Happy Hmong New Year!
In the Hmong culture, the New Year is celebrated to mark the end of the harvest season. People celebrate with traditional clothing, music, and food. Read more about the Hmong New year here! The Twin Cities has a large Hmong population, and both Minneapolis and St. Paul have large celebrations that are free for the public to attend.
The last day before Winter Break was our annual Hmong New Year celebration at school. The actual assembly wasn't until the afternoon, but the morning was busy with students getting dressed in traditional Hmong clothes and gearing up for the assembly.
Students worked for months in their Hmong Literacy class (a special- like gym, music, or art) to perfect dances, songs, and plays. Middle schoolers auditioned to perform in the show. It is such a crazy hectic day, but always a fun one!
The Hmong staff at school are so generous to let us borrow their traditional clothing. Before school, teachers got help to put on traditional clothing. I loved my outfit this year! What do you think?
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| Ms. Meredith, Ms. Eichhorn, Me, and Ms. Tarah |
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| Me and Mrs. Elbert |
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| The apron on the front of my Hmong outfit. The yellow and orange designs on either side of the sequins were all hand-embroidered! |
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| Hand-embroidery on my apron |
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| My class in their traditional Hmong clothes. If students did not have Hmong clothes at home, they could wear nice clothes (hence the gray suit in the back row) |
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| Me and a student from last year |
All of the performances at the assembly told the story of a girl who was having trouble remembering her Hmong culture, despite her parents' efforts. In the end though, she knew the importance of her culture and was excited to continue the traditions her family has been celebrating for many years.
These kinders were just adorable singing and dancing!
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Nyob Zoo Xyoo Tshiab!
Happy New Year!
Until next time,
-Miss Woodward
This looks like so much fun!!! I love all the beautiful clothing!
ReplyDeleteJamie