Hmong New Years Festival 2013

Hmong Young Ladies In Luang Prabang, LPDR

Early in December, we flew from Vientiane to Luang Prabang for a holiday.  We typically go to Luang Prabang in December because it is dry season and the temperatures are very moderate, perhaps even on the cool side.  Most importantly, December is usually the time when the Hmong people of the area celebrate their new year.

Hmong New Year in Laos is a celebration that is the longest and most popular Hmong cultural event that is typically celebrated in December after the rice crop has been harvested and when the moon is darkest.  Traditional it was to start with the first rooster crow on the first day of the new moon in the 12th lunar month.  The celebration can last from four to seven days.  There are many festivals in cities and villages of all sizes.  The actual start day can vary each year as well as each locale and sometimes will slightly change at the last minute.  After stumbling upon the festival on our first visit in 2008, we use local contacts in Luang Prabang to determine the exact dates before finalizing our arrangements.

The Hmong New Year celebration consists of "in house" rituals and public festival.  The "in house" rituals are meant to give thanks to the ancestors and spirits along with welcoming a new beginning.  Duang and I have not witnessed these rituals ... yet.  The "in house" rituals include calling back home ancestor spirits to enjoy the celebration and the the making offerings to the spirits, that guard each home, with the living family members. The young members of the family pay respects to the old and in-laws - asking for blessings from the the elders of the home, elders from their clan, and the elder in laws of other clans.

Among other in-house rituals are offerings to the spirit of wealth, cleaning of the body, if a shaman is a member of the family - a special ritual to the spirit of curing allowing the spirit to have a vacation for 3 days at which the spirit is called back to do curing, a ritual to get rid of all problems, issues, misfortune that occurred to the family in the past year , some special feasts, and a ritual to release the souls of all dead family members.

Hmong New Years festival, the public celebration, is the only holiday shared by the whole Hmong community - an occasion where members of all the clans come together.  This is extremely important to know and understand a major function of the celebration - courting.

Young Hmong Maiden In Traditional Dress

At the Hmong New Year Festival, Hmong people of all ages dress in traditional clothing to eat traditional Hmong foods, drink, socialize, listen to traditional music, play games. and to enjoy themselves.

Young Hmong Play Pov Pob

A central part of the Festival is play a Hmong game called "Pov Pob".  At face value it is a rather simple game of two lines of people facing each other tossing a cloth ball or more typically these days, a used tennis ball, back and forth.  The ball is lobbed gently by one hand in an arc and caught in one hand.  If someone drops the ball, they are supposed to take an item from their clothing and give it to the player opposite from them.  The items can be recovered my singing a love song to the opposite player.

Young Man and Woman Pov Pob Players

The rules are rather simple.  But as in any game, it is the nuances, skills, and manner in which the game is played that define the game.  What one may superficially observe and know of the rules of a simple game often does not give a true understanding of the games subtleties and complexities.

In the case of Pov Pob, many of the players are playing a variation of a game of skill played for thousand and thousands of years by mankind - courting.

In the Hmong culture people are not allowed to marry within their clan.  Since the smaller villages typically inhabited by members of the same clan.  The residents of the villages have very limited access to potential acceptable mates.  However it is during the Hmong New Years Festival that the clans come together in a single location.

An Elderly Hmong Man Playing Pov Pob

Several games of Pov Pob go on at the same time.  Most of the games are played by adolescents or young adults younger than 18 years old.  However there are some games played by adults - much older adults.  Widows and widowers also have their own Pov Pob - a game of meeting, socializing, and perhaps courting leading to marriage.

Games of Pov Pob are relaxed and low key pastimes.  Although the games are meant for Hmong people, I was privileged to be invited to participate in a game and the young people were eager to teach me how to play.  There were some specific girls and sequence that I had to follow in tossing the tennis ball as well who would be tossing the ball back to me.  It was not, as the saying goes, "It's all Greek to me", rather it was all Hmong to me.  I did what I was told when I was told, laughing and enjoying it all just as the other players were.  Most importantly, for me and my pride, I made every catch one handed of balls tossed my way.

Just as most things in life there is the way that things are supposed to be and the way that they actually are.  I am convinced the same in playing Pov Pob.  I believe that some players purposely drop the ball in order to become better acquainted with some one that they are interested.  Many of the players were softly singing songs without having the need to retrieve an item of theirs - sort of getting right to the point.

One of My Pov Pob Playing Partners

In writing this blog I learned additional rules for playing Pov Pob - by the book.  Boys and girls in pairs set up two opposing lines about 5 to 7 meters (15 to 20 feet) apart.  Boys toss the ball to girls.  Girls can toss to either boys or girls.  However boys can not toss to other boys.  You can not toss the ball to members of your own clan.  You also can not date a member of your own clan - so meeting people at these festivals is extremely important in searching for a spouse.

My coaches for Pov Pob were young Lao men from the United States.  There was a diaspora of Hmong peoples to the United States and other nations in the 1970s.  They say that "Time heals everything".  I am not sure that everything is healed for the Lao peoples throughout the world but they are now welcomed back to their homeland.  We have met many of the original refugees as well as their children and grandchildren during their visits to Lao.

Elderly People, At the Periphery of the Pov Pob Field, Enjoying the View

During our two days at the Festival we saw many examples of four generations of family enjoying themselves.  Even young children and babies wear traditional Hmong clothing.  The clothing is very pretty - intricate patterns, multiple colors, heavy beading, faux fur or feather trim, silver coins, reflective metal disks, extensive embroidery, silver jewelry accents along with just as interesting hats. Some young men wore costumes covered with small highly polished thin metal disks.  The girls and young women also had excellent make-up with particular attention paid to their eyes.

Hmong Young Women Check Out Their Selfie

A Happy Attendee 

On one end of the Pov Pob field there was a line of booths selling all kinds of foods and beverages.  We had lunch one day at Mr Lee's booth.  Mr Lee?  "Lee is actually the name of a Hmong clan.  We and our driver dined on noodle soup, Qwetiou with sides of raw cabbage, fresh mint leaves, and small chili -just like the soup we eat in Isaan.  We also had some grilled sausages, Pepsi, and fresh pineapple.  Later as I was taking photographs came up with a cone of coconut ice-cream as a treat for me.

Hmong Girl Prepare Spicy Papaya Salad -"Pauk Pauk"

Past the food booths, there were several booths made from suspended tarps where people, more specifically young couples, could have their photo taken in front of many different back drops.  If the couple were not wearing traditional clothing, some of the booths had Hmong clothing that they could don for their special photograph.

There were also several booths that were selling Hmong music CDs and DVDs.  Other booths sold various sundries such as ear-rings, hair ribbons, hair clips, combs which were of great interest to the young girls.

A Grandmother Reads A Palm

Over at the area where the elderly people were congregating , at a table selling some herbal remedies, a grandmother was reading the palms of people - no doubt advising them if they had indeed made a "love connection" at the nearby Pov Pob games.

An Enthusiastic Toddler Plays Her Own Game of Chance

Gambling is a big part of culture in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.  Gambling is legal in the LPDR unlike in nearby Thailand.  From our experiences in Lao, it appears the game of choice is a dice game.  The game consists of a plastic cloth with various large printed and colorful pictures on it.  Grid lines separate the various characters on the betting cloth.  Players place their bets on the character of their choice or on the lines that separate the characters for a combination bet.  Three large dice with the same printed characters are placed by the game operators on a hinged shelf inside the lid of a wooden box. The box lid is partially opened to create a roughly 45 degree ramp down to the bottom portion of the box which lays flat either on the ground, platform or table.  After all the bets are placed, the operator or someone in the crowd designated by the operator pulls a string that releases the hinged shelf which sends the three dice tumbling down the ramp to the enclosed area of the bottom portion of the box.  The top exposed characters indicate the winning bets and combination bets.

The one time that I played the game at New Years Festival of the Khmu people near Muang Sing LPDR, I won several times ending up with 40,000 Kip.  I gave my winnings to Duang since she was still gambling.  She returned to where I was taking photographs with no money.  In 15 minutes, she had lost her money as well as my $5.00 USD of winnings.  No matter the loss, it was great entertainment to play and interact with the local people.

Most of the gamblers that played the game with us in the Khmu village were children mostly between the ages of 8 and 14.  Upon leaving the festival in Luang Prabang we walked through one of several gambling tents located at the entrance to the festival.  Each tent had several tables where many people crammed around gambling.  The action was load and very animated.  It was obvious that the people were really enjoying themselves.  At one table that was not in operation, a precocious toddler was imitating the gambling frenzy that was surrounding her.  She would select one of the characters printed on the cloth, pretend to place a bet on cloth, she would then shout out in joy as she celebrated winning.

Our third visit to Hmong New Year Festival had been very enjoyable.  We most likely will return once again this December.  On this upcoming visit, I hope that we are able to witness some. if not all, of the "inside rituals".  We have 10 months to see what arrangements can be made.  There is always something to do and this will be added to the list.

Been There and Done That; Only This Time It Was Different



A Young Hmong Girl Eats Her Snack At the Festival In Laos

We arrived back home in Isaan, Northeast Thailand, last night from our four day trip to Laos.

Here in Isaan there is a phrase that is utilized often, perhaps too often for some foreigners who are of a more structured and precise ilk.  The phrase is "Same, Same, but Different".

At the risk of offending those foreigners I will describe our just concluded journey/adventure as "Same, Same but Different".  We specifically went up to Luang Prabang to witness "Pee Mai Hmong" (Hmong New Years).  It had ended up being a pretty much spur of the moment decision.  I had wanted to attend the festivities last year, but I had a great deal of difficulty determining exactly when the celebration would start.  Actually to paraphrase a recent former US President; "It all depends on what the meaning of the word, start, is"

Hmong Girls In Traditional Festival Clothing

The Hmong New Years celebration occurs in December but it is a 10 day festival with the first two days being allocated for rituals conducted in the homes.  The public celebration, which we had previously witnessed and wanted to see again, starts on the third day and runs for 8 days.  So for Duang and me, the "start" day was for the start of the public celebration.  I called the driver that we had used on our previous trip, Johnee's father, to no avail.  His cellphone was no longer in service.  I suspect that since he was married to a Danish woman, he and Johnee had immigrated to Denmark.  I had the phone number of the headman from the Khmu village outside of Luang Prabang but he was not all that helpful last year - the exact "start" date is determined by the moon and decision of the local people as to exact "start" date.  I researched the Internet and came up with a date of 16 December.  Having made what I considered to be a good go at it by myself, I reached out to a friend of mine with extensive knowledge as well as contacts in Laos.

My friend reaffirmed the difficulty in determining the "start" date.  He had a contact in Luang Prabang did not know the exact date.  I resigned myself to missing out on the celebration for yet another year.  Fortunately, my friend's friend  came through about a week ago with the "start" date of December 6 and a completion date of 9 December or 10 December.  I still did not know the meaning of the indicated start date of 6 December so I figured instead on working backwards from the end date of 10 December and worked to our arrival date of 7 December and departure of 10 December.

Previously we had stayed overnight in Vientiane and caught the 7:30 AM VIP bus to Luang Prabang up Highway 13 to Luang Prabang some 12 or perhaps 13 hours away.  This was a been there and done that experience - an experience that I nor Duang wanted to do again.  I researched flying to Luang Prabang on Lao Airlines.  There is or was or perhaps there is a direct flight from Udonthani to Luang Prabang.  However I was unable to book a flight on the Internet.  I kept getting a message to effect that a flight was not available for one of the dates that I had selected.  Great help; I have encountered the same problem at other airline websites - you are left to try to figure whether or not the problem lies with your departure day or return date or is only a particular flight time that is the issue?

After further research at other sights, I came to the conclusion that the direct flight from Udonthani to Luang Prabang had been suspended.  Later I was lead to believe that the flight has been reinstated now that it is the "high season".  No matter the case I dropped back to Plan "B" which was to go to Vientiane and fly out of there to Luang Prabang.  There are a couple of daily flights from VTE to LPQ.

We were not able to book on the morning flight on Tuesday 7 December so we settled for a 1:20 P.M. departure from VTE with a 2:00 P.M. arrival in LPQ.  This still saved us the overnight expense and time in Vientiane and got us into Luang Prabang 6 to 7 hours earlier than the bus.  With a 2:00 P.M. arrival there was still some time on Tuesday for some touring.  For the return flight, I selected a 5:50 P.M. departure which gave us most of the daylight of Friday for sightseeing.  With no difficulty our flights were reserved and paid for - $320.80 USD.



Hmong Girls Strolling - Seeing and Being Seen

 We had flown earlier this year from Vientiane and Luang Namtha on Lao Airlines.  This month's as well as our flights at the start of the year were great.  The flights were what you used to enjoy and hope for today - no nonsense.  Our ticket included baggage.  There was no additional fee for checked baggage.  We split up the camera gear into two carry on backpacks; I carried one and Duang carried the other.  There was no problem with our carry on size or weight.  Our clothing and other gear was in a single checked baggage weighing 12 KG.  The checked bag was an approved size for carry on by international carriers.  I indicated that there was one bag for two people and it was accepted without question and more importantly no additional fee.  On our return to Vientiane, the bag weighed 14.4 KG and again there was no problem.

Lao Airlines flies ATR72 and MA60 turboprop planes.  We once again flew on the Chinese made MA60.  A Chinese designed and manufactured 60 passenger plane powered by Pratt and Whitney of Canada engines - a common situation in the global economy of today;  an American company supplying aircraft engines through it's Canadian subsidiary for a Chinese company.  This is like a Toyota, a Japanese company, assembling cars in the United states out of parts made in Mexico, Canada, and Japan.  Is it a Japanese car or an American car?  Perhaps the answer is not on the manufacturing details but rather on the financial side.  The answer may be defined as to where the profits are sent.

I had used the Internet, http://www.agoda.com/, to research and book a room in Luang Prabang.  For our travels here in Southeast Asia, I always rely on Agoda and have never had a problem with them.  I am pleased with the discounts that Agoda can offer for all types of accommodations.  We did not like the hotel that we stayed at two years ago so I selected a different hotel, the Chang Hotel, to stay at this year.  The price was roughly double the rate where we stayed before but was well worth the money - but that will be the subject of another blog.

We had our airline and hotel reservations, our plan was once again to trust our intuition and select a driver for local transportation upon arrival at our destination.  Yes, there are people who will rip you off.  Yes, we have been ripped off a few, very few, times.  However most of the people that you encounter in these rural out of the way destinations are typically just an ordinary guy trying to make a living.  Duang and I do not go on organized tours.  Our traveling style is not compatible with an organized group in that we do not like being told how long we have to visit what particular location that they have selected.  We prefer to select our own locations and sights to visit supplemented with knowledge from local people who drive us about.  We are able to get a more personal experience from our travels by closely interacting with local people.  Very quickly the local drivers realize what we are interested in and take us to more unique places that meet and often exceed our expectations.  We run the risk perhaps of being ripped off but if we don't like a particular driver we do not hire for the next day.  I believe that the costs that we have paid for being ripped off are far less than the profit and overhead charged by an organized tour.  The benefit to us is to travel on our own schedule and a flexibility to enjoy serendipitous events or locations.




A Little Hmong Girl At the New Years Festival





This Little Guy Actually Managed to get Some Food Into His Mouth

 So yes this was basically a trip to a place we had been before for things that we had done before.  Same Same but different.

We stayed at a better hotel in a better location.

We ate at the restaurants that we ate at before but I could not drink the free draft Beer Lao that came with our second pizza at the Hive Restaurant; a large bottle and the first free draft Beer Lao was more than enough for me this year.

We went to the same locations for the public Hmong celebrations but this year I had a new and better camera.

We went to the Presidential Palace just as we did on the previous visit but whereas on our first visit the Sala Pha Bang was filled with scaffolding and workers, it is no longer under renovation.  It was a thrill to see the completed renovation but that will also be the subject of a different blog.

On this visit we visited two different outlying villages and saw Lao Kao (whiskey) production, embroidery, silk weaving, knife making, and brick production.  This was different.

Since our visit this year coincided with the Lunag Prabang International Film Festival, one night we attended the screening of a foreign film from Malaysia.  This was different.

We went the Night Market every night.  That was the same.  We spent far less at the market than during our previous visit and that was a big "different".

We ate French pastry at some new cafes.  That was different.

I went to an elementary school for the start of the morning.  I wandered about the school grounds photographing the young students and then photographing the classrooms.  I was ignored by the adults and never saw a security guard or policeman.  I was however like the Pied Piper with the children.  I enjoyed speaking or trying to speak with the children.  They were pleased to see digital photographs of themselves and their friends.  I did introduce myself to a couple of teachers and got to speak with them - a little bit.  This was different - wonderfully different.  But once again that will be subject of a future blog entry.

So this year's trip just as in life was a continuation as well as refinement of the past.  We built upon what was good from the last trip and took steps to eliminate or improve what was not 100% from our last trip.  To keep it all interesting and improve the overall experience we tried some different activities and locations on this trip.

Same, Same but different.

Perhaps even better!

New Gallery Available - "Lanten New Years"

A new photo gallery, "Lanten New Years", is available for viewing on my photography website via the following link.

http://www.hale-worldphotography.com/Travel/Lanten-New-Years-Celebration/11757479_5WFfn#830137405_RbrdP

The event was celebrated on 31 January of this year rather than the widely celebrated 01 January. I am at a loss to explain why the Lanten New Year was at the end of the month with the Khmu and Hmong celebrating New Years the previous month. Chinese New Years and Vietnam's "Tet" which are also new year celebrations were in February. Thai New Years, Songkran, will be celebrated in the middle of April.

Although I can not explain the nuances as to scheduling aspects of the various new year celebrations (lunar calender, end of harvest, end of dry season, Gregorian calender ...), I accept and definitely enjoy all of the celebrations - some of the many pleasures available here in Southeast Asia.

Lanten New Years Celebration - Pahka, Laos

Sunday, 31 January, was the New Years celebration in the Lanten village of Pahka. Pahka is located on the unpaved road, Lao Highway 17B, between Muang Sing and Xieng Kok. It is about 25 minutes outside of Xieng Kok.

I wanted to be there to watch the preparations for the festival, so we got up at 3:45 A.M. to leave the hotel at 4:00 A.M. for the 3 hour trip to Pahka. We went out to the parking lot and found Khun Kompak and Khun Thone waiting and ready to go. We were off to an early as well as a good start to the day. Since we were unable to purchase much food the day before, we stopped at the morning market in Khouang.

Our trip out to Pahka was highlighted by the sights of two very large bonfires on distant mountains. These fires were massive and provided golden glows to their surroundings with mushroom shaped clouds of smoke created above them. The mountains were not being cleared as part of the Hmong people's slash and burn technique of agriculture. The clearing and burning was on a large industrial scale to prepare the area for development into rubber plantations financed by China. During our flight to Luang Namtha, Duang and I had seen many of the rubber plantations. They had reminded me of the terraces used by the Incas in Peru.

We arrived in Pahka at 7:00 A.M. to find the village already heavily involved in the preparations for the festival later in the morning. Many men were squatting in a large semicircle around a large area of fresh banana leaves placed upon the ground in front of one of the homes. Piles of various parts of slaughtered cattle, hide, bones, intestines, stomach, internal organs, and so forth were heaped on top of the banana leaves. Next to each man was a thick round cutting block. Pieces of the animal were placed upon the cutting block and chopped with a heavy knife until it was turned into a thick paste - just as I had seen at some many preparations for festivals in Isaan.


Occasionally either one of the men or a woman would gather up the paste and place it into one of the large pots boiling over a wood fire close by to the men's location. Women were busy close by cooking rice, cooking soups, and preparing pieces of meat. Some of the women were multi-tasking. Besides their cooking duties they were caring for their baby who was strapped to their back. Older children were cooking pieces of liver skewered onto long pieces of slender bamboo. After cooking the meat they willingly shared with their friends and siblings. Throughout this scene village pigs, chickens, and dogs wandered about content to nibble and gnaw at the scraps at the edge of banana leaves.

After a couple of hours of intense food preparation, the villagers took a break to have breakfast. Their breakfast consisted of sticky rice that had been cooked in a very large pot covered with banana leaves. Along with the rice they ate some of the boiled meats. The food was placed on banana leaves and eaten with bare hands. Men took care of some of the small children while the women ate. Children wandered about the entire time amusing themselves anyway that they could. As is so often the case in Asia the older children looked after the younger children. Many of the young toddlers exhibited a strong sense and spirit of independence. I got several photos of groups of two and three year olds walking, sitting, and eating together fairly much oblivious to their surroundings. They live in an environment, or world very different than toddlers back in the USA or Europe. Their world still retains vestiges of trust, and innocence long purged from Western societies.

It was during this interlude that I found some of the younger women relaxing by playing a game. They were enjoying themselves by tossing a ball type object back and forth between them. The ball type object was a stuffed red, white, and blue cloth sack about four inches square with long cloth streamers of the same colors. There did not appear to be any strategy, rules, or even winners and losers in their play. They just smiled, and laughed even when they failed to catch the object. The overall feeling during the morning was a strong sense of community. Everyone seemed to have a duty and responsibility which they performed willingly as well as happily. There was one man who was obviously in charge and often was a little agitated. I joked with Duang that I thought that he "tink tink, too much" - what she used to tell me so often before. What she meant was that I "Think, think too much" - an expression of the Buddhist precept that thinking that is about wanting and desire lead to pain and suffering Although the people apparently respected him, when he started to spin out of control as often politicians do, the people basically ignored him. As he was getting all excited they walked away and continued with their work at their selected pace.

As the morning got later, vendors set up their booths on both sides of the village main dirt street. A very popular booth for the children was the vendor who sold the Lao version of snow cones. The young children congregated around the female vendor as she prepared to sell the cold treats. Other popular vendors were the balloon people. The balloon people had booths where people paid to throw three metal darts at air filled balloons stuffed into cubicles on a large sheet of plywood about 12 feet away. If three balloons were broken with three consecutive throws, the player won a small box of soy milk drink or fruit drink. The game was open to all ages - you just had to have the money to play.



The most popular booths for people of all ages were the dice games. Gambling is illegal in Thailand but very wide spread in Laos. The dice game involves placing your money (bet) on a sheet of plastic that has pictures on it. The pictures of fish, horses, dragon, etc correspond to the pictures on the faces of the dice. The dice are placed side by side at the top of one section of an opened wooden box. A string runs from the band holding the dice in place to a bettor at the foot of the open box. After the bets are placed, the person pulls on the string which typically releases one of the dice to tumble down into the second section of the open box. The second tug on the string usually released the remaining two dice. The winning bets were paid off and the losing bets gathered by the vendors. The losing bets were kept in the bottom part of the box to a certain point when the vendor hid the stash of cash under the fabric playing surface of the bottom box. The betting and payout were a combination of roulette and craps. You could bet on the actual picture that would show up at least once or you could place your bet on lines and intersections of lines for different types of payouts. The little children were obsessed with the game. It was like video games in America only with the possibility of winning money. However just as is the case with gambling anywhere in the world, the "losers" far exceeded the number of "winners" Much to the delight of the children, I gambled for awhile. I used just about every cliche used in movies about gambling to extol good luck. I blew on the dice. I talked to the dice. I patted the string puller on the shoulder. I rubbed the string puller's hands. I puffed three times on the hand of the string puller. The children loved it. I ended up wining 50,000 KIP (about $6 USD. When I quit I gave my "Lucky" string puller 10,000 KIP much to her delight. Duang then gambled on her own. It took awhile but she managed to lose the 60,000 KIP that I gave her. We had lost 10,000 KIP ($1.25 USD) but we had a great time - very cheap entertainment for sure.


We left the village when the speeches by the visiting dignitaries started. There were to be dances and music as part of the celebration but it was getting late. We still had a three hour drive to return to the hotel. I wanted to be back by sunset for safety reasons - safety in terms of "road safety" rather than crime concerns.

Upon completing our dinner, Duang and I stopped by some people playing volleyball. They were people from Thaioil that we had met earlier in our stay. They were from the same refinery in Thailand where I had worked when I met Duang. I ended up playing volleyball with them until it was too dark to play. It was a pleasant surprise to meet them again, play volleyball and most of all return to our room without any injuries or even aches and pains. It was definitely a nice way to finish our last full day in Laos (for this trip).

We were scheduled to leave the next afternoon at 12:40 P.M. but that is for another blog or two.