Stories of a New Year (2021)
Nyob Zoo Xyoo Tshiab - “Happy New Years”
The Hmong New Year is one of the most important cultural events for our people. In the modern-day, the yearly celebration provides a cultural identity for the younger generation while the elders celebrate reconnecting with friends and families from afar.
Traditionally, this annual event celebrates the bountiful rice harvest season and marks the end of a year’s hard work. Around this time, the 18 clans tribes from different small villages will celebrate together. Wearing their best traditional outfits, participating in sports tournaments, and classic popular ball-tossing (pov pob) as a form of courtship or social pass time.
During this time a lot of us don’t think too much about the Hmong New Year.
Yeah, we have it every year and it's usually the same; vendors come and sell their products, there are a few performances by local dance groups and singers, then there’s the sports tournaments. We don’t think too much about these little details. Not until last year in 2020 when the Hmong New Year was canceled because of Covid. I don’t know about everyone else but for sure I did miss New Year, I miss being able to run into old friends that I didn’t get to meet that year, being able to stand in the warm sun with the freezing winds yet still wanting boba tea, and really enjoying Hmong sausage and pork-belly with the Family.
Missed out in the Hmong New Years? Definitely checkout the photos from the North Carolina Hmong New Years below.
Fun Fact:
Did you know Hmong people are credited with being among the first to cultivate rice and to spread this technique throughout Asia?
Pretty Cool right.