Finalwinonah

The Hmong Book

Hello, I am Mr. Rice. I will be the narrator of Hmong culture. First, we will go to the cultural holidays and ceremonies. Then, we will continue with the elusive religion. Finally, we will end with my favorite, food (I honestly don’t know why such a good thing is last, but anyway).

First, Hmong New Year. Hmong New Year is 3days long and has a lot of ceremonies attached.

The man of the house always and only performs the rituals. The rituals are mainly to please the spirits.

An uncommon holiday is harvest time. Harvest times are when people harvest crops and celebrate the good bounty. People often put branches over gates to towns and over a house were ceremonies will take place. Marriages are common this time of year from money from the crops.

Up next is marriage. To get married, two elders from each family get together to discuss the marriage. When and if they agree they decide on a price for the woman, averaging from 5,000 to 8,000 dollars. She is priced on education and skills.

When a woman marries a man she losses her clan membership and goes to her husbands clan. The women’s role in the house hold is to cook, garden, feed animals, do chores, and sew clothes. The mans role is to know the customs, oral history, line of ancestors, details to performing rituals, and hunting.

Next religion. The Hmong who live in south west Asia are animists. An animist is a person that believes that every thing has a spirit. Many of the Hmong practice ancestor worship. That’s when you show great respect for the people who have passed on. Oh, next we’ll learn about shaman.

A shaman is a spiritual leader who helps people through tough times. Siv Yis was the first shaman. He spent many years curing sick people and helping them. Also, shamanism is a way to maintain communication with the spirits. Next up spirits.

The Hmong believe in a lot of spirits. There are ancestral spirits, house hold spirits, nature spirits, and EVIL spirits. There are ceremonies held to please the spirits. If they are pleased then they will protect the believer from sickness and disaster. The Hmong believe that spirits live in natural things such as trees and water falls.

At ceremonies and funerals they sing a song about a frog. They say it was the frog that created the spirit world. Then, the men found out the frog lied to them about the size of the world, so they killed it. The frog put a curse on mankind that we will get sick, and forests will get thinner. Now, my personal favorite, FOOD!

For information, I went to Kang Lor. “Kang, what are some traditional dishes?” “Some, that I remember, are mustard greens and Pork soup, chicken, rice, and noodle soup.” “Are there any foods that are used as medicine?” “If you have a cough, you are supposed to eat eggs with ground pepper. Also, you’re supposed to eat rice pudding. Some times Hmong people use bark as medicine.” “Are there any special foods that you make for older relatives?” “Yes, I make pumpkin soup, squash, rice, and chicken.” “Are there any foods that Hmong people make for spirits?” “We make rice, chicken, pork and mustard greens.” “Thanks Kang!”

Did you know that some Hmong people may even eat rice for breakfast! Hmong people don’t drink milk and don’t eat cheese as much as we do, because milk and cheese isn’t commonly found in Laos. Like Kang said, pork and chicken are part of the Hmong diet, but they also eat fish.

Unlike me, Hmong people eat three meals a day, and don’t snack between meals. The vegetables and meat are usually served sir fried, boiled, or steamed. For a side at most meals hot pepper (kua hxob) is served (if you ask me it’s too hot). At large cultural gatherings the men eat first, followed by the women and children.

Also, there are some fancier cultural dishes like pork and mustard greens soup, green papaya salad, three color dessert, and stuffed bitter melon. Pork and mustard green soup is old fashioned, simple dish and is typical of everyday Hmong cooking. Green papaya salad is best at Hmong New Year celebrations. Many western people are unfamiliar with stuffed bitter melon. The basic components for three color dessert are coconut milk, canned fruits and fresh fruits, sugar, starch strings, and tapioca pearls.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour of the Hmong culture, religion, and food. Please stop by again!