To smile when meeting a Hmong person is considered warm, welcoming and friendly, though laughing or speaking roughly may be considered a sign of insincerity and rudeness.
It is very common for Hmong families to visit one another without setting up an appointment. A family may show up unexpectedly and still be warmly welcomed inside.
It is considered inappropriate to tell the visitors there is no time to visit. When entering a Hmong home, a seat or chair will be offered. It is considered to be impolite to simply decline a drink, food or gift offered to you.
When entering a Hmong home during mealtime, guests will be invited to join the family in eating. Whether the guest wants to eat or not, he or she should take part in the meal, just taking a bite or two will make the family happy. Otherwise, the family will stop eating and will talk to the guest until he or she leaves.
The Hmong place of honor at the table is midway on the side. For important ceremonies, the head of the table in not on midway on the side but is at the end corner of the side that is closest to where the altar is placed. It is standard etiquette after dinner not to linger at the table. It is traditional and good manners to send guests away from a meal with food, leftovers, to take home with them.
Before entering a Hmong home, ask if visitors are allowed to enter. Traditional families may have just had a shaman perform a ritual when a woman has given birth, or a ritual to get rid of bad spirits.
For a period of time following this ritual, visitors are not allowed to come into the house, wear shoes and carry handbags into the house. Watch for a taboo sign outside the front of the house indicating the family should not be disturbed because the house is being protected from evil spirits.
The sign may look like a cross, made of sticks with some green leaves, or may consist of a simple cluster of green leaves. A white or black woven octagon shaped basket made of bamboo or plastic may be placed next to the leaves.
Upon observing this sign, do not knock or enter the house. Most traditional Hmong elders, especially men, do not want strangers to touch their heads, or those of their children, due to their religious beliefs and personal values.
This is still practiced by some clan members. Hmong Cultural Center, As well as uniting a man and a woman, the Hmong marriage rituals unite 2 families in a formal relationship. The couple may come together in various ways, including mutual consent, elopement, or parental arrangement.
Force or bride-capture is becoming rare these days in Laos and almost unheard of in the United States. Hmong are restricted from marrying someone in their same clan. A person can marry someone in any of the other clans as well.
Marrying someone who a family disapproves of can bring shame and bad reputation not just for the individual but for the family too. The negotiation and gift of bride wealth is a tradition still practiced by most Hmong in the United States, and can amount to a large sum of money and other gifts.
The groom enlists the help of his male clan relatives to raise the dowry. A couple may elope if the girl is trying to avoid an unwanted union or when the parents do not consent to the union of a couple who wish to be together. Catch-hand marriages are somewhat controversial in the US and are cases in which the male and his relatives take the girl, either willingly or by force to be married.
To make elopements and catch-hand marriages legitimate, the bride price would be negotiated and paid afterward. In Laos, men may marry multiple wives, but due to the custom of bride price, polygamy has been mostly restricted to wealthy men. The husband traditionally gets custody of the children in cases of splits or divorce this is still the norm in the US , though traditionally divorce is not common.
It was somewhat common in Laos and Thailand for a younger woman to marry an older man. Many youth, especially girls, would be married by the time they were In the United States, Hmong men often wait to marry until their late teens or early twenties when they are finished with their education, though it is still relatively common for girls to marry in their middle teens.
Traditionally, the stigma of being called an old maid is a factor for girls marrying very young. In general, Hmong believe a couple is ready for marriage when they are able to handle the responsibilities, socially and economically, of having a family. A strict protocol is to be followed for the marriage ceremony, which centers on showing respect to both families.
If the formalities are not followed disrespect is shown to both sets of parents, and can bring shame to the families. A wedding serves to honor the couple and their families and to preserve a continuation of Hmong culture and community. The marriage event is the creation of a new family, a bond between the couple and the families, and a strengthening of past family and community connections in the people present.
The traditional wedding itself can last days, with chant readings and feasting. In marriage, a young couple maintains a deep connection with family, often finding among kin financial assistance, shared living space, childcare, and guidance. Powerful roles exist for men and women in Hmong culture, though in the US there is disruption in gender roles based on economic need and acceptance of American ways. Hmong women in the US are more active and in positions of power outside the home than they traditionally have been.
In some cases, marriages have broken up and the risk of domestic violence has increased in the face of pressure brought by changes in gender status. Traditionally, girls had a lower status than boys. Men have a higher status than women publicly, while women hold their power more privately. Traditionally, women are hard working and hospitable, primarily caring for the household and raising children, not going to school or holding a job outside the home.
The head of the household in a Hmong family is usually the father, though the mother also has a highly respected role at home and in some ways, especially in child rearing and daily household affairs, she is the leader of the family.
Women gain more power in the household as they age. Usually the father makes most of the important decisions for the family. But sometimes, the male head of the immediate household involves relatives including uncles, cousins, or even clan leaders in important decisions. Men are entrusted with performing rituals of ancestor worship, such as calling the names of ancestors during occasions like New Year, weddings, christenings, new harvests, and family feasts, invoking the dead kin to take part in these events and bring protection and good fortune to the family and household.
When a man and woman grow old and unable to perform all the responsibilities as heads of household, their son and his wife assume the roles. Traditionally, it is considered inappropriate for the opposite genders to sit too close to one another when conversing.
To avoid misinterpretations, a male should keep a distance between himself and a female when in conversation or in any type of encounter. Kinship is based on marriage and descent. Hmong people are traditionally not individualistically oriented, but identify the self as a member of the family, clan and community. Hmong culture emphasizes relationships between relatives and clan members, with respect for elders and strong families.
Remembering ancestors, their accomplishments and their sufferings, and preserving traditional ways are highly important. Traditionally the Hmong are a patrilineal society with extended households of married sons and their families. The clan is the primary organization of the Hmong who gain lifetime clan membership and relations passed from father to children through birth or adoption. Members of the same clan accept and assist each other, and clan loyalty is practiced in political and justice issues.
If a person is of a particular clan, he is automatically welcomed into the house of another clan member, even if they do not personally know each other. In general, people are compelled to support members of the same clan more than their in-laws or other non-related clan. The number of clans is commonly said to be 18, though 12 may be considered the main clans.
Traditionally, the clans provided any social services required of their members. Every clan possessed skilled persons who served as healers, marriage brokers, teachers, and disciplinarians. Fellow clan members regard each other as brother and sister. Marriage between members of the same clan — no matter how distant the relationship — is strictly forbidden.
In a time of need, an individual will first turn to the clan. The clan is obligated to respond. Clans offer security. The larger the clan the more services it is able to offer its members including help finding jobs and apartments. In the United States, clans and extended families have often drawn their dispersed members to larger enclave communities of Hmong.
Sub clan is a sub unit of the clan whose members are made of many families who may or may not share the same ancestor but who subscribe to a particular religious practice or ritual, for example certain post-partum, funeral, or taboo rituals. The affinity of sub clan members to each other is great. Persons of the same clan or sub-clan without any known blood relationship refer to one another as relatives. The sub clan is divided into smaller groups of families, or ceremonial households, who share the same ancestor.
Family members are bound by bloodline and share the responsibility and name for the family. The family is divided into individual extended families consisting of spouses, children, parents and siblings.
Extended families often live together under the same roof, though may separate to different dwellings as siblings marry and have children. Traditionally, a large number of relatives that could be readily called upon provided an element of security to farmers who had to move periodically. In Laos, the Hmong resided in extended families of three or four generations.
Having children is important in Hmong culture. Only the ancestors who were parents become spirits that are feared and revered, because they can bring harm to the living descendants. There is a strong desire by Hmong parents to have sons who will offer sacrifices to the ancestral spirits, maintain the family line, and be sanctuary for parents when parents are not able to live by themselves. Keown-Bomar, In traditional Hmong culture, sons were desired because parents could never live in the same house with daughters and sons in-law due to spiritual reasons.
A married daughter and son in-law has a different house and ancestor spirits; therefore two sets of different spirits could never live under the same roof. Although male children are desired and given greater spiritual responsibilities in the family, this does not mean that daughters are given less affection. Nevertheless, couples without sons may seek to adopt them or may allow the husband to marry a second wife in the hope that she will bear male children.
In the US, as many parents consider placing themselves in nursing homes at old age and start understanding the biological reason for conceiving a son or daughter, there is increased acceptance when a couple has only daughters. Pregnancy is considered sacred and especially fragile in the first trimester.
Traditionally, young pregnant women are encouraged not to inform others about the pregnancy due to a fear of evil spirits that would endanger the pregnancy leading to spontaneous abortion. The pregnancy is kept unknown until it becomes self evident in the later trimester cycles. Today, some Hmong women may not seek early prenatal care for this reason.
In addition, due to lack of medical knowledge, the gender of the infant is said to be due to the faith luck of the women. Vue, L. In Hmong culture, mothers and mothers-in-law help at the birth, which often occurs in the squatting position, with the husband helping to cut the cord and wash the newborn infant.
Women prefer natural tearing and healing to clinical episiotomies. Today, a woman requiring a Caesarean section under general anesthetic may have concerns that when her body is cut, her soul will be lost.
Traditionally, Hmong believe the placenta is required for reincarnation and bury it at the place of birth, under the house. Traditionally, the woman is kept warm for three days post-partum, and touching cold water is prohibited.
In Laos, women lay by fires. In the US, women may wear warm clothes and use heating. Women should drink hot or warm water after birth. There is a belief that drinking cold water or failing to eat properly can lead to having wrinkles or skin rashes, or walking bent over in old age.
In the hospital, women might not eat the hospital diet. Traditionally they should eat hot rice and chicken soup with special herbs for 30 days post partum. Eggs, pork and some fish may be added after the first 10 days. No fruit, vegetables or cold drinks are allowed.
Physical activity post-partum is also restricted, as this may cause internal organs to collapse. Furthermore, during the first 30 days, a new mom is not permitted to visit other homes. A identified a case in which the likely source of lead exposure in a young child in the U. It is believed that praising the newborn may cause harm to the baby from the spirits.
The ceremony is an occasion for naming the child and for relatives and community members to offer blessings and words of wisdom to the child. Among American Hmong, fewer mothers are breast-feeding than in previous times. Bottle-feeding is preferred for reasons of convenience when the mother returns to work and desires others to feed her infant. Babies stayed close to their mothers and ate all their meals fresh. Babies were weaned when another child was born.
Solid foods were introduced when a child showed interest and were mostly the same foods adults ate, just watered down versions. In the U. A Hmong child is considered a treasure. The baby is given lots of affection and attention, physical and social contact with mothers, grandmothers and older siblings. In the Thai refugee camps, women adopted Thai-style baby baskets or cradles, often hanging from the tent roof or dwelling while the mother performed chores or embroidery work.
Most traditional Hmong families do not want to hear direct comments about their children, especially infants and babies. Traditionally, the norm in marriage is to raise families with large numbers of children. Children generally grow up with their needs responded to quickly and help in the work of a family at a young age. In Laos, at four, five or six years old a child helps keep watch on the house, doing tasks like hauling water, shucking, milling corn, and carrying a baby sibling; usually a grandmother, uncle or other adult would be nearby in the cluster of family houses.
Children are still young when they begin helping in the farming. Elders tell stories to children, passing knowledge and life lessons between generations. Traditionally a Hmong man would not have much to do with the children when they were still little; not physically affectionate, especially with their daughters.
Hmong teach their children to be well behaved in the presence of guests. Typically, in cases where their children are interrupting or not behaving well in the presence of guests, Hmong parents do not send their children away or discipline them. Discipline is usually administered after the guests have left. In Laos, girls and boys in their adolescent years have the same responsibilities as adults. Young boys are expected to learn from their fathers, and young girls are expected to learn from their mothers.
Boys moved from village to village for the purpose of meeting girls and participating in festivals where they had relatives. The primary means for meeting young people of the opposite sex during the New Year was a ball game that took place at the festivities. Boys in one line faced girls in another line and tossed small fabric balls back and forth. A boy often would concentrate attention on a certain girl. Often boys and girls would use a secret form of language to communicate with one another.
By playing a small mouth harp they could approximate human speech. In Laos, a suitor would play the mouth harp outside the house of the girl he was interested in. The girl would sometimes reply with her own mouth harp or another instrument, and the dialogue sometimes continued for hours. In the United States, youth use the telephone and email instead of the traditions of ritualized flirting and communication. New Year celebrations are still a time of courtship and result in many marriages.
Traditionally, Hmong women and men work until they no longer can carry out their daily tasks feeding the farm animals, farming, and tending family duties. An adult male is expected to have full knowledge of traditional values passed from his father or male relative. Adult and elderly males are looked upon for wisdom and skills for handling marital conflicts and problems within the community.
Elders may be less respected and feel depressed about their lesser place in the family. Increasingly, elders are placed in nursing homes as families are not able to take care of them and meet the demands of society. This is an on-line learning module, but you can download the module as a PDF and print the cultural profile by filling out a short survey.
Additional cultures and geriatric information also available on their site. Rice is a staple in Hmong cuisine. Distinctions among various kinds of rice are found in Hmong language — new rice, sweet rice, purple rice, sticky rice, rice in field, harvested rice. Rice is usually eaten at every meal, along with everyday dishes of meats, fish and vegetables, grilled, fried boiled and spiced. Families eat together around the table, using utensils both in Laos and in the US.
No chopsticks are used in Laos. Feasting on special occasions usually includes a menu of roast pig or boiled pork soup, fruit, boiled eggs, egg rolls, seasoned meats, vegetables, rice, and salad. Hmong will commonly grow vegetables and herbs in their gardens or yards here in the US. Traditionally, during family feasts, males ate first. This is a dish common for many adults and elder people, even in the US today. The decision to airlift Gen.
Vang Pao out of Laos, along with other high-ranking military officers and their families, came from top US government officials. About 2, people were evacuated to Thailand. Those left behind had to trek on foot.
Courtesy Thua Vang, California. Skip to main content. Hmong Timeline 4,, BCE Oral tradition and evidence from archives and archaeological finds suggest that Hmong people originated near the Yellow and Yangtze rivers in China. We always knew that our history was rooted in China. However, our ancestors never got along with the Imperial Chinese.
They invaded our lands. Killed our people. This went on for hundreds of years. Many Hmong leaders and their families, including my great-grandparents, moved to Laos to escape being persecuted. Cher Cha Vang , former military major and Hmong leader, Minneapolis, interview From Hmong at the Turning Point, , by Dr.
Yang Dao. The Laotians wanted one kilo of opium per household. They even took our livestock and money. Some of the parents had to sell their children to pay for the taxes.
Some parents were so upset they committed suicide by taking poison. Touby Lyfoung , in Dr. Portrait of a Hmong girl in Laos, s. Courtesy Noah Vang, St. I want to make it clear to the American people, and to all of the world, that all we want in Laos is peace, not war—a truly neutral government, not a cold war pawn, a settlement concluded at the conference table and not on the battlefield. Our response will be made in close cooperation with our allies and the wishes of the Laotian government.
We will not be provoked, trapped, or drawn into this or any other situation but I know that every American will want his country to honor its obligations to the point that freedom and security of the free world and ourselves may be achieved. We had to find a way to stop them.
The US had the vision to stop them from spreading into these countries. I aligned with the US because they were the most powerful country in the world at that time. Vang Pao , St.
Paul, interview In my generation, education was only for the privileged and wealthy families. We had no money so I taught myself to read and write in Lao. Where we lived, girls did not attend schools until the late s. When the war started in our country, the Americans began building small schools in nearby villages where both boys and girls could go learn. For some students, they walked as far as half a day just to get an education. Before the war all the men in our village worked hard and supported their families.
We had peace. There was no war. All of a sudden, our lives changed. The men began to disappear. They went to fight for Gen.
Vang Pao, for the Americans. Most of our husbands never returned home. My husband died in the war. We told Gen. Vang Pao that we wanted the war to end and to end all the killing. So as not to confuse people, Hmong are Hmong and Lao are Lao. It's like apples and oranges. Both are from Laos , but labeled differently. There are 18 clans in the Hmong culture, each with a different name.
Children are members of their father's clan. Women, upon marriage, become members of their husband's clan, but typically retain their original clan — or, rather, maiden name. Members of the same clan consider themselves family. The Hmong language has two dialects: white and green. They are similar to the British and American forms of English.
If you're White Hmong, you speak the White Hmong dialect and vice versa. The names — white and green — refer to the colors and patterns of each group's traditional clothing. White Hmong women typically wear a white pleated skirt. Traditionally, Hmong passed down their history orally or through story cloths paj ntaub. A Romanized writing system was developed by missionaries in the s. The Romanized Popular Alphabet takes into account the eight tones of the Hmong language; the final letter of each word indicates the tone.
Bee Vang-Moua, director of the Hmong language program in the Asian Languages and Literature Department at the University of Minnesota, said the Hmong written language is not a phonetic translation into English, as may be the case with other languages. For example, in Mandarin, hello is usually translated to ni hao , which looks how it sounds. We're writing Hmong sounds for the Hmong language," she said.
According to Hmong tradition, when a person dies, their soul must return to their birthplace, then travel on to meet their ancestors in the afterlife. Rituals during the dayslong ceremony are meant to ensure safe passage. Nowadays, funerals typically begin on a Friday morning and continue day and night until Monday, when the body is buried.
Hmong cuisine has similarities to the food in surrounding Asian countries, and is characterized by the use of spices and herbs. Simple soups and rice are a staple of the Hmong diet.
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