Good food, time with family, music, dancing and dressing up. Hmong New Year, known in the Hmong language as Noj Peb Caug, typically occurs around the end of November, about the same time as Thanksgiving. It celebrates the end of the traditional harvest season in Southeast Asia, and is a time to gather with friends and family to remember ancestors.
Minnesota is home to over 94,000 Hmong Americans, making up around 5% of the population, and Saint Paul has the largest community of Hmong residents in the U.S. This makes Saint Paul a popular place for Hmong New Year celebrations. Although the Hmong population at SPA is much lower than the 5% statewide, there are several Hmong students.
One such student is junior Lani Ngonethong. For Ngonethong, Hmong New Year is a valuable and rewarding celebration, and a chance to spend time with friends and family. Ngonethong explains that Hmong New Year celebrations have changed significantly over time. “From what I’ve heard, it was used as a time for a lot of courtship,” Ngoenthong said. “There’s events during New Year called ‘pov pob’ [ball toss], where usually it would be a guy who finds a girl he likes and they would play catch together, and then that’s how they would bond.”
Although courtship is less central to the holiday nowadays, it is still an important tradition that lives on. “I ran into one of my friends last year,” she said. “I was like, ‘What are you doing here?’ And he was like, ‘to find a girlfriend.’”
She recognizes that some of this change is important. Specifically, shifting away from traditional gender roles in Hmong culture has benefited Hmong women. Ngonethong recounted a story that her mom told her about celebrating Hmong New Year when she was younger to illustrate this reality. “Sadly, [Hmong culture] is [traditionally] very patriarchal, so that means the women usually like their sons more than their daughters,” she said. “And when you put on the dresses, you would usually have someone else wrap the dress around you. And she would say that the only time her mom would hug her is when they would wrap the dresses around her waist.”
Another important change has been the loss of focus on the harvest. At least for Hmong Americans, who primarily live in urban or suburban areas, this association no longer plays an active role in the celebration of the holiday. “It’s become more of a cultural celebration than a spiritual and harvest celebration. Being in America, the only chance you really get to see so many Hmong people in one area is probably at Hmong New Year,” Ngonethong said.
Many traditions do live on in their original forms, such as cleaning the house and using blessing strings, two activities that Ngonethong’s family participates in. Every year, she also dresses up to go to the Hmong New Year event at the Saint Paul RiverCentre, usually with either friends or her cousins. “We just hang around and eat good food, watch the shows, and then mostly just hang out and shop around,” she said.
If interested in participating in Hmong New Year festivities and learning more about the holiday, the Saint Paul RiverCentre celebration is open to everyone and is a great opportunity to learn more about Hmong New Year in a fun and inclusive environment. A popular event, the celebration draws 30,000 Hmong Americans from Minnesota and across the country. Activities include dancing, eating —Ngonethong recommends the papaya salad–, shopping, and traditional games like “pov pob” or ball toss. The celebration will occur at the RiverCentre in downtown Saint Paul on Saturday, Nov. 30 and Sunday, Dec. 1.
