When Kuy People Get Sick

Kuy people believe in local spirits, ancestor spirits, ghosts, spirit doctors and other powerful spiritual beings. So, when someone is ill, he or she might make a vow, pray to spirits, have someone do divination, use a medium to consult a spirit, have music played to call a teacher-spirit, or invite a spirit doctor to perform a spitting ritual to drive the evil from his body.  Some first go to see a medical doctor and then, if not cured, call on the spirits. Others call on the spirits first, and if not healed then seek medical advice.

In fact, from birth to death their lives are circumscribed by ritual to appease and request help from spirits. When believing Kuy friends of our friends in Cambodia working with the Kuy were asked what other believers could pray for them and their people, the first request was this:

Pray that the Kuy will get out of Satan's snares. The Kuy honor and give offerings to the spirits and ancestors, seek help from spirit-doctors and perform various Buddhist ceremonies in order to get better karma. But they don't realize that these thins can never bring them freedom or truth.