Hmong in Madison Part II: Old traditions, new year

This is the second story in a two-part series about the traditions of Hmong residents in Madison. The annual Hmong New Year festival will take place Nov. 23 and 24 at the Alliant Energy Center.

Hmong food, Photo credit: Peng HerKelly Lor remembers when the Hmong New Year used to be the annual gathering for small communities in the Laotian jungle. Now local communities come together for the New Year to observe that tradition, even though they see each other throughout the year, said Lor, a farmer in Sun Prairie, Wis.

Initially, community members prepared food at home, bringing dishes such as deep fried chicken and pork, fresh and fried egg rolls, and Hmong sausage to the Hmong New Year event. As attendance at the event grew to the thousands, vendors took on the role of food supplier.

“Right now we have lots of people, it’s not just a couple hundred,” said Lor. “Thousands of people come down to the New Year. The population is bigger.”

Members of the growing Hmong population in Madison have found a way to recreate traditional food and activities at community events like the Hmong New Year celebration. Beyond this event, Hmong families continue making Hmong food at home, while mixing in American cuisine.

Local activist Peng Her and his family strike a balance between American and Hmong cuisine. His children consider their school lunches an “excursion.”

“They get a Hmong meal for breakfast and a Hmong meal for dinner and their excursion is their lunch,” explained Her. “It might be meatloaf or it could be pizza, so to them, it’s a big deal.”

Her knows that while his children are accustomed to different varieties of food, the kids’ friends may not appreciate Hmong foods when they come over.

For his daughter’s sixth birthday party, Her and his wife prepared two meals. The kids at the party, who were not all Hmong, ate barbecue, while they served a Hmong noodle dish to the adults.

For day-to-day meals, Her and his family prefer Hmong food, and they do integrate American foods for their kids and guests. For the Hmong New Year event, the foods offered represent old traditions from across the Pacific.

Kids playing the ball toss game, Photo credit: Peng HerAnother tradition they have maintained is the ball game, pov pob.  The mechanics remain the same, although the function has changed.   

Young singles hoping to meet a partner at traditional New Year celebrations broke the ice with pov pob, while testing each other’s coordination and singing abilities. Now all members of the community playfully toss a ball back and forth, surrendering tokens from their outfits when they drop the ball, and singing to retrieve them.

“We always have our kids play the traditional ball tossing game. Basically, it’s playing catch with a tennis ball,” said Her. “[But] this simple game was instrumental in picking a life partner.”

Although pov pob no longer ignites marriages, the musical chemistry between players still serves as entertainment at New Year events. People will crowd around to watch couples improvise lyrics, to see what they will sing next, said Lor.

Another farmer, Lee Xiong of Eau Claire, said her parents met playing pov pob. Although it is no longer necessarily a place to find a husband or wife, “[You] go and see who you’d like to be with, sing, and have fun,” she said.