The Life Of The World

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is non-fiction text where Faidman discusses Lia Lee’s case, a girl with epilepsy or quag dab peg, and how her family goes about treating her disease by mixing traditional Hmong ways and modernized American ways. From three months, Lia’s seizures began. It is viewed as both a blessing and a curse because it is dangerous but also an indication of future

Anne Fadiman struggles to find the answer to who is responsible for Lia Lee’s health in her book, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.” The book describes the clashing of both the medical community within Merced, California, and a Hmong refugee family, the Lees, cultural beliefs. The Lees daughter, Lia Lee, is plagued with a severe case of epilepsy, or qaug dab peg in Hmong, as a child and is administered to the Mercy Medical Center Merced, or MCMC, a hospital in Merced, California. The doctors there go through many struggles in order to work with the Lee family, as they are faced with cultural and language barriers that they must overcome in order to ensure Lia is in good health. The Lees do not feel that they are in the wrong, for their

In ‘The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down’, Lia, a Hmong baby girl, is born to a Hmong family living in California as refugees away from their war torn land in Laos. In Laos the Lee’s where farmers and lived in the country according to their Hmong traditions and beliefs. In California they barely understood the language, much less Western culture or medicinal practices. In Hmong tradition, illness was seen as a spiritual problem rather than a physical problem and a Shaman that practiced spiritual ceremonies and used natural remedies was sought to prevent or cure certain illnesses and/or diseases; so when Lia suffered her first seizure at the age of 3 months and was taken to Mercer

Carla the Carbon atom is a free spirit. She wanders through the atmosphere, moving with the wind. Carla floats from one cloud to the next, without a care on her mind. One day, she was floating in the air, and was joined by two oxygen companions, Oscar and Octavius. Her two companions transformed her into a carbon dioxide molecule. Her new status as a molecule allowed her new privileges, like the ability to enter plants and to take part in plant and animal respiration. Carla was now a part of an exclusive club.

At the age of three months, Lia had her first epilepsy attack. The condition was not hereditary since none of the other children of the Lees had epilepsy. Lias Dad, Nao Kao, believed that the reason why she got the first attack of epilepsy was due to Lias older sister slamming the door of the bedroom, which Lia was asleep in, with great force. As three month old Lia jumped up, Nao Kao believes that her spirit was frightened and fled her body causing her illness to emerge. Lia was take to the Merced Community Medical Center, a hospital that had no translator at the time. Due to this, Lias parents were not able to explain to the doctors what had happened to Lia at home until they brought one of their cousins, who knew some english, with them during a hospital visit.

They originally believed that when their older daughter slammed the door, Lia Lee’s soul fled from her body. Foua and Nao Kao diagnosed her illness as “the spirt catches you and you fall down”. They also believed that Lia Lee’s seizures made her special because in the Hmong culture, epileptics were often chosen to be important figures such as, tviz neebs or shamans. Her parents were also concerned for her safety, so they brought her to Merced Community Medical Center to be treated. They believed that a little medical treatment and a little spiritual healing would help Lia Lee

One of the remedies used for Lia for her epileptic episodes was her parents would rub her skin with coins, elicit sickness with an egg, and or call in a tvix neeb a shaman granted power from Shee Yee. A lot of which back in the day did not have any correlation with western medicine and doctors. Many of the procedures done on patients were taboo in Hmong tradition. Because of the power structures of many Hmong families doctors would have to go through so much more to do simple tasks. Such as drawing blood, according to Hmong culture a person only has so much blood and when drawn it will shorten the person's lifespan. This went with many of the procedures done deteriorating the relationships between Hmong patients and

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a story about the Lee family and their daughter Lia who was suffering from seizures. The Lee family was the minority in this situation and the government affected the Lee family by not having cross-cultural programs in use, however because of what the Lee family went through they ended up affecting the government by becoming an inspiration for the implementation of cross-cultural programs.

At birth, the Hmong view their newborns as a gift and extremely special. At birth, it is called “Mus Thawj thiab, “go become again” or more simple, “reincarnation,” is a traditional Hmong belief (Bankston 2000). When a child is born, they are automatically seen as a gift and reborn as a reincarnated soul. Though, if a child dies after three days of living there are “no funeral ceremonies…since the child did not have a soul yet” (Bankston 2000). The Hmong believe if the child lives past three days, their soul is present though if they die, the infant never had a soul to begin with. If the child lives past day three, then a shaman is brought in and he “evokes a soul to be be reincarnated in the baby’s body” (Bankston 2000). This is considered

The reliance on western medicine was insufficient. The doctors were die-hard subscribers to western medicine who urgently wanted the child in care, while the parents were resistant and preferred their own customary traditions for addressing the situation according to their mystic “diagnosis.” The clashes provide insights into Hmong culture representative of a pattern of beliefs that clash when patients from other countries face hospital trips in western hospitals. The fact is that all less developed cultures, as western medicine would call them, are reliant on their mythologies and ancient rituals stretching back hundreds of years to determine their course of treatment for their children. In fact, the rituals that they adhere to become so difficult to understand because saving the parents in the ancient spiritual cultures is not the same as saving a patient according to western medicine. The Hmongs are clearly philosophical, and even accepting of the fate of their child, as they believe that the child has already been departed from the body. They hope that the situation is only temporary, and are trying to revive the girl, but also seem prepared to face the spiritual truth if they believe the spirit will not leave. Of course, the doctors feel this is voodoo and they just want to save the child's physical life, or correct her condition. The Hmongs seem more yielding on what they believe to be the fate of their child, and focus on the spiritual character of treatment according to her soul, while the doctors are trying to directly intervene with the physical

In the novel “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” it shows a lot of the superstition that they believe in the Hmong cultural. It talks a lot how they believe when a women gives birth to a baby they have to put their placenta under the bed if it was a girl and if it was a boy they would bury it in a great honor like in the middle of the resident the gradient of man will guard the house. “If it was a boy, his placenta was buried in a place of greater honor, near the base of the houses.” This is what the Hmong cultural believe in, when where voodoo science didn’t really believe in superstition but with playing with

Rites and rituals of the Hmong people are an interesting topic. They are known for their rituals including the soul of a living being. The Hmong religions is traditionally animist. Animism is the belief in the spirit world and in the interconnectedness of all living things. The center of the Hmong culture is the Shaman, literally meaning “Father/Master of spirits” (PBS, 2013). The Hmong believe that the body is the host for a number of souls and that the separation of these souls from the body can cause many things including disease, depression,

Pregnancy and birth within the culture is considered very important. Sam D. Gill (1983) author of Native American Traditions writes, “although it is not often the occasion for large formal public ritual, the prenatal period and the event of birth are religiously important for most Native American peoples” (p. 86). In fact, this event is so important, that when individuals speak about themselves they often begin with their birth (Gill, 1983). The first nursing implication can be drawn from the previous statistic of American Indian hospitalizations due to deliveries and complications of pregnancy. The nurse must assess the individual’s biologic variations that could impede on their pregnancy.

Chinese women will take many precautions to protect their unborn and newborn babies from evil spirits. They will never attend a funeral and they will hang certain embellishments to ward of the spirits. A paper cut out of scissors is hung over the bed curtains of a pregnant woman and when a baby is born a special pendant is placed near the baby’s crib in hopes that any evil spirits would be more attracted to the pendant then the baby. Another example of keeping the spirits away is the parents of the child would make “arrows from wood of a peach tree and place near the cradle.” It is considered unlucky to name your child before they are born as well as to celebrate before the baby is born with a baby shower. This is normal for many cultures including some Native American cultures here is America. Though now it is more taboo and people are naming their babies as soon as they know the gender and having showers months before the baby is born to make sure that they are prepared when the baby arrives. When a baby is being born in China it is customary that the mother and mother-in-law of the mother to be, to be present during the delivery but not the father. It is considered terrible luck to be scared of labor as it is considered the woman’s job. After the baby is born the mother is in a “sitting period” for a month. This insures that the mother is completely healed and only has to focus on

Earth is living and breathing planet, it takes a lot of energy to keep the Earth health, to keep all its inhabitants functioning. Earth is a special planet because it is the only know planet that can allow life to thrive. Earth receive a tremendous amount of energy from the Sun, solar energy is necessary for life on Earth.