Lor Story - The journey between two Worlds explains how Pa Lor, a Hmong Shaman, became a Shaman and also goes through few of her experiences of healing people. I found it interesting that Pa's story was very similar to Houa's (guest speaker) story in that they both got very sick, couldn't get diagnosed by doctors, resorted to undergoing a ceremony performed by a shaman, and learned that they had shaman spirits. Since today was my first time learning about Hmong Shamanism, I'm interested in learning if this is a common occurrence or if other shamans have different stories.

Learning about Pa's and Houa's experience felt like a culture shock. I have a dance teammate/friend who is Hmong and he occasionally talks about Hmong culture and has mentioned shamans before. I remember initially thinking it was weird how his family follows this tradition in such a modern time. But as I take this class, heard Houa speak, and read the article on Pa, it feels like a harsh reality that the spirit realm is real. This isn't to say that I didn't believe in it, but I never gave much thought to it because my own experiences with strict Muslim parents repelled me from religion and tradition. It doesn't sound like a coincidence that Pa and Houa both got really sick, couldn't get diagnosed by doctors, then started feeling better once they started practicing shamanism. I remember Professor Valverde briefly talking about her previous students who wanted to do a project on why Hmong people didn't want to seek out professional help when they got sick and today's lessons and readings helped further explain why that is. However, I think it's awesome that shamans are being allowed to work with doctors in hospitals to help patients. Not only does this mean the professional world is acknowledging spiritual beliefs, but it also means the patient can be helped in multiple ways.