Tso Qhua 2023

At the end of the year, Hmong shamans must ua neeb tso qhua or release their shaman spirits. This happens at the end of the harvest season, typically in November or December. During this ritual, there are a few tasks the shaman must complete. As this ritual embarks the end of the year and welcoming the new year, we must then renew and replenish our entire altar. This means taking down everything and creating everything new again. Shamans must also cut off all red/white strings on their shaman tools (twj neeb) and wash their tools with hot water.

Each shaman does this ritual a little differently from each other, depending on their lineage and their master. For me, there are a few important things we must do during this ritual. First, we have to cleanse our guides, wash them, and give them new clothes. We call this, "hloov zam, hloov zuag."

Then, I release (tso) our guides at the heavenly realm known as "Lis Txwv Zeej Neeb Chaw Kav Kiab, Lis Txwv Txoob Yaig Chaw Kav Khw." This is the place where my shaman guides replenish themselves and also celebrate the new year with the ancestral shaman guides. Some shamans leave their guides here for a few days - a month and then perform a second ritual to retrieve their guides later on. Some shamans, like me, release them here and then as I make my return, pick them up and bring them back home all in one ritual.

At some point in this ritual, I make a stop at "Ntxoov Vaj Neeb, Ntxoov Yaj Yuam, Tooj Nchais Siv Yis Neeb, Muam Nkauj Luag." This is the place where we ask for new shaman guides. As I do this, we must filter our guides to ensure that we do not bring any dark or demonic guides back with us. This is a very important step because if we do not filter our guides during this ritual, it is likely we attract and bring back dark shamanic guides.

Another important heavenly realm we travel to is called "Faj Tim Huab Tais Txwv Zeej Neeb," the heavenly realm where we send all our old altar paper, strings, rice, and joss sticks to. We call these "Ntsa Vaj Ntsa Loog." In this realm, we release these ntsa vaj ntsa loog here and ask for it to be turned into medicine and blessings for the new year. Again, we must filter the medicine and blessings to ensure we only accept the good and not the dark.

The choj neeb, or shaman bridge, is the long cloth you see at the top of the shaman's altar, and it extends to the front door. It is held up by three bamboos placed on the ceilings of the home. The first one is directly above the altar, the second one in the middle of the living room, and the third one directly above the front door. My lineage has both black and white bridges, symbolized by the long cloth. From what my master told me, the black bridge is the "choj neeb" or shamanic bridge. The white bridge is the "choj yaig" or divination bridge. My black bridge extends from the top of the altar, and then my white bridges extend from the bottom/floor. By extending to the front doors, it represents the connection of the universe to my altar/home. spiritual aura. We say, "Leem choj neeb rau Lis Siv Yis, Lis Txwv Zeej Neeb qab xib tes, Leem choj yais rau Lis Txwv Txoob qab xib taw." This translates to, "connect the shaman bridge to under my (the shaman's) palms, connect the shaman bridge to under my feet."

During this ritual, Hmong shamans must spiritually wash their bridge, protect it, and re-connect. Once the ritual is complete, we roll back the white cloth, put it away, and leave the black one up for anywhere from three days to a month.

One of the most important steps is releasing animal spirits to reincarnation. The heavenly realm known as "Nyiaj Vaj Lwm Teem Xeem Xeem" is the realm of reincarnation. Each healing ritual throughout the year, we sacrifice an animal, usually a pig. We use them for many reasons, such as casting bad energy into them, using them as tradeoffs for a person's soul, or as the Hmong shaman pulls the sick person's soul out of the spirit realm, we replace them using a pig's spirit. So, one of the reasons why Hmong shamans perform this ritual once a year is because we have to release these sacrificed animals to go reincarnate. We cannot hold them forever, and so per the ritual, we make a deal with the pig and promise them that at the end of the year we'll release them towards reincarnation. After each healing ritual throughout the year, many shamans must keep the pig's jaw so that at the end of the year, they can release them. However, my lineage does not keep the physical pig's jaw but instead just hold them spiritually in guardian of Nyiaj Vaj Lwm Teem Xeem Xeem.

Along with this ritual, shamans also do the end of year soul calling/hi plig for their shaman guides. As we do this for people, we must also do this once a year for the shaman spirits too. We lay our bench towards the door to symbolize calling our shamanic guides. We then place the two eggs on our altar.

The tso qhua ritual is the one time of the year the shaman reconnects with their shaman lineage and replenish their shamanic guides. This ritual also symbolizes the end of the harvest year and welcoming of the new year. Traditionally, villagers and families gather in the home of the shaman, building community and giving blessings to one another.

TFL Hmong Shaman