Originally, the Hmong people were immigrants from Tibet,
Siberia and Mongolia, before migrating to China 3,000 years ago where
they settled down in areas around the Yellow (Huang Ho) River, Kwaijoa,
Hunnam, Kwangsi and Yunnan. During the 17th century, the Manju Dynasty
(Hmeng) wielded power in China. The King changed policy to suppress
Hmong people who refused to practice and believe in the Chinese culture
and tradition, because Hmong men have a similar character to Russians
which led the Chinese to believe that they were Russian. Another reason
was that the Hmong was a barbarian race, and constantly fought each
other.
Eventually, the Hmong people were defeated and
moved to the south of China, separating into small groups. Most of
these groups lived on the hills in Sibsongpanna, while another set of
immigrants lived on the northeast of the Lao republic around Haihin
Dianbianfu. The Leader, named ‘General Wungpor’ collected Hmong immigrants, and moved to Thailand around 2400 in Buddhism era (c. 1857).
Now, Hmong people in Thailand have set up
villages on the hills, or the lowlands, around Chiang Rai, Payao, Chiang
Mai, Prae, Lampang, Khampang Phet, Loei, Phisanulok, Phetchabun, Tak
and Mae Hong Son. The current population of Hmong people stands around
151,080.
In the past Hmong believed that a pregnancy was an
act of the will of the Mother's and Father's ghost. Hmong women are
careful to make sure that as they approach the final stages of their
pregnancy they don't go anywhere alone. Wherever a pregnant woman goes
she has to have at least one friend go with her. Delivery is done
naturally, with the woman in labor sitting on top of a small stool in
front of the bedroom. The woman will lean against her husband for
support and the door of the house will be closed. Children are
prohibited from entering the house during this time.
After the baby has been delivered, it will be cleaned
up and the umbilical cord cut with scissors. If the baby is a boy, the
afterbirth will be buried at the central pillar of the house, which is
where, it is believed, a spirit resides. This is because boys should
understand about ghosts and spirits. If the baby is a girl, the
afterbirth will be buried under the mother's cot, because girls should
understand the value of chastity and understand the affairs of running a
household.
Three days after a new child is born the father will
conduct a ceremony to give a name to the child. Two chickens will be
offered as a sacrifice to please the spirits of the ancient ancestors
and to thank the spirits of the mother and father for sending the child
to be born. The spirits will be asked to watch over and protect the
child and to accept the child as a member of the family lineage.
As the Hmong believe that a child does not yet
become human until it is a full three days old, a baby that dies during
this period can be buried immediately, without having to perform the
various customary ceremonies. It is believed the newborn is still the
child of ghosts.
Nowadays it is mostly the middle-aged and elderly
Hmong who still hold these beliefs. Educated Hmong will tend not to
retain these beliefs, but their children will still go through all the
prescribed ceremonies of a Hmong. Deliveries are now mostly done at the
hospital as it is feared that danger may arise to the woman if a natural
birth is attempted at home. http://hmong.hilltribe.org
Hmong
people believe that the dead person’s spirit is sent to heaven when
the ceremony is completed. They believe that the dead person has merit
because that person can meet their ancestors and dead relatives. When a
person dies, a member in family will shoot a gun into the sky three
times to tell other people in the village.
The body is washed. The men wear women’s
clothes and a belt, and the women change to wear men’s clothing. The
face is covered by a red cloth to hide it from people who come to the
ceremony. The body is laid out opposite the door, and the wrists are
tied by red strings until the funeral ceremony is finished. The Chinese
Hmong believe that when someone falls down near the house, the dead
body must have a reassurance ceremony because they think the spirit of
the dead body will take the spirit of the fallen person.
Hmong people believe that when the spirit
goes to hell, it peels onions and cannot go to heaven. So they will
bind the dead body’s fingers by the red strings to tell that the spirit
has wound in the body, and put shoes on it because the spirit must
ford the caterpillar river and cross the green worm mountain.
The dead body is put on a table, close to the shrine of
the house. They will give three separate food offerings to the body.
Afterwards, they will shoot a gun three times and light a lamp on the
dead body, when the relatives are gathered together.
The relatives will repay the dead
person’s debts before burial to free them, give them wealth, and also
happiness in the future life. When the relatives come together, a
chicken is killed as an offering and black magic prayers are said, to
direct the body to the next world. The relatives who attend the
ceremony make a boat from silver and gold paper which the spirit uses
along the journey to next world.
If the dead person is elderly, the relatives make their respects (‘Xyom’)
each morning and evening. A ceremony which dresses the body in
embroidered clothes is performed in order to give a farm to all the
spirits, making them rich in the next world.
Before burial, the ceremony leader teaches to any visitors from 8pm until 2am.
On burial day many neighbors come to attend the
ceremony. The lineage will clean the body before burial and they have to
kill a cow to worship the dead person. Some families will do the
ceremony again outside, before taking the body to the graveyard to bury
around 4pm.
In the procession, a woman will take a torch to give
direction to the dead body. When the procession has passed through the
village she will throw the torch away and run back, because the Hmong
believe that then the spirit cannot find its way back home. The
procession finally arrives at the graveyard, where a black magic prayer
is performed, and the body is put in a well-placed grave that gives a
blessing and beneficial effects for the descendents. After the funeral
has finished, they family members put stones and twigs on the grave,
and burn the silver and gold papers (or anything else they have offered)
given to the dead body. The table that takes the dead body to the
graveyard is sawn up, as the Hmong believe that then it cannot take
life from the people in the village.
During the funeral ceremony, to let the
spirit reach heaven, no-one can pick any flowers or leaves. Also the
entire lineage may not cry on the way to the graveyard because the
spirit would be concerned, and unable to go to the next world. The
older dead around hillside are buried thus: those on the left will have
a female ancestor and on the right a male ancestor. Hmong do not bury
children on the same day as their parents because they will not
prosper; and they won’t bury other dead bodies in the same row because
that dead body will snatch the place to make a farm and come to
interfere with any family member that has an illness. A child’s body
can be buried in the same row because the children can play together.
The family makes a fence to protect the grave
from animals or insects, and relatives may not visit the grave until
13 days after burial. On that day they have to free the spirit, so it
can go to the next world.Hmong people believe that the grave or
graveyard which has overgrown grass, like spinach, means that the
family has peace. A person who dies from the result of an accident or
killed by violence is not taken to the house or buried the same way.
The Hmong
will be in mourning for 13 days, and during that time, they cannot wash
their clothes or brush their hair, because the dirt drops in the body’s
food. They don’t draw strings because it snuggles up to the legs of
the body, or sew clothes because the needle stabs the body. The husband
or wife of the dead person cannot marry until 13 days have passed
because it makes the dead concerned about their welfare. Hmong people
then converse and cover the coffin with earth, stones and branches.
Hmong people cannot be in love with people of the same lineage
because they are regarded as relatives. During the New Year
celebration, Hmong will don colorful clothes which they have prepared
the whole year. The women will throw the kato (a ball made from cloth)
to the man that she likes, and if the man does not like the woman, he
will slip away. Kato is a ball made from black clothes and is as large
as a tennis ball.. While playing the game, the match will talk to each
other or play games and those who did not receive a kato must pay a fine
in terms of items or decorations for the winner. This festive
practice provides an opportunity for the match to meet each other at
night. The courtship takes place around the woman’s house with the man
outside the house and the woman in her bedroom. The man does not enter
the house directly as it is against the Hmong’s traditions and disturb
the woman’s parents as well as dishonoring the woman’s family. When the
man is sure that the woman’s parents are asleep, the man will get to
the wall of the woman’s bedroom and whisper to her or play the Jang
(Hmong musical instrument made from brass)
If the woman recognizes that the voice belongs to
the man she loves, she will respond and talk to each other. She can
also come out to chat with him in front of her house. However, if they
make noise, the woman’s parents will be upset and will fine when a man
argue. The woman’s parents usually will be understanding and give
freedom to the couple.
Historically,
the Hmong have married within their clan but outside their family
name. They have a custom of engagement where the child is engaged from
one month of age. The boy’s parents will go to ask the girl’s parents
for an engagement by bringing the things for the engagement ceremony to
give to the girl’s parents. Both sides will then conclude an agreement
that their children will marry when they grow up and that whoever goes
back on the agreement will pay reparations to the other side. Hmong
still practice this tradition today, but not as commonly as in the
past.
Make a marriage proposal.
Traditionally, Hmong parents would find a wife for
their son when he is 14-16 years old. If they know that their son
already has a lover, they will make an offering of boiled chicken and
seven joss sticks to an ancestor spirit and pray for guidance from it.
They will know the response from the tongue of a chicken and the
chicken leg that they gave in offering. If the sign is inauspicious,
the would-be groom’s parents tell their son to break up with the woman
and offer another boiled chicken to the spirit. Another way is to
arrange for two matchmakers to make a marriage proposal.
If, on the way to the woman’s house to deliver a
marriage proposal, a wild animal like a snake or a deer were to pass in
front of the line or a dead body were to be in a village that the
group walked past, Hmong would interpret it as a bad omen and would
cancel the marriage proposal in the belief that the couple would be
visited by ill fortune, separating or passing away in the future.
Hmong go to the woman’s house in the evening, after
they finish their day’s work. The man’s matchmaker will give tobacco to
the woman’s parents and tell them the name of the man who wishes to
marry their daughter.
Hmong will call their relatives over to decide
whether to accept. The woman will have two matchmakers working to reach
an agreement with the man’s matchmakers about the dowry. To that end,
the woman’s matchmakers will put one bottle of alcohol and four glasses
on the table near the door; they will come to drink together and after
reaching an agreement to marry move the table inside the house and
discuss the dowry and the date of the wedding.
If in some other way the woman denied, they will
move the table outside and, after finishing the alcohol, everyone goes
back home. The man really loves that particular woman, the man will
try again. On the other hand, Hmong do not have to make the marriage
proposal; instead, the man may elope with the woman and have a wedding
ceremony when the couple has enough money.
In the past, Hmongs constitute
of big families. Hmong women who has wedding, usually will prepare them
self to give a birth.
Hmong women wake up early in the morning at
around 4.00 - 5.00 am. They undertake all the household chores
including drawing water, cooking meals for the family and feeding the
domestic animals. After sunrise, the women prepare for work in the
field to gather opium leaves, cut the grasses or harvest the crops.
When they are at home, they will weave and look after their children,
and in the evening, the woman prepares opium for their husbands. Her
work will finish when everyone in the house sleep. Hmong men have
lesser workload than women as their daily routine includes sipping tea,
smoking opium, taking care of the house, and entertaining their
guests.
Hmong women work harder than men because Hmong
perceive marriage as man buying woman to work for everyone in his house.
Therefore, Hmong women who are married are like housemaids and work
very hard but cannot support themselves. Also, Hmong men can marry many
wives to take care of the house. Some people have up to 4 wives and
the women usually can live together as relatives and do not fight.
Nowadays, the Hmong people are more receptive to Thai cultures, and the
men usually marry only one woman. The Hmong men also take more
initiative to help his wife as compared to the past.
In the past bride
theft was a common practice. Bride theft was used in the event that the
woman was unwilling to marry her suitor. Following the theft, a wedding
ceremony would be held. The father of the groom would help his son
conjure up a plan to capture his bride and find people to come and help
in the act. The woman would be lured out of her house and then seized.
Assaulting the woman while she was still in her house was considered
foul play and a fine would have to be paid. The woman would find every
possible way to resist her captors and try to get her relatives to help
rescue her. During the scramble, the relatives of the man would plead
with the woman's family to let their daughter go with them.
After the
woman had been hussled off to the man's family's house she would be
forced to stay in the man's room with him. Two days later the man would
send two representatives to the woman's family's house to inform them of
what had happened to their daughter and gently ease all their concerns
and fears regarding her plight. At the appropriate time, a formal
request for marriage would be made and the wedding ceremony would be
held soon after. The representatives sent to negotiate had to be masters
in the art of speech and communication in order to convince the mother
and father of the woman to approve of the theft. As the negotiations
progressed, the representatives would try to offer tobacco to the mother
and father of the woman. If they accepted the tobacco it was considered
a sign they approved of the union. In the event that the man and his
family did not go to the woman's family's house and inform them of the
situation, it was considered to be a violation of Hmong custom and
tradition, and a fine of approximately 12 maang would have to be paid (A maang is
a large silver coin which the Hmong use amongst themselves). Along the
same lines as this, if the woman is able to escape from her captors and
return home within three days of her disappearance, the man would be
fined. Sometimes, however, if the father of the woman does not wish to
have his daughter marry the man who stole her away, the woman might
simply be returned and no fine would be paid.
At present, bride theft has started to disappear
resulting from the fact that some of the women who have been forced to
marry have found themselves caught in bad marriages. Some have caused
harm to themselves, but some couples have also been very successful in
married life. With all the changes occurring in society, combined with
Hmong now becoming more educated, it is not surprising that ways of
thinking and living have begun to change accordingly. Although bride
theft is becoming a thing of the past, there are some cases in which
necessity causes it to still be practiced. One example might be when
a father sees that a particular woman has caught his son's eye and he
is unable to persuade his son to make up his mind to marry. In this case
the father might steal the bride away. This would only be allowed if
the woman hadn't yet set her heart on some other man. As money has become a strong
driving force in the life of man, however, if the woman in question does
not love the man as much as the man loves her, but the elders of the
woman's family approve, the woman will not have any right to resist. Her
older relatives will force her to marry the man without exception.
Running off together
In the past it was very common
for a man and woman who were in love to run off together. This would
occur when the man was unable to ask the woman's family for her hand in
marriage. In this case the man would get his sweetheart to pack her
belongings up and run off to his house. A few days later a
representative would be sent to inform the woman's mother and father of
what had happened. The woman would help the family of the man with their
work and when they had enough money, the man's family would go and ask
for the woman's hand in marriage and would then hold a wedding ceremony
in accordance with Hmong custom.
At present, Hmong seem to favor this as
the best way to get married because it is inexpensive. Having two wives
is not uncommon as the decision is made between two people, without the
knowledge of the elders or one's relatives. In the event the
relationship fails the man is able to go out and find himself another
wife.
