Hmong religious movement 20190919

What are the real reasons behind religious movement?

Hmong religious movement (SBS Hmong) Source: SBS Hmong

Associate Professor Jacob Hickman who is an anthropologist from the Brigham Young University at the Department of Anthropology, and focuses on 'anthropology, psychology, religious studies, Hmong studies, Southeast Asian studies, American Studies, European Studies, and others, said that religious movement is not just an incident that only happened to Hmong communities, it also exists with other societies like the American, European and many other religious movements.

In the past decade, Dr. Hickman has done a lot of research with many Hmong communities in different countries either be from North Asia (China), Southeast Asia (Thailand), Europe (France) or North America and some more study is planning for Hmong communities in Australia and South America (French Guiana (Cayenne) and Argentina) in the future.

The purpose of a religious movement, says Associate Professor Jacob Hickman, is 'to reunite people, in Hmong case to unite Hmong with a common traditional ritual'. That is a religion and everyone worship and a language that hopefully, everyone upholds, but not every Hmong religious movement groups have their own languages. For instance, Mother of Writing Yang Shong Lue has the Phahawh writing system and his own religious group, the  Ibiminu in Northern Thailand at the Montagnard Federation Inc, Ntawv Paj Ntaub in Ban Vinai Refugee Camp, Loei, Thailand during the 1980s , Far-north Queensland Hmong religious group in Atherton, Cairns, Australia, Ntawv Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong in California, Porkong Yerchue, Hmongism, Kev ntseeg Leej Niam in the United States etc.

Dr Hickman claims this religious movement grasp the idea of apocalyptic and utopia that there is going to be a new world or there will be a judgment day where only those who worship true God and truly holy are spare, though he argues, many Hmong people themselves have already experienced this phenomenon where they have to migrate to new countries that is totally different from the country of origin where they used to reside before beginning their migration due to wars.

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