Posted on 07/31/2008 12:50:39 PM PDT by MplsSteve
Hmong elders and cultural advisers were on hand to witness, and even videotape, the ceremony.
Xang Vang now runs the Hmong American Mutual Assistance Association in Minneapolis, but he's always had a fondness for Frogtown. It was where he bought his first home in America, and where many other Hmong refugees got a new start in life.
"That's why we Hmong dominate Frogtown -- to be Hmongtown," he jokes.
The Hmong Funeral HomeAnd the Hmong Funeral Home on Dale Street was the first of its kind for the entire Twin Cities. For a while, it was the only place where the growing Hmong-American community could hold traditional passing rites filled with food, music and animal sacrifices. People often waited for weeks to honor their dead there because there was no other place like it.
So when community leaders like Vang learned that the building was going to be torn down, they agreed that something special must be done. They decided a shaman must rid the place of any residing spirits before the demolition.
Without the special ceremony, Vang says, the spirits could choose to haunt the living.
"Some people who passed away and did not go to be reborn, in that case, they could stay here, and they could say, 'This is our house, why did people come to destroy it? Then they probably have nightmares for their relatives: 'Hey, my house is destroyed. What's wrong? What's going on?'" Vang said.
(Excerpt) Read more at minnesota.publicradio.org ...
But I read this article and I thought "Here is a classic example of why other cultures resist entering the American mainstream". Read the entire article and tell me what you think.
Comments or opinions - anyone?
I would’ve been out there with a beer in my hand just watching the festivities.
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from the article:
“”That’s why we Hmong dominate Frogtown — to be Hmongtown,” he jokes.”
I assume he (or the writer) meant “nominate”...
or do they dominate?
Seriously -- these folks are doing it around their own property being redeveloped (was it taken by eminent domain?). They don't seem to have disrupted anyone or tried to make anyone pay for what they were doing. And it did involve places where respect had been paid to the dead. If a Christian cemetery were dug up and moved, many denominations would want some type of ceremony.
I don't see any problem.
Also, I note in the full story that 3 of the spirits (out of 25) refused to leave -- sort of like the Widow Kelo in the eminent domain case -- I guess the developers will just have to get into the spirit of things. (Sorry!)
No big deal. I was raised in a faith that believed that a wafer becomes the body of God, and that exorcisms are a legitimate response to “demonic possession.” I don’t see the big deal here, just more superstitious nonsense.
As a Jewish friend of mine once told a Catholics friend- you realize you’re eating the flesh of an undead Jewish zombie, right?
Anyway, this seems like an incredibly harmless superstition, like most superstitions.
About what I’d expect from public radio.
Couple of interesting pictures.
No blood, no foul....
And they can have Frogtown, as nobody else seems to want it.
Oh! I forgot to mention...
As long as it wasn’t taxpayer funded (like MPR)...
Was it really necessary for you to insult the Catholic faith in your responses?
I’d expect that on some liberal website, not on FR!
Militant
I don’t see “conservatism” especially in its classical constitutionalist form, to have anything to do with the Roman faith. There are conservative Catholics, but Romanism is not in and of itself part of the American conservative/libertarian tradition. I defend the right of Catholics, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, and Wiccans to believe whatever they wish, but should not feel compelled to grant the BELIEF SYSTEMS THEMSELVES any special deference.
Sorry to say that you missed my point completely.
There was simply no rational reason for you to make the statement about “just more superstitious nonsense.” regarding the transformation of bread into the Body of Christ, as a comment on this forum. You took the low road by taking a completely unnecessary pot shot at a belief that is sacred to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
My comment regarding your statements fitting more on a liberal website had less to do with being non-conservative-like as much as being thoughtless and insulting, as liberals tend to do without consideration for the sanctity of the subject. No one has asked you to grant any belief system special deference, but it is childish and thoughtless to insult one just because you can.
Militant
Sorry to say that you missed my point completely.
There was simply no rational reason for you to make the statement about “just more superstitious nonsense.” regarding the transformation of bread into the Body of Christ, as a comment on this forum. You took the low road by taking a completely unnecessary pot shot at a belief that is sacred to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
My comment regarding your statements fitting more on a liberal website had less to do with being non-conservative-like as much as being thoughtless and insulting, as liberals tend to do without consideration for the sanctity of the subject. No one has asked you to grant any belief system special deference, but it is childish and thoughtless to insult one just because you can.
Militant
Sorry to say that you missed my point completely.
There was simply no rational reason for you to make the statement about “just more superstitious nonsense.” regarding the transformation of bread into the Body of Christ, as a comment on this forum. You took the low road by taking a completely unnecessary pot shot at a belief that is sacred to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
My comment regarding your statements fitting more on a liberal website had less to do with being non-conservative-like as much as being thoughtless and insulting, as liberals tend to do without consideration for the sanctity of the subject. No one has asked you to grant any belief system special deference, but it is childish and thoughtless to insult one just because you can.
Militant
Yeah...I guess three times should make the point!
Sorry to all.......
Militant
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