Summary
A most characteristic feature of the shamanic seances of the Bru (in the Central Vietnamese Highlands) is their bilingualism. As a rule, each of them starts and ends with singing in Phu Thai, a language closely related to Lao. In the article the author analyses this Phu Thai part, the theme of which is - at the beginning of the séance - the invitation to the shaman's helping spirit to enter his body, and - at the end of the séance - sending him back. Beyond the concrete problems of textual analysis, the author raises two more general issues: 1) the interethnic aspect and bilingualism of the Bru rituals 2) the delimitation of shamanism and possession from each other. The Bru case seems to present a transition between the two: there are features in it that are characteristic of both. Based on this, the autor concludes that the old, structuralist-type definitions for their delimitation are insufficient.