Summary Of The Split Horn

The documentary The Split Horn: The Life of a Hmong Shaman in America details the lives, rituals, and beliefs of the Hmong (Meo) shaman and the Hmong communities after relocating to the United States. While watching Split Horn, the contrasting ways in which the elders and the children adapt their religion and their lives to a new environment seem particularly relevant and especially memorable. Through the passage of time, Hmong elders and shamans struggle to maintain their significance in a vastly different world than the hills of Laos while their children convert to Christianity, get married, and have children. For the Hmong shamans, religious gift and magic bonds families and communities together, a dynamic that becomes increasingly strained

Though the transitions of the Thao children appear somewhat smoother, they still challenge the nature of tradition and expectation. For example, Paja’s youngest daughter Chai speaks English fluently, wears t-shirts emblazoned with American universities, and plays basketball. By the end of the film, fourteen-year-old Chai is the only daughter still living at home because her older sisters had all been “kidnapped” and wed. In Meo culture, a groom kidnaps his prospective bride in order to marry her. This old notion of love and marriage contrasts sharply with what is expected and normalized in America. Other siblings take less customary and more controversial paths: Chai’s sixteen-year-old brother dates and has a child with a Christian girl, and one of her brothers divorces his first

Durkheim possets that there exists a distinct division between the sanctity of religious life and the secularism of the profane (Durkheim 13). However, the “sacred” and the profane” become enmeshed together, completely entrenched in religious belief and social expression. Moreover, the individualistic nature of magical gift is utilized by shamans in a manifestation of what Durkheim refers to as the “communal character” of shared religion (Durkheim 12). Magical ability and ritual knowledge might be traits and abilities available to a select few enlightened individuals, but the rituals they perform affect and benefit the surrounding family and social circles directly. The shamans become leaders of the communities, and are often looked to in times as turmoil (such as Paja performing rites for Uncle Por in front of his extended grieving family). The engagement and articulation of the shaman’s influence with religious and social life indicate the absolute importance of the shamans in Hmong culture, healing, and