Myths and MusicPossession trance today: Candboblé and Possession healing
Vesa Matteo PiluduHelsinki
Department of Comparative Religion
University of Helsinki
Ritualized possession trance
During the rituals (candomblé, santeria, vodoun)
The spirits, animal or divinities … visit the human world … entering into the heads and the bodies of the possessed
The possessed acquires the dance steps, the voice, and the behaviours of the spirit (divinities, animals and so on) … the trance is extremely ritualized
The possession is voluntary. The possessed is trained to “welcome” the divinity
Generally the possessed don’t play instruments The are skilled musicians playing … certain rhythms at the right moments … The possessed could sing
The possessed is the ”horse” of the spirit, it is controlled by the spirits
After the possession, the possessed don’t remember his acts
Candomblé: Possessed by Iemanjá (goddess of the sea)
Danças Brasileiras - Candomblé
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dlSVHZtQ_A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1YgesjyCgw&feature=related
Angelique Kidjo - Shango
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_VjmiPDZmU
Healing possession
Healing being possessed by a healing spirit or divinity
Sri Lanka
CD: Ceylon’s drum masters and spirits
Illness as deamon possession
Man can live thanks a perfect balancewhich is endangered by bad eating, bad deeds and
bad thoughts
”illness aliments” can be transmitted by demonsDemon possession cause illness
The illness reaches the whole surrounding group
The ritual rebalance the social unit
Expulsion cure
Then a specialist wears a spirit mask …
Is possessed by a spirit … and dances and sings
Finally he chase away the evil demons (or an evil spell) from the body of the patient …
CD1: track 1 Evocation of the gods
God are asked for permission to wear costumes
It’s a kind of “warm-up” drumming
The rhythms are calm
CD1 track 2 - Athayabera
Question-answer duo between two drums
The rhythm is faster and it grows in intensity
To measure the virtuosity of the player on improvisation
In the meantime the dancers get dressed
2-3 hours
magul-bera (ceremonial drum)
The notes of the basic drum scale, tha-ji-thoh-nun, are salutations to Buddha, the gods, the master or the preceptor, and the audience, respectively
CD1 track 3
Ritual proper
10 dancers and 10 drumsPlay for 16 hours to chase away evil spirits
Some demons are going away after an offer of food … as Yak anuma (track 3)
Others must be fought …
CD 2 – track 1 Dhuupa Paliya- Possession fight against demons
master Thompsan wears a black mask
He is possessed by a spirit that invite the demon to let go of the patient
From a torch he produces flames, and the smoke surrounds and suffocates the demon
Medium-dancers and drummers
CD ”Shaman, Jhankri & Nele”Track 18 Tibetan Oracle in Nepal – Bon culture
In Nepal there are still phawos, or Tibetan Oracle Healers
In this track Phawo is possessed by the protector spirit Thangla, who diagnoses illness and foretell the future
The phawo spoke a ”god language”
An interpreter must translate the voice of the god in common Tibetan
NYIMA LAMA
When it is in trance the phawo drop his rainbow coloured and lotus-shaped headdress over his head
Skull Drum (Damaru), eastern Tibet, mid-19th Century
- Hourglass-shaped drum constructed of two inverted skull caps, symbolic of the joining of the female and male elements of life. - Silver band, ornamented with coral and turquoise stones, connects the two halves. - Played by rotating, causing the swinging beater to strike each head. Mantras were often written on the interior of drums such as these.
CD ”Shaman, Jhankri & Nele”Track 15 - Possession Healing in Korea
The Paksu male possessed healerMr. Pak In-Oplays a changgo drum to be
possessed by healing spirits
Ritual in Seul
Possession to exorcize a malevolent spirit causing
illness and misfortune
Ritual duel between a shaman and a spirit figure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn7s5oBPAa4&feature=channel
P’iri oboe
A musician, Mr. Yang participated to the ceremony playing a piri oboe
He isn’t in trance
Like the Western oboe, the p'iri sound comes from a vibrating reed
Possession healing in a modern country
Mr. Pak In-O was seriously ill for five years, when he was a university student … when he refused to become a paksu
The family committed him to a mental hospital for a year … feeling ashamed of a family member becoming a possession healer
Later he reluctantly became a paksu … and he remarked … ”I often felt sceptical at the beginning of my work”
Now he has a complete faith that the spirit have power beyond his comprehension
Mr. Pak In-O: healing voice, healing words
”I can diagnose the cause of suffering … because the spirits explain it to me”
”I know that the spoken words I relay from the spirits to the patient … have curing power …”
Korean shamanism of the south coast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d-FPbRD3f0
CD ”Shaman, Jhankri & Nele”Track 1 Indian possession healer: Koshalya
Koshalya is an Indian ohja healer
Is healing using only mantra-songwhen she is possessed by the Sitla, the
Goddess of smallpox
In this track she is healing female reproductive problems
Koshalya healer: initiation
”Sitla came upon me. My eyes were closed. When they opened I saw strange things.Songs and words were pounded in my head
For seven days and six nights the goddess lived in me. I Stayed inside her temple
When Sitla left me I knew I was a healer”
More than 25 healing songs
”I have more than 25 healing songs; I treat infertility, jaundice, and smallpox and fevers”
”Villages babies always have fevers. The music soothes them and lowers temperatures. Sitla is the goddess for cooling the temperature”
My patient have no money for medical doctors
Few in the village can afford to pay for medicine at pharmacies or to go to a doctor
Payment to Koshalya usually comes in the form of flowers, food or an offering to the goddess
Koshalya: ”My patient have no money for medical doctors in the city, and they don’t have faith in that”
CD ”Shaman, Jhankri & Nele”Track 2 Indian possession healer: Babaji
Babaji is an Indian male ohja healer
healing using only mantra-songs
Treatment against depression and fatigue
Babaji’s initiation: close your shop!
“I prayed to the goddess …She came upon me (saying): ”Close your shop
and build a temple in his field. Fly a red flag from the roof. You will become an ohja … Do not worry about money or your family needs
I closed my shop the next day, and everything has come to be.
I could not sing before and now I have a beautiful voice to heal with, a gift from the goddess!”
All my songs come directly from the goddess
“All my songs come directly from the goddess
I sing a devotional song in the beginning to prepare myself and the patient. There must be an atmosphere of trust and devotion.
When the goddess has come upon me I hear her song and I see with her eyes”
Each mantra is specific to the patient
The patient attention is continuously directed toward the goddess in an effort to shift the focus away from the illness spirit
Babaji: a healer for all the faiths
“My teacher was a Muslim man and I am Hindu by birth
If a Hindu comes to me, I heal them in front of this Hindu shrine
If a Muslim come to me I step over the fence, and treat those people”
A special doctor
“The goddess told me to send my oldest son to the medical school
The power of the goddess Durga will be with him
He will be a very special doctor!”
Haitian vodou
Haitian vodou: forget zombies!
Haitian vodou: forget black magic’s puppets!
Haitian vodou is much more connected with healing
A vodou priest treats an ill woman with mud from the sacred pool in Plaine du Nord
300 kilometres north of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, during the annual festival honouring the spirit Ogou
CD ”Shaman, Jhankri & Nele”Track 5: Haitian Vodou Mambo
Healing with Leaves ceremony
Micheline Forestal, possessed mambo
Musicians from the Lakou Badjo spiritual community
Lead singer: Janet PrevillonDaome drummersNago Drummers
Haitian mambo priestess
Herbs
Plants and their leaves are important medicines
Haitian healers are skilled botanist and herbalist
Using herbs properly is a form of spiritual work
You have to know ho to pick the leaves, how to pray over them and how to use them
Haitian ritual song
”Leaf O, save my lfe
I’m in mysery
My child is sick, I run to the healer-priest
If he’s a good priest, he’ll save my life
I live in poverty O”
Micheline forestal: using leaves for healing
”You can (brew) tea or (use them) in a bath. You bathe the person. You rub the leaves all over
their body to take out what’s bad
We use all kind of leaves
You take it and make a pomade with out of it
You crush it … and put it on the body to reduce swelling
You might boil it up and have the person eat it
You put somebody back the way they were”
The power of leaves and the lwa and mysté
The power of leaves come from Gran Mèt (God), from guardian angels (lwa) and from the mysté (spirits, divinities)
Lwa and mysthè are possessing divinities of West African origins
http://www.vodou.org/of_herbs1.htm
A webpage about vodou herbalism
Healing opera
The healing plants are ”activated” by music
In case of long illness the drummers come to play and the community assembles to sing and dance in a long, healing ”opera” with possession trances
Lakou Souvenance, rada drums
Rada drum carved in relief
Forestal: Drums are freedom
Music is essential for the mambo
”Drums are freedom When the drums beats, it gives you strength. Then we have power.
If we were weak, we would call Papa Feray and Gran Ezili, and when we were calling them they would give us strength
Then we don’t feel weak anymore
Then the spirit might come and do a treatment and they do it right
Healing possession
Forestal is possessed by the Lwa Ezili Danto, the feminine divinity of motherhood, love, healing …
During the possession the Lwa … administers a healing herbal bath to a young man
Erzulie - Ezilí Dantó - Ezili Freda
Forestal: ”We chase away bad spirits”
”A lot of people come to me for treatment … It’s like a little hospital
I see all kind of sickness … some have high fevers, diarrea, vomiting
We chase away the bad spirits …
But if there were no bad spirits on the person, we send them to the doctor … that’s a case for a doctor”
Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85zp1zVVDAQ
Jimi Hendrix, Album: Electric Ladyland (1968)Voodoo Child (Slight Return). Part 1
1. Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand
Yeah
Well, I stand up next to a mountain And I chop it down with the edge of my hand
Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an islandMight even raise a little sand
Yeah, 'Cause I'm a voodoo child
2. Lord knows I'm a voodoo child
BabyI want to say one more last thingI didn't mean to take up all your sweet time
I'll give it right back to ya one of these days
Ha ha ha
I said I didn't mean to take up all your sweet time
I'll give it right back one of these days
Oh yeah
Jimi Hendrix, Album: Electric Ladyland (1968)Voodoo Child (Slight Return). Part 2
3. If I don't meet you no more in
this world then uh
I'll meet ya on the next one
And don't be late Don't be late
'Cause i'm a voodoo child voodoo child
Lord knows I'm a voodoo child
Hey hey heyI'm a voodoo child baby
I don't take no for an answerQuestion no Yeah
Hendrix refers to the song as the Black Panthers' national anthem
Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile Atlanta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7yPRYL_Oq0&feature=related
Italy – 1950 - Tarantism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjSQGdGGl6o
La Tarantata - Pizzica salentina http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNHE3SdrOqk&feature=related
Pizzica today: a popular dance, without trance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du2YzW793oU&feature=related
Pizzica in Torrepaduli during 15-16 August 2007 ("danza delle spade") to celebrate "ricorrenza di San Rocco" (Return of San Rocco)
Evident sensuality, even it should be a Christian festivity