For additional information:
Karen Fjelstad and Nguyen Thi Hien Spirits Without Borders: Vietnamese Spirit Mediums in a Transnational Age. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2011
A perennial crowd pleaser is the final spirit incarnated, the spirit of a mischievous child who plays pranks, does pratfalls, throws candy around and dances with rattle sticks. He shakes his fists in little temper tantrums, plays with a bow and arrow, smirks as he tries to stuff three cigarettes into his mouth and tricks his assistants by dodging the gifts that they try to offer to him. Cậu Bé is the only spirit who may occasionally speak in English while he is incarnated by spirit mediums in California, since it is common in many families for the children to speak in English while their elders speak in Vietnamese. He is often called on to mediate in disputes between the generations, since although he is a child he is believed to have great wisdom. Older women say that when they are incarnating Cậu Bé their bodies feel light and youthful, and they no longer suffer from arthritis or sore joints. So the practice of incarnating a boisterous boy spirit is itself understood to provide some measure of healing.