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Images from
WWW. hmoob. com/
home/art/beesand
y/hmongyear. htm
and
WWW. hmoob. com
The New Year is the only holiday that the Hmong
people traditionally celebrate. It is a time of social
gathering and a celebration of a year’s hard work. The
celebration consists of important rituals, games, talent
shows, and courting opportunities. Since no one is to
work during the celebration, families pre-stock fresh rice,
meat, and firewood. Pigs, chickens, and cows would be
fattened and saved just for this holiday.
Before the town social gathering, each family
must perform a ritual to rid the current year’s bad luck and
ask the deceased ancestors for luck and blessing toward the
new year. A chicken is sacrificed and incense and
ceremonial paper money are burned as a gift of money and
food to each family’s ancestors. This ritual is always
performed before the New Year celebration to give respect
to the ancestors.
The town’s New Year celebration begins at the
break of dawn. Mothers usually wake the little ones from
their slumbers to dress in the traditional clothes. The outfits
consist of 3 to 4 layers and tightened only by straps and
colorful embroideries with dangling beads and silver coins.
The different styles of traditional clothes distinguish what
type of Hmong (white or green), and what region one is
originally from (for example the north, the city, or the
mountains, etc). After the clothes are successfully put on,
it is accented with a silver necklace weighing about 5
pounds. Then other silver and gold accessories are added
to reflect each family’s wealth. Then everyone meets at the
town gathering where the boys and girls can publicly court
and show their love for one another through singing poetic
songs and reciting sonnets. It is not allowed for singles to
liold hands or get close so courting couples have to throw a
tennis sized ball to keep the distance while they sing and
talk. Young men demonstrate their talents in katoa, a sport
consisting of a mix of volleyball and soccer skills to kick
or head a rattan ball across a netted court. Another sport is
thu lu, a game using hand crafted wooden tops and a rope
to spin and hit another spinning top at a distance. While
sports are going on, talented folks play the traditional flute
qeej.
This occasion is the perfect opportunity for par
ents and grandparents come to see their children and
grandchildren sing and court. A lot of times the parents
will be looking for possible future daughter-in-laws and
son-in-laws for their own children. They also enjoy the
new lyrics of poems and sonnets, and especially listening
to the music from the bamboo flutes. The flute not only
produces sounds that are translated into words but it also
produces a sound that takes the elders back in time and
perhaps back into their Hmong history.
This celebration lasts all day. Many times,
families will find a daughter missing or a son who has
come home with a daughter-in-law. Whether it is a new
beginning for newly weds or one less working hand who
will be missed, at the end of the day, everyone returns
home content to their awaiting daily chores.
It will not be until after another year of hard work,
that everyone will meet again with family and friends from
both near and afar. E W
Ew - n