The wooden bench is usually no wider than the human body. To enter the world of spirit, with the possession of the nang spirits, the shaman jumps up and own on top of the bench. When the shaman jumps up and own on the bench, it is because he/she is riding a horse. The horse they ride into the spirit world is white. When a shaman enters the spirit world, it is just like a dream. .
When a ceremony is being performed, at all times the shaman has to cover his entire face with a veil (the veil is usually black or red). This veil acts as a disguise in the spirit world and as a blockage between the real world and spirit world so the shaman can concentrate. The shaman will always be assisted when a ceremony is being performed. One assistant is to keep the shaman in balance during a trance and that assistance does that by holding onto the shaman's waist. Then another assist bangs on what the Hmong people called a gong. The other assistants are listeners. The listeners are those who understand the chants of the shaman. They will be listening to warnings or directions the shaman is giving, like: when it is time to give money to the spirit, who is willing to help, they will burn away the money made earlier into a large enough, non-flammable container into the spirit world. .
There are different types of ceremonies that are performed by the shamans. When a ceremony is being performed, the shaman will be chanting to start the whole thing. The followings are some (not even half) of the ceremonies the shamans perform and their purposes. Dividing a life/soul (faib thiab) is one of the biggest ceremonies. This ceremony is performing to an individual whose soul has been re-incarnating as a baby in a woman's womb. For example, if that individual die, at the same time the baby will be born, but if the individual's chances of living is more then the baby, the baby will die. The whole purpose of this ceremony is to divide the individual's soul equally along with the baby so they both will be able to live.
