[Tlc] L-Hmong New Year

[justinm at ucr.edu]

FYI.
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justin



2008-1129 - Press-Enterprise - Hmong New Year event packs in fun

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_E_hmong29.46b986d.html

Hmong New Year event packs in fun

10:00 PM PST on Friday, November 28, 2008

By ERIN WALDNER
The Press-Enterprise

BANNING - The Hmong New Year was celebrated Friday at Banning's Repplier Park with traditional dancing, music, food and games.

The festival, presented by the Hmong Archives and Culture Center in Banning, began Thursday and will conclude today.

Turnout on Friday was lower than on Thursday, with about 100 people there at lunchtime. Attendee Pao Moua, 29, of Beaumont, said many people opted to attend a larger New Year festival in Orange County.

Photo: Paul Alvarez / The Press-Enterprise
Melissa Yang, 14, front, and Connie Yang, 15, back, both from Banning, dance during the Hmong New Year at Repplier Park in Banning on Friday. In Laos, the festival traditionally marks the end of the rice harvest.

The Hmong community in the San Gorgonio Pass is relatively small. The Hmong people are an ethnic group from Southeast Asia, where they live in China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. Most people at the Banning celebration were from Laos, Moua said.

Food was prepared and served from two booths at Repplier Park. The menu included Hmong sausage and sticky rice, Thai iced tea, papaya salad and vermicelli.

Some children and adults wore traditional Hmong clothing. The skirts and vests were brightly colored, decorated with intricate beadwork and silver coins.

Moua spoke of another Hmong New Year tradition.

"In the old days in Laos usually the young people, they come to find a soul mate," he said.

Shortly after he spoke, about six teenage boys and girls gathered and tossed a ball, as is custom. The boys stood in one row, the girls in another.

"They get to talk and know each other," an observer, Toua Yang, 39, of Banning, explained. Yang is originally from Laos.

Reach Erin Waldner at 951-763-3473 or ewaldner at PE.com

© 2008 Press-Enterprise Company • 3450 Fourteenth Street, Riverside, California 92501
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Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu