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Research of Students at Winona Middle School on Hmong's Culture (history, traditions, language, sports, clothes, religion, music, celebrations, folk tales, and today's teenagers)

By Teresita A. Bartolome

• Background
  • The Hmong (pronounced mung) of Southeast Asia have always been a minority wherever they lived. They are some of the most recent immigrants to the United States. In San Francisco, Hmong and other Southeast Asians have settled in the Tenderloin area. You will find in the Tenderloin a growing number of community groups, a newspaper (The Tenderloin Times), restaurants and neighborhood celebrations.
  • Originally the Hmong migrated to Southeast Asia from their ancient homeland of China. They settled in the mountainous areas of Burma, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Some say the name "Hmong" means "free man." During the Vietnam war the Hmong fought as U.S. allies and when the Americans pulled out of Indochina, they found themselves the target of genocide by the Communist troops. Beginning in 1976, many Hmong escaped O Thailand by crossing the Mekong River. In 1980 alone, at the height of the refugee crisis, mor than 20,000 Hmong came to the United States. Until the late 1950s, the Hmong had their own oral language, but no written language. Consequently, they have used stories, songs, and their arts to pass on their history. The hallmark of the Hmong history in crafts is the "pa ndau", or flower cloth, a complex form of textile art using applique, cross-stitching, batik, and embroidery. Three of four layers of cloth may be used. Designs may be geometric patterns or symbols of nature. The cloths demonstrate the history, beliefs, culture, and folk art of this proud people.
  • Most street fairs in San Francisco have at least one booth that sells the traditional story cloths, so they are a natural way to teach students about this unique culture and people.
  • There is also an intricately stitched quilt hanging in the student center at California State University in Fresno. Attached is a history of this pa ndau.
• Goal
  • Students will create their own originally designed flower cloths which will show an understanding of Hmong beliefs, culture, history, and folk art.
• Time Required
  • 2-3 hours art periods (Extension lessons take longer)
• Materials Needed
  • The teachers will need to have a copy of the book Hmong Textile Designs, before the project begins as well as a copy of The Little Weaver of Thai-Yen Village; copies of Hmong flower cloth (from the book) for each small grouping of children; white paper cut to square size 12" x 12" markers, crayons, colored pencils. A sample of a real flower cloth would also be useful. Permit children to be creative. They may use other media.
• Linking Past to Present and Present to Past
  • Storycloths tell ancient myths, as well as more recent events such as the war in Indochina, courtship, weddings, ceremonies, or rituals. The narrative and style change over time, but the basic art form remains the same, thus providing a link between the past and present.
• Procedures
  1. Either read the book or show a homemade video of the book Dia's Story Cloth by Dia Cha.
  2. Read the introduction to Hmong Textile Designs to your students. Locate Mongolia, Burma, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam on a world map as you relate the history of the migration of the Hmong. Show children pictures of the story cloths, highlighting the meaning of the symbolism.
  3. Share a colored example of your own story cloth to the children.
  4. Have students share their story cloths, orally telling their stories.
• Extension Activities
  1. Do some Vietnamese or Thai cooking in class.
  2. Refer to A Celehration of Culture: A Food Guide for Teachers published by the 1992 Dairy Council of California.
  3. Create: a "spirit tree" at your school or in your neighborhood by tying a white cloth around the trunk of the tree.
  4. Invite guest speakers into the classroom to speak of their experience as a refugee.
  5. Relate the Hmong Story Cloths to other forms of quilting (see below).
  6. Study TET (Vietnamese New Year) in January. For information refer to Multicultural Celebrations: TET: The New Year, published by Modern Curriculum Press, Simon and Shuster.
  7. Compare life in a Thai Refugee Camp with life in one's neighborhood.
  8. Make a Hmong pattern (see attached directions for making pattems).
• Extensions quilting activities
  1. Read The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Floumoy (Dial books for Young Readers, New York, 1985) and The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco (Simon and Shuster books for Young Readers, New York, 1988) to your students. Compare and contrast how the patchwork quilt is the same or different from a Hmong story cloth. (It's the same, in that it tells a story about a family and their memories. It's different because it's made of saved scraps of cloth.)
  2. Read Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold (Scholastic Books, 1991) and discuss what is the same or different about this quilt as compared with the patchwork or Hmong quilt. (Make a compare/contrast grid on chart paper). Discuss the concept of "flying to freedom." As a class assignment have each child write on a 4"x 4" piece of colored paper (such as origami paper) about where they would fly to feedom. Make a class quilt made of paper, by mounting the 4" x 4" pieces of paper onto a sheet of fadeless paper (2 widths of fadeless cut to a live foot square).
  3. Class quilts can be made on any subject, with topics such as Women's History month, or famous African Americans for Black History month. Quilts can be made of paper, or cloth.
  4. Study Amish quilts and the Amish culture.
  5. Ask students if they have family quilts they can share.
• Bibliography
  1. Dia's Story Cloth by Dia Cha.
  2. "Hmong quilts -- pa ndau - reflect Hmong history," by Jean H. Lee, Associated Press Writer
  3. Hmong Textile Designs by Anthony Char.
  4. The Little Weaver of Thai-Yen Village by Trar-Khanh-'Ilruyet.
  5. Making Connections with Hmong Culture by Rosalie Giacchino-Baker, A Teacher's Resource Book.
  6. Southeast Asians by William McGuire, New York, 1991.
  7. http://wms.luminet.net/demographics/hmong/Information.html
  8. http://www.muhsd.k12.ca.us/gvhs/hmong/religion/ancester.htm
  9. http://www.muhsd.k12.ca.us/gvhs/hmong/poems/wehmong.htm
  10. http:/www.hmongnet.org/sounds/
  11. http:/www.hmongnet.org/culture/hmongflag.htm1
  12. http://lennon.pub.csufresno.edu/~ccl23/picinf2.htm
  13. http://www.muang.com/nlc/hmong.html

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