Spirit worship and possession in Vietnam and beyond

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  • Oscar Salemink

Many other commentators have noticed an upsurge in spirit possession practices in East and Southeast Asia, resulting in a growing scholarship on spirits, ghosts, possession and shamanism over the last two decades.1 Some scholars distinguish between shamanism - where the shaman’s soul leaves the body to engage with the spirit world (Vitebski 2001) - and spirit possession or spirit mediumship - where the medium’s body acts as a vessel for spirits to enter and engage with this world. In Vietnam spirit mediumship is the most common form, and lately there has been a veritable explosion in mediumship practices and in scholarship about it. This chapter surveys some of that scholarship and pays particular attention to the - simultaneously theological and political - question whether spirit possession constitutes a religion. (Obviously, the fact that this chapter appears in a Handbook on Asian Religions partly gives away my answer.) The mushrooming of spirit worship and spirit possession is part of a wider process of reenchantment and re-ritualization in Vietnam, as evidenced by: the ubiquity of festivals and pilgrimages; the proliferation and beautification of religious shrines and temples; the ritualization of daily and political practices; and more visibility of religious behavior in public life (DiGregorio and Salemink 2007; Taylor 2007). Most of the scholarly focus - both Vietnamese and foreign - has been on mother goddess worship in the North, known as lên d-ôʼng (riding the medium), but spirit possession traditions in other parts of Vietnam such as hâ‘u bóng (serving/incarnating the spirit), hâ‘u vui (cheerful incarnation) and nhâ. p hôʼn (incarnation by souls) largely remains under the radar in other parts of Vietnam as well as in other religious traditions.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRoutledge Handbook of Religions in Asia
Number of pages16
PublisherTaylor and Francis/Routledge
Publication date1 Jan 2014
Pages231-246
ISBN (Print)9780415635035
ISBN (Electronic)9781317636465
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2014

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Bryan S. Turner and Oscar Salemink.

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