The ball toss...keep reading!
So far, since being in Lao I have experienced three New Year’s celebrations. One is the international holiday in which we all know of and I should hardly make mention of because it was really nothing too exciting, I just did what I usually do and stayed home and watched television (minus watching the ball drop). The other two were Hmong New Year celebrations in two separate villages. Nothing western about these celebrations.
Hmong people are a minority in this part of the world. They reside in the hills. At one point they were heavily persecuted and fleeing the country.
Early December was the first celebration I attended. I went (with a few others from my team) to a students village (I forget the name) about an hour outside the city. We went to his home and one of his mothers (yeah, his dad has two wives) was making for us what they called Hmong pizza. Hmong pizza is really more like a Hmong pancake: it is sticky rice grinded and then mixed with water and pan-fried. It is quite a gooey, sticky, and delicious snack that you dip in a sugary substance. After a very sap (Lao word for delicious, imagine me saying it beginning with a high tone and falling slightly) lunch that I am sure was full of MSG, our student made announcement, “My mother will dress you and then we will go to the stadium.” Has anyone ever heard that statement before? If so, maybe we can have a little chat sometime.
Anyways, I got to dress in Hmong traditional wear! It was so fun and I think quite beautiful. They only wear their traditional wear for weddings and Hmong New Year. When we were dressed and ready to go, we headed to the stadium. It was fun to see all of the ladies dressed up and some of the men as well. The stadium looked a little like an art fair would in the states, mostly with food booths and a few games.
The greatest thing was the ball toss. The ball toss is also known as flirting. Apparently many young Hmong people find love while tossing the ball with a suitor during new year every year. No, I didn’t find love, but I did do some ball tossing. People were very excited to see us in our Hmong-wear and just couldn’t resist flirting!
My student's family.
Happy New Year!!
No comments:
Post a Comment