“I am a shaman doing rit­u­al wor­ship of the land god, riv­er god, house god, and door god. The rit­u­al is to pray for health, luck, and peace. When­ev­er peo­ple need it, I will do the rit­u­al wor­ship for them.”

“I also see where a good loca­tion is to bury the dead, when is a good day to hold a wed­ding, or read people’s age (Shaman­is­tic rec­om­men­da­tions based on the per­son­’s age). I have been doing this for 12 years.”

“Cham peo­ple always live near rivers or water sources because water is strong. Water is stronger than wind. Wind is weak­er than water. Water is so strong that noth­ing can beat it.”

“It was amaz­ing in the past because we could use curs­es and mag­ic to fight against ene­mies. For exam­ple, we could make the wood hit the ene­mies and make bees attack them. Now, all the curs­es and mag­ics are almost gone. I don’t know how to cast them.”

Bẻo, 83 years old
Chăm Eth­nic Group
(Bal­a­m­on Cham)
Ninh Thuan, Vietnam

While 83 years old, Bẻo is quite strong. When we met him we were at his house when he pulled up on a motor­cy­cle with his friend on the back, dressed just like he is here.

Cham Ethnic Group — Summary