Saub, a distant creator figure who withdrew from direct contact with humanity, Ntxwj Nyoog, ruler of the world of the dead, and the household and ancestral spirits addressed daily in Hmong shamanic practice, or ua neeb. Hmong religion is transmitted orally through ritual specialists rather than in scripture, and much of its documentation in the West follows the Hmong diaspora formed after the Laos conflicts of the Vietnam War era, when refugee communities carried the tradition abroad. This is a living tradition of a diaspora people, recorded here from public description only.
Facts
Structure
Structure of the PantheonLocal and lineage cults gathered under one name, with no single frame 1 Divine HeadshipA supreme creator who withdrew from active rule and receives little direct cult 1 Succession Between Divine GenerationsOne divine generation; no succession between generations is recorded 1 The Creator and the Ruling GodsThe creator withdrew after making the world and is seldom addressed in cult 1 Attestation
Era of AttestationHeld from the beginning in the tradition's own terms; documented in the outside record from the 19th century, and carried into the diaspora from the 1970s 1 Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 Sources
Primary SourceOral tradition held within Hmong households and lineages, with published ethnography. 1 Organisation
Membership of the PantheonEvery place, clan and lineage adds its own 1 How Mortals Enter the PantheonAncestors and founders become objects of cult 1 Cult
Principal Cult CentreNo single centre. The household is the seat of observance, and each house keeps its own spirits 1 Correspondences & Relations
Connections
Associated With
The Hmong have a substantial, long-documented highland homeland and diaspora population in Laos, alongside the practice of Hmong Shamanism.
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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