“You Have to Respect the Local Spirits”

As soon as she was released from hospital Karen wanted to attend a lên dồng. She wanted to see her friends, thank the spirits for her recovery, and perhaps learn more about how the mediums explained her illness. She desired the normalizing experience of going out after several months of an invalid’s indoor life, and had not seen Tania or Brian since they left Sapa seven months earlier. But she also wanted to be well enough to attend a ceremony: to walk fairly steadily and seat herself, albeit with the help of a cane, and time her arrival and exit to coincide with feeding and medication schedules. She waited also until she could effectively control emotions, an ability hampered by the prescribed medications she had to take. She set the New Year ceremony of the Year of the Ox as her goal.