Sacrificial Use of Puppy Runs Parallel to Native Americans Sun Dances
Hmong Practice. “Enlightened because the sacrificial use of a puppy runs parallel to use by Native Americans in our sun dances, long before the “American way” was established by the invading Europeans.”
Hmong Practice
December 24, 1995 | Articles.Latimes.Com
I was annoyed and enlightened when I read “Hmong’s Sacrifice of Puppy Reopens Cultural Wounds” (Dec. 16). Annoyed because letters of outrage poured in to the local newspaper advising the Hmong to “move back to Laos if they couldn’t adhere to the American way.” Enlightened because the sacrificial use of a puppy runs parallel to use by Native Americans in our sun dances, long before the “American way” was established by the invading Europeans. The Sun Dance is one of the oldest cultural practices still in existence and the sacrificial use of the dog is done with spiritual guidance and care. Great honor is accorded to the life of the dog and the ceremony is conducted by a selected female member of the family on the last day of the Sun Dance on the fourth and last year. Europeans brought their culture and values to a foreign land, so why can’t the Hmong do the same? If cultural diversity is the key issue in America today, then we need respect for cultural differences.
My mom was the subject of this practice when I was younger. I found it greatly disturbing!!! How in the heck do you sacrifice such an innocent being? In my personal opinion we should abolish this practice.
I guess it’s all about spirituality.
Nus Vaj: You must find it disturbing because of your socialization and upbringing in this non-earth-centric society. Abolishing indigenous practices is what has been happening since European imperialism and evangelism of the world over. Remember that what is “cute” or appealing in one culture, will not necessarily hold the same attribute in another. I encourage you to see our practices through our own lens, not through the perspective of an imposed culture. No one is free from it; we internalize many ideas and values without ever realizing that we’ve just been had. Before proclaiming the abolition of any practice, we must first critically analyze it and understand the symbolism and meanings of such practices.
No living being should be sacrificed for religious purposes, period. For example killing baby lambs in the Jewish traditions.
Mother Earth is nourishing and I’m pretty sure she weeps when we kill.
I’ll have to disagree with you. In many earth-centered traditions, we honor the animal when we “sacrifice” it. We don’t kill the animal just to kill. It is not out of cruelty that we kill an animal. Rather, the sacrificial ceremonies are an acknowledgement of the animal’s spirit and worth. When we take its life, we are conscious that we are sacrificing its life and spirit in exchange for another. We don’t just kill and dispose the carcass. We utilize nearly every part of that animal and we eat it to nourish our own bodies. We understand that we do not take its life in vain, but rather the animal has died for a greater cause. That is a far cry from cruelty and is a lot more respectful than killing animals on meat farms and mass production slaughter houses that take the animals life without ritual or without acknowledging the spirit of the animal. Mother Nature weeps when we try to take ourselves out of the natural equation. We too are animals and we also must eat to survive…it is the cycle of life that has been in existence before homosapiens came into being. Mother Nature does not weep; she created this system so that the system can be self-sustaining. As beings capable of spiritual elevation and consciousness, we have rituals in our hunt to honor the spirits of nature. Unless you are a strict vegan, you are perhaps more guilty of this “killing innocent animals” when you eat in restaurants, fast food joints, buy meat from the grocery store, etc. than those who do it for spiritual purposes. What is eating if not a sacrificial ritual? We are killing one living thing to nourish another. In spiritual practices, we acknowledge this fact, while in secular society, we ignore that plants and animals (lower down the food chain) also have a spirit and we just devour it without ritual or acknowledgement of the animal’s life.
Sorry we did not eat the puppy. What right do we have to say we can sacrifice another being to save ourselves? The puppy, the chicken, the cow, the pig did not choose to be sacrifice. What happens when another being decides that we are to be sacrificed? Think about it.