PBS Wisconsin Documentaries

Hmong music

Lia Vang

My home in Green Bay, Wisconsin is about as different from the home where my parents grew up as any two places can be different. They didn't grow up with cars or cement roads or electricity, or telephones or indoor plumbing. And in their world, children learned from parents and elders rather than from formal schools. I'm sure that my mother and father feel that people here in the U.S. are different, too-- just as different as the telephones and computers and tall buildings.

But I don't think it's the people themselves

It's their rules, their values their lifestyles. The Hmong culture is so different from the ways and ideas of people in this country that most Hmong people in my parents' generation have had a very tough time making new lives here. In trying to live Hmong culture in this society they have often been frustrated and disappointed. My father has been very depressed.

Speaking Hmong

Lia Vang

Most Americans have very little idea of what the old ways mean to Hmong people. We'd like to change that. We'd like our new neighbors here in the Unites States to know about our beliefs our traditions, our rituals and our customs. And understanding us and our culture begins with the word we use to describe ourselves-- "Hmong." In our language, it represents being free. Today, in my third year of high school I, and my brothers and sisters are something my grandparents never imagined citizens of the Unites States "Americans!" I wonder at times where we'd all be if there had never been a "secret" part of the war in Vietnam. If my father had chosen not to be a soldier if the Unites States had defeated the communists as they said they would I don't think I'd be wearing this. This is the homeland of my ancestors in the mountains of Northern Laos. And these are my ancestors, my father's family gathered near their village for a celebration sometime in the 1960s. My father, Cher Yang Vang, is here. This was long before there were any thoughts about me or any of my 14 brothers and sisters. And long before anyone knew anything of a place called "America." The peninsula below China, where Laos is located is a beautiful fertile land, lush and Green with rolling mountains and sparkling rivers. For centuries, our people grew rice and Maize here. They tended cattle, horses, pigs and chickens. The children, always many children helped with everything. And families, usually several generations lived in houses like these. They worked seven days a week. They abided by the rulings of the clan elders. They looked to their shaman for healing and comfort. They paid homage to the spirits for protection and good fortune. They were born, lived, married, made and raised families worked, died and were buried according to their ancient rituals. They were peaceful and happy and fought only to keep their freedom that was so dear to them. So, why did our people leave this serene way of life in such a wonderful place? Because... Differences in human beliefs, traditions rituals and customs can cause conflict and war.

Explosions

Lia Vang

In the 1950s,

Vietnam was divided into two countries

North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The two sides started fighting for control. American soldiers joined South Vietnamese and Thai soldiers against the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. That was the Vietnam war everyone knew about. But there was another war, a little-known war. My family lives in Wisconsin because of that war. As the fighting in Vietnam worsened America's CIA hired famous Hmong military leader Vang Pao to secretly go into the mountains of Laos and convince tribal farmers from the area to become soldiers for the Unites States. These farmers were the Hmong, not Lao a separate people, with their own clans and villages and origins and language. My parents' people. Able-bodied males were recruited and trained to use the weapons of modern warfare and help fight the communists. Their special and secret job was to block the road the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong used to get goods and weapons to their troops in the South the road called the Ho Chi Minh trail which passed through the rugged mountains my people farmed and loved. The mature men of the villages were the first to be recruited and the first to die. Then boys as young as ten years-old were made soldiers and many of them died, too. They saved hundreds of U.S. Pilots whose planes were shot down in this forbidden area. They saved thousands of lives of other Americans, too and sacrificed thousands of their own in doing so. In the end, by 1975 when all the supporters of the war had stopped fighting there were 30,000 dead Hmong soldiers and civilians left behind including my father's first wife and three of my half-brothers and sisters. Also left behind were villages, farms and homes to which the war's survivors and the descendants of their survivors like me and my brothers and sisters could never return. Before the war started over 300,000 of our people lived in Laos. Now, only half that number are left there. And according to local advocates they are treated harshly by the government. Laotian government and Vietnamese governments are launching five division troops to Laos to kill the Hmong people in the jungle. And we'd like to do demonstration today to show-- to support the American government to help us to immediately support and help the Hmong community-- the Hmong people in the jungle today.

Lia Vang

Some of the war's survivors, the lucky ones fled to new homes -- first in refugee camps in Thailand then in places of safety all over the world including the Unites States. Between 1979 and 1989 nearly a million Southeast Asian refugees-- 90,000 of them Hmong-- came to make their homes in this country forced from their native homes and country by events they didn't cause and couldn't control. The new arrivals included my mother and father. In 1975, my family escaped Laos and crossed the Mekong River to Thailand. There were no shelters established yet. No hospitals, no schools and they were just putting up the fencing the barbed-wire fencing. I was born in Laos. And I came here with my mother and my siblings when I was 6 years-old, back in 1980. My dad said, "America? What is America?" "It's a land way up in the sky." Because to get to America, we needed to get on a plane. As a young boy, kind of coming out of the jungle living in huts and houses I could never picture this civilization of big buildings, fast cars, red light, Green light. Then, as time goes on, I kind of get acclimated to it. I think my dad had the hardest time because he had a choice between working or going to school. He had to work, because he had to support all of us. So he didn't have the time to go to school like my mom did. My mom went to school, but it was hard for her, too because she had to support all of us, raising us teaching us English, too. Hmong people like my parents believe very strongly that living as their ancestors did which includes speaking the Hmong language is the only way to live. It's too bad, really, that the only time other Americans get a chance to see some of that life is at our annual New Year festival. This celebration has been a part of Hmong culture for as long as anyone can remember. In Laos, it begins in each village on the 30th day of the lunar month after the year's rice harvest is completed, usually in December. Here, because of the weather it's held in August or September. In our homeland Hmong family members all work seven days a week every week of the year except for the New Year celebration the only time when all work must cease for at least three days. Some of the festival activities include volleyball, soccer, Katow, performing traditional dances, drinking, eating, and the ball toss game. In the ball toss game unmarried males and females stand opposite each other and toss a soft black ball back and forth. Since dropping a good throw means the person at fault must give the thrower something of value like a piece of silver or some trinket from his or her clothing the game would seem to be about winning objects. But the real purpose is to allow girls and boys to meet each other and find out if there is mutual attraction. Most of my ancestors made their first public contact through the ball toss game at a New Year celebration. I don't meet guys by ball tossing like how my parents and them do. I meet them by them coming to me and talking to me or I go and talk to them. I usually be friends with them first. I'm usually friends with them to get to know who they really are first and then start to date them. But sometimes-- just sometimes if I just happen to spot the right guy, I'll go for it. In traditional Hmong culture boys and girls don't speak in public other than at the New Year festival. They get to know each other when everyone else is sleeping. After seeing a girl he might be interested in a boy goes to her house after she has gone to bed. He talks and plays music and sings to her trying to coax her to join him outside. If she does so, the couple is free to be together so long as she is home before early morning. Boys and girls may go through several of these courtships before finding the person each wants to marry. When that happens and it does only if neither family has an objection the boy brings a black umbrella to her father's house then seeks her parents' permission to marry her through a third party. That party then goes to the girl's family and members of their clan and works out the details of the marriage including the gifts that are to be given by the husband to the girl's family. And then, there's the traditional Hmong wedding... Like my older sister Zouapa's! This is at our house. It's the second day of celebrating that started the day before at the groom's family home. Tomorrow, everyone will go back there for a third and final day. Some of the minor parts of the custom have changed here in the U.S. But overall, this is the same ritual that joined all our ancestors in marriage like the groom, Neng and his "phib laj" or "best man" Doing Pe. This ritual honors all male relatives and members of the household. Both the bride and the groom have "mej koob"-- a marriage broker or marriage negotiator to represent them. Here, the bride's mej koob, on the left instructs the male members from both families about proper etiquette during this very happy, but important and serious ritual. Later, the groom's mej koob chants marriage songs back and forth with the bride's mej koob. These chants can go on for an hour, or more and must be performed very precisely on each of the three days of the ceremony.

Singing

Lia Vang

A list of what gifts the guests and family have brought for the bride and groom is carefully kept and then read aloud near the end of each day--

things they will need to start their lives together

Like silverware, dishes, clothes, Furniture money, and of course, food! That's a half-leg of the pig with the tail that goes to the daughter and son-in-law. Also, they have... Two chicken, with one bag of rice so, they go-- they take it with them.

Lia Vang

The bride's family provides the food and other refreshments for which the groom's family shows their thanks and appreciation. At the same time, the bride's family expresses their gratitude for the groom's family's gifts which helped make the food and refreshments possible. Within what seems to be just socializing a very important part of the ritual is taking place. Persons chosen by the groom's parents to represent them are guaranteeing the bride's family that they will take full responsibility if she should ever be mistreated if she should ever be made to suffer illness or sadness to cry, to be cold or hungry, or be in pain if she should ever be allowed to commit adultery. In the Hmong culture a wife's unfaithfulness is the responsibility of the husband. Just as important as the assurances from the groom's family to the bride's are the instructions to the bride from members of her family. Uncles, older male brothers and cousins take turns telling her that this is a very serious matter. She is now an adult, not single anymore and must separate herself forever from her mother and go to her husband's family whom she will always honor, respect and help make prosperous. She is told how to be a good wife, daughter-in-law and respectable individual in her new family and community. She's told that her old family will lose respect for her and because of her if she fails. Today, some of our people are married through Christian ceremonies like this one for Nou and Yeng.

Speaking Hmong

Singing

Ceremony continues in Hmong

Lia Vang

When the songs and prayers and ceremonies at a Christian wedding and the feasting and drinking and exchanging of honors is finished at the traditional Hmong wedding all Hmong people understand one very important thing

about what has just happened

This has been much more than the joining of a man and a woman. It has been the creation of family ties that will be everlasting. I feel that, in the Hmong culture, men-- boys, I should say-- they get all the appreciation, you know, special treatment. Those girls-- I know my parents and them care about us a lot. But we don't get recognized a lot. Because we're mainly there to, you know, cook, clean, help them out, you know. But one reason why that is, is because when we get married we'll go off and live with our husbands and their family and we won't be part of our family anymore. But my brothers and them they'll always be there for my parents. Because when they get married they'll bring their wife home to my parents and them and they'll still live with my parents.

May Lee Lor

This is everyday life back in Laos. Every morning before the sunrise they pack their lunch and their tools and they walk to the garden.

Lia Vang

The traditional roles for males and females are only one part of our culture that's being changed by the realities of life in America. So is the art of needlework that created this "paj ndau" or "flowercloth." For centuries, Hmong girls began at age seven or eight learning how to baste, cut and stitch cloth into these colorful detailed designs. But here, there are schools to attend and jobs outside the home. The flowercloths are not only decorations for walls, and floors and clothing, they also were, for most of Hmong history the only visual way our people had to pass on their stories from generation to generation. Since there was no written form of the Hmong language until recently, 1953, our traditions and legends could only be told by word of mouth and through the images of the paj ntaub.

May Lee Lor

This is when, after the Vietnam War when the Hmong helped the American CIA with the war and when the American flee the country the Hmong people have to pack their belongings and have to leave their country because the Vietnam came and killed them and burn up their houses. So they have to get their belongings come to the Mekong River and have to get some bamboo or raft and cross the Mekong River over to Thailand. These are people, are Thai and they helped the people from the river and put them into a camp where they would stay there until they come to the Unites States.

Lia Vang

All these women gathered here at a neighborhood resource center in Green Bay made that trip just described in the paj ntaub. They understand that because of the demands of life in the Unites States some of their daughters and granddaughters will never learn the needlework skills. But at the moment, they have other concerns.

Speaking Hmong

Lia Vang

Hmong and English are such different languages that it's very hard for older people from either culture to learn to speak or write the language of the other. In Hmong, the meanings of words often depend on how they are sounded. Also, sounds are spelled differently than they are in English. Like the word for the story cloth is pronounced "pan-dow" but it's spelled like this. My mom understands English and she can speak a little bit. My dad understands some English, but can't use it himself. I, and my brothers and sisters, on the other hand can write and speak English just as well as any kids our age. Hmong people I know who've overcome the language barrier have done very well. Dan Lee is a successful computer specialist and real estate owner. Koua Yang works with the immigration program of the Green Bay Catholic Diocese. He and his wife, Ying owned and operated this Asian-food grocery store. Bon Xiong served as an alderperson for the city of Appleton. Jai Vang is executive director of the Green Bay Hmong association. Yang Kong and his father own a car dealership and garage in Green Bay. Manee Moua won the Chancellor's Medallion as the outstanding student in her college graduating class and now she's in law school. Tou Ger Xiong is a popular lecturer and entertainer in the Midwest. Vaughn Vang is a counselor in the Green Bay public schools. Vue Lor, with a degree in social work was a case manager for Brown County Wisconsin Family Services. I also think that although I am very independent and very Americanized in some ways, and a professional woman, I still carry on so many beliefs. When you talk to an elder, you don't look at them like what, you know, face each other. When you talk to someone who is older than you, you will be you will be down-casting your eyes like this and listening to them and answering them back instead of facing, you know, looking at each other in the eye. That's because that's a sign of disrespect. We were raised, as little kids to give respect to elderly people and to obey them. So, I carry that on. Hopefully, I will be able to pass those beliefs and values to my children. In my culture, you never back talk your teachers and never back talk to your parents. You don't even think about it. In America today respect for elders is something I do not see very often. But in our culture, there are many traditions that differ a lot from Western ways. One is the common practice of treating illness with herbs gathered from the wild and herbs specially grown inside the house a practice people here find unusual. The sacrifice of animals is not only considered unusual here it's against the law. But in our culture chickens, cows and pigs and are often chosen to be butchered as a part of one ceremony or another. Such sacrifices are used to ward off bad spirits or honor good spirits or find "wandering" spirits or to use the spirit in an animal to help the spirit in the human.

Speaking Hmong

Lia Vang

Spirits are at the center of Hmong culture and tradition. We believe all things in nature have spirits both living and non-living like humans, animals, plants, trees, mountains, rivers houses, doors. The "dab nyeg" are household spirits which inhabit various parts of the Hmong house and protect the household. The "dab qus" are wild forest spirits which inhabit certain parts of the natural landscape and roam around ready to attack or capture human souls. Each human being has many souls, and these souls do not die. Some belong to earth, some to the otherworld. Some are reincarnated into other parts of nature. The souls of departed ancestors reside in the otherworld. They are able to assist the living to find good fortune and avoid hardship. They decide how long each Hmong person will be alive in the world and when that time runs out, the person dies. These same spirits are also the souls of Hmong people waiting to be born. And someday, they will re-enter the earthly world. But only the shaman can travel between the living world and the otherworld without being harmed.

Chanting

Lia Vang

This shaman is on his journey to the Hmong otherworld. Many of the sounds he makes cannot be understood by the average Hmong. Some have their roots in the ancient Chinese languages. Wearing a hood of black cloth to cover his eyes he makes his journey on his spiritual horse from a long bench in front of the family altar which has been specially arranged for this ceremony. There is a saucer of husked rice with an egg in the center sticks of incense, a pork-fat candle a bowl of water,

three small cups

One with tea one with rice wine and one with water. All these items are necessary to both please the spirits and to help the shaman find his way to the otherworld. To help summon his contacts there the shaman wears finger bells. Behind him, his assistant beats a gong. As his ride on his spiritual horse grows more intense so do his communications with the forces in the otherworld.

Chanting continues with other vocalizations

three small cups

A shaman is not a person who chooses to be one but a person who is chosen for the role by spirits of the Hmong otherworld. These spirits reveal themselves through special dreams to the males and females they choose to be vehicles for their healing powers. The shamans serve as both medical and religious leaders for those who request their services. And one of their most important duties is to heal sick people and prevent illness. In this case, the shaman is trying to find an unhappy spirit that is abiding in this family's home making it difficult for the husband to sleep at night. The shaman's journey into the otherworld can go on for two hours, or more as he or she calls on "spirit allies" to help negotiate with other spirits often evil spirits through bartering, threatening or even cheating in order to return the family and the house to full health. After his journey the shaman throws the divination horns in front of the altar several times. How the horns land tells him whether or not his journey has been successful. In this case, he burns "spirit money" as a gesture of thanks to the spirits.

Speaking Hmong

Lia Vang

When a Hmong person dies the family chooses a "host" for the funeral. He or she, along with a Christian minister in this case coordinates all the activities of the three-day ceremony. It begins on a Friday morning with prayers and a hymn.

Singing

Lia Vang

The deceased is dressed in new clothing made especially for the funeral. This clothing must be made of pure cloth which will disintegrate along with the body. Any metal or stone or other substance which cannot decompose will bring bad fortune to Future generations of the family. In fact, it has been known that Hmong people with ill feelings toward the deceased have tried to place rocks, metal or other hard materials into the coffin or clothes of the deceased to bring the family harm. To guard against this, the daughters and daughters-in-law of the deceased must constantly examine the clothing and other items that will be placed in the coffin. If improper materials are found in anything the person who placed them there must pay a fine to the family. At every funeral, you will find many pictures and other objects on display. These represent his life and his worth as a person. The bowing and hand gestures by the male mourners are expressions of thanks and blessings to all those who came to mourn the deceased especially those who helped pay for the funeral expenses or took some part in the ceremony and of course, to the well-being of all the children living now as a result of the hard work and good life of the deceased. Hmong funerals can be very expensive because many people attend. And the family must pay tribute to those who pay their final respects. All the guests must be fed and housed by the dead person's family. Ceremonies go 24-hours-a-day, for at least three days. The more important a person is say a clan leader or other community figurehead the more people attend the funeral. It is not uncommon for a Hmong funeral honoring a person of stature to cost $30,000. Xong Mang is dressed in a hat for his funeral because according to Hmong tradition males and females change roles after death. In their next lives, men are women and women are men. Xong is dressed for his reincarnation as a Hmong woman. I know my parents are really worried about us losing our Hmong culture, but for me, I intend to keep my culture because it is the most important thing to me. It makes me who I am, because I am Hmong. I am proud to be Hmong. And I intend to keep it forever and ever. I want to pass it on to my kids and to their kids keep it on generation after generation. I've been away from my culture so long that now I look back on it and I regret a lot of it. I mean that's why I'm trying so hard to get back what I've missed out all these years. I want to pass it on to my children so that they don't miss out on all the experiences I've missed out. I mean, I've seen how beautiful and how wonderful my culture really is. And it really makes me happy to know that hey, you know, I am Hmong! I want to maintain as much of the Hmong culture and tradition. And I want to pass it on to my kids because I believe that it's very important to remember and to know who we are because if we don't, then we become alien to ourselves. But learning who we are is not as easy as it might seem. If you really want to learn the Hmong culture it's like a course. It's like a major in school. You really have to set that time aside just for the Hmong culture. And that's just how pang Yang teaches it like a course of study. I am Hmong. And no matter what I do, I can't change that. So, that's been my goal to teach the kids that "you're Hmong." You can still be Americanized and be a Hmong person at the same time. And there's a lot of things in the Hmong culture that you might not like, or you might like. Take the good part of the Hmong culture and take a good part of the American culture and combine it and you know, use it in your life. I think that, nowadays a lot of the teens are forgetting the culture. And to kind of let them know about the culture and to have them more aware about what happened what our parents went through I set up a program where we would do, like, Hmong clothing. We had kind of like a spelling contest where they try to write the Hmong. And we try to preserve the culture with folklore. And so, we did the folklore and had the kids write it in Hmong and English. And they did their own illustration of a book. And then, we had them make Hmong houses just so they know what the Hmong houses looked like and the traditional houses. We try to show the kids that,, Hmong have their own sports. So, we did the tops game. You can make it out of wood, out of a hardwood. Or, you know, it's easy. And it's just a piece of string and a stick so that was something simple that they can do. We had the stilts that you walk on. That is more for farmers, or different things like that. But just to show the kids that we have something like this. And then, we did the rocks. And back then, it was in the country and it was farming. So, people were really poor and their means of entertainment was simple stuff, like rocks. I mean, you can just pick rocks anywhere, and play rocks. We're trying to teach these kids that you can go back to the basic and still have fun. And kind of to remember these games because when you're parents are gone, you can remember and pass these games down, generation down to generation. I love the Hmong culture. But the Hmong culture poses a huge problem for me and for the rest of my generation. I mean, our parents you know, they want us to learn their culture and not to forget it. But we live in a society filled with different ways and different customs. I mean, for us to transition from one to another it's so difficult. Because when we're at home, it's Hmong all the way. But when we go out and we go to school I mean, we have to totally switch mind sets and go to the different culture. I mean, we have to be American, you know, in all their ways. I mean, this is a huge problem for me and a huge problem for my siblings. I think that the youth in this generation probably will be the one that have the hardest in regards to trying to become someone to have an identity to feel like they belong somewhere and still have the support from home. They do not have American culture. They don't have Hmong culture. They are people in the middle. And many students say they are nothing. They not belong anywhere, so that's why they misbehave. Our parents expect us to play the same roles as children that they did and to be obedient youngsters like they were in the old country. They don't understand how hard it is to be a teenager in America today with all the pressure to get good grades to deal with peer pressure, dating, drugs and alcohol sex, smoking, and the focus on money and looks. It's tough even when this is the culture your parents grew up in. But our parents never had to deal with any of that stuff. It's really, really difficult to make them understand what we're up against in the outside world. And at home, we're expected to obey all the rules and live in the old ways, speaking only Hmong. But at the same time, we have to be like adults, too because we have to translate for them and explain to them how things work in this country. So, some kids go to school and hear somebody call them "gook" or somebody makes fun of how they look or their clothes. Then they come home and their elders don't like them to speak English and scold them for wanting to do things American kids do. And that's how Hmong kids get involved in gangs and doing illegal things. They're looking for someplace to belong.

Adam Yang

The gang that I'm in, we don't cause trouble. We just want to be a group that hangs out with each other help out each other, care for each other like a second family to us. And no disrespecting each other. Respect everybody. Respect is something many Hmong people in this area have had a hard time getting.

Reading letter

Adam Yang

"Dear Mr. Vaughn Vang, "It would be the best for Americans "if you people would just go home! You people will never fit it." This lady, she was sitting by the porch of her house and she said to us, like, "Go back to your country." I walk down the street, a lot of people call me "gook" and all these other names. You could never get any sort of response from the landlord until you almost have to threaten them. You know, maybe I'm Hmong. And I'm, you know, that I eat cats and dogs. Or that I'm, you know, dumb, illiterate, or whatever. People call you "gook," or whatever. That was the big thing. Or a "Chink." They find, like, dog poops on the back yard. They find, one time, somebody took a whole bag and burn it in front of their door. People tried to burn our house several times. My mom couldn't even walk from the bus stop to home without someone making some remark, racial slur or pointing fingers or saying something mean to her.

Lia Vang

This incident happened on our street last summer right by our house. The disrespect! And it just seems like everybody's passing the buck.

Man

For the past three months, those kids will come right over to the porch and harass the Hmong children there, spit on them, threaten them with bats. They has like these bats and they throw rocks and they hit-- Sometimes, they kind of hurt us. They just go over there at random and terrorize those poor children. The little kids didn't do nothing-- they didn't speak English too well. They would throw rocks, spit at them. I'm just fed up with it. And their parents couldn't do anything? They could care less. They let them run the streets and do what they want. I'm sick of it. I'm not gonna watch it anymore. We didn't do anything at first. We thought that, you know their mother would tell them and say, "Hey, don't do this." I've seen them go up to the children while they're sitting on the porch, spit on them right when their parents are on the porch.

Lia Vang

The people in our neighborhood including those you just saw who called the police got together and convinced the family that was causing all the trouble to move elsewhere. Like that family, many of our new neighbors here have made us feel unwelcome. At the same time, many other neighbors those who know us respect us for what we've done, for who we are and what we bring to this society have made us feel very welcomed. The purpose of our ceremony is to honor the service and sacrifices of all Lao, Hmong and other Laotian soldiers and your families.

Drumming and chanting

Lia Vang

Probably what most Americans understand least about Hmong people is why we have such big families, especially when parents like mine have such a tough time making the kind of money it takes to live in this society. My father and his first wife, who was killed during the war, had eight children. My father and mother have 15 children. Americans ask us, "Why?" In our culture, the family is the meaning of life. Growing up, I was always told, too that your family comes first. When you make a decision you don't think, how do I fell about it? You think, how do my parents feel about it? How are my brothers going to react? How are my older sisters going to react? What is the impact on my family? What kind of a "reputation" will it bring to my family? In the mountains of Laos the family-- the household-- because it often includes many generations and aunts and uncles is the center of life. To help with the crops and the daily chores men and women need children-- the more the better. Children are their only support when they grow too old to work and take care of themselves. Hmong families here live in a far different world.

Koua Yang

As you can see, my wife and I have three children. And we learned the hard way. We put out 12 hours a day, seven days a week and we know how difficult it is to raise children here in America. Three children are the maximum we are having right now. As we live here in America we learn that it is not easy to raise a family, a large family. I can guarantee you that Hmong people will not have as many children as they used to have.

Lia Vang

But they will continue to cherish family above all else and demonstrate their affection and dedication through the way they live their lives and through ceremonies like this one. Shang Lee Thor, wife of Nhia Chue, is a shaman. She has just started a Hmong "soul calling" ceremony. In our culture, souls are not always with the living being. Sometimes, they have left the person's body or been led astray especially after difficult times. We have soul calling rites to contact these spirits for many occasions, including birth, illness and injury. But this one is for something very much like an American family reunion.

Chanting

Lia Vang

In celebration of the presence of two family members who have come from far away the shaman has been asked to conduct the ancient ritual. It will bring all the souls of all the living family members into the house so that they can give thanks and ask for good fortune during the coming year. Special offerings are prepared to please and attract the spirits. There is an egg for each family member in which incense is kept burning. Two chickens are sacrificed so that their spirits can be used as messengers for the souls to communicate with the family. The males carefully cut meat from a whole cow into small, tender portions while the women prepare rice and vegetables for the feast when all the spirits are present. After calling for long periods of time then burning spirit money that will symbolically buy the soul's presence then calling some more the shaman throws the "txiab neeb" and the divination horns. The way they land tells her that, finally, all the souls are present. A specially invited elder cleanses the hands of family members to rid them of any past misfortune. Guests tie strings around the wrists of family members to wish them good luck. The elder cuts off the loose ends of the strings to symbolically cut away the bad luck and make room for the good luck. The elders "read" the feet of the boiled chickens to determine whether or not the spirits are pleased. They tell everyone, "nothing is in the way." The signs indicate good fortune and health for the Future. Alcohol, considered a blessing from the elders is passed among the men and they exchange gestures of friendship, honor and good will. Another ceremony, like this soul calling ceremony can be performed to summon the souls of Hmong children into their bodies shortly after they are born. Much like a Western christening it gives Hmong children their names. For boys, there are only first names later in life, they are given another name from their in-laws to reflect their family's status. What's never changed, though, is the last name. That has double meaning in our culture. It's the last name of the father and the name of the father's clan. In the Hmong culture all social, political, economic and religious activity revolves around your clan. In the U.S. Today, there are 19 clans. You can't marry within the clan. If you're a Xiong-- and I'm a Xiong-- any Xiong, anywhere on the face of this earth I consider them my brother or sister. When I go out of town, if I meet someone if they're a Xiong, "I'm a Xiong, too!" Even though we are strangers, we're brother and sisters. So, you are associated by your clan. And it's very important because it gives us a sense of cohesive identity as a clan but also as a community.

Clans that have settled in Northeast Wisconsin include

And us, Vang. This is my dad, Cher my mom, Mai my little brother, Tou my oldest brother, Seng. This is Kong. Chin. My little sister, Gao Yia. This is my baby brother, David. That's Chue Fu. That little girl there is Kristy. That's Kevin. And that's Gao Blia Lia. And four of my brothers and sisters

cannot be with us today

My older brother Nhee, who is at play practice my older sister Zouapa, who is married and gone. I have two brothers who are deceased, James and Zong.

static white noise

cannot be with us today

Police say two motorists were the first to know something was terribly wrong. They heard a thump and found a body lying next to their vehicle. He did have extensive head injuries when our officers arrived. We do not know whether it was a suicide or whether it was a homicide. It was hard for us to cope with the fact that my brother Zong had passed away. Things were going through my mind, going crazy I could see my family was being torn apart. And no one knew anything, you know. No one knew what happened. Zong Vang's father wept for his son. Friends and family gathered to plant a tree in memory of Vang. The ceremony blended cultural traditions. And as the tree planting concluded neighbors still wondered what really happened to Vang. Days went by, months and even a year until we finally found out what really happened. Police say Ninham and Crapeau chased Vang up the St. Vincent parking ramp last September 24, beat him and then dropped him off the ramp to his death. Zong Vang's parents told me they want justice for the killers of their son. My mom wants justice for this. She's just not gonna let those people go out free. -It's the judgment of this court and the sentence of the law that you be sentenced to life imprisonment in the Wisconsin state prison system. And with that, Judge Richard Dietz partially put to rest an agonizing case for a family who lost a son. It took a jury just three hours to find Omer Ninham guilty of first degree intentional homicide. Ninham and Richard Crapeau, who was already convicted, chased Vang up a parking ramp and tossed him off. Since the beginning, Hmong leaders have called this trial a key test.. They say many in the Hmong community continue to be weary of law enforcement and the courts. This sends a positive message to the community that justice can be done in this country. I never got to tell my brother this, but-- I just want to tell him I love him. And I'm sorry I never got to tell him that before he passed away.

Lia Vang

For my parents, Zong's death was yet another tragic loss in a long series of losses. It started with the decision to become soldiers and fight for what they believed was right. As it turned out, though, the war they joined had little to do with them or their best interests one they had no part in starting and no real stake in winning. It's only result was loss of loved ones loss of home and loss of much that made life meaningful. It forced them from the simple, peaceful mountain life into barbed wire camps then on to lives in a strange world called "America." The result of that experience for my parents and their generation has been mostly great sadness and disappointment. Successful, powerful leaders in the homeland are lucky to find even the lowest paying jobs in this country. Women who measured their success in Laos partly by how many children they bore are desperate just to feed and clothe those same children here. American laws and customs discourage-- if not forbid-- the rituals of the shaman the animal sacrifices herbal medicines, and even discipline of children. Many parents look from their culture at sons and daughters growing up in this culture and see only strangers. But the struggles and pain of my parents have not been a waste. They have shown me and my generation what we must do to prosper in this society. And we will prosper, just as we did for centuries in the mountains of Laos after escaping the slavery of China. My generation speaks and understands the language here. We know what the rules are and how they are made. We have changed from non-literate mountain farmers into fully capable citizens of the Western world in the course of a single generation. We had to. Anything less leaves us dependent on others. And in our culture, we cherish our freedom just as much as we cherish our family. That's why we call ourselves "Hmong." To us, it represents being free. Zong was a great son, great brother and great friend. He will be missed dearly and remembered as a loved person, not as a dream forgotten.

woman singing Hmong music

Lia Vang

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