Home » Connecticut Folk Communities » Hmong
The majority of Connecticut’s three hundred Hmong live in the Enfield area. Because they were farmers in Laos, many Hmong chose to live in the more rural towns north of Hartford rather than settle in a larger urban area. They work in factories and service occupations, and one young Hmong woman is a teacher at Manchester High School. Many Connecticut Hmong are moving away, unfortunately, to join relatives in the larger communities of Fresno or Minneapolis/St. Paul, or to go to states such as Arkansas where the cost of living is lower and the temperature higher.
Connecticut’s Hmong are both traditional and contemporary. Older women still create the gorgeous applique and embroidery work known as paj ndau, and they sometimes make traditional costumes for women and men, albeit with modern shortcuts (traditional dyeing techniques are sometimes replaced by printed cloth, for instance). Cultural leaders such as Boua Tong Xiong of Enfield still perform wedding and funeral rituals as well as conflict resolution according to time-honored practices. Because the men who understand the complete rituals (which take days) are so few, Boua Tong is determined to pass on his knowledge, teaching young men to play the ritual bamboo instrument qeej and sing the wedding and funeral songs. For two years, needlewomen from the community have been teaching their skills to students under CHAP’s Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (link).
The Hmong Community in Connecticut
The Hmong are a tribal group originally from Mongolia who migrated to Laos where many still live today. There are also Hmong communities in northern Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, and China (where they are called Miao). Many Hmong assisted the United States during the Viet Nam War, and came to this country as refugees in the late 1970s after the Communist takeover of Laos. At that time the Hmong were persecuted in Laos, and this still continues today with considerable fighting going on.The majority of Connecticut’s three hundred Hmong live in the Enfield area. Because they were farmers in Laos, many Hmong chose to live in the more rural towns north of Hartford rather than settle in a larger urban area. They work in factories and service occupations, and one young Hmong woman is a teacher at Manchester High School. Many Connecticut Hmong are moving away, unfortunately, to join relatives in the larger communities of Fresno or Minneapolis/St. Paul, or to go to states such as Arkansas where the cost of living is lower and the temperature higher.
Connecticut’s Hmong are both traditional and contemporary. Older women still create the gorgeous applique and embroidery work known as paj ndau, and they sometimes make traditional costumes for women and men, albeit with modern shortcuts (traditional dyeing techniques are sometimes replaced by printed cloth, for instance). Cultural leaders such as Boua Tong Xiong of Enfield still perform wedding and funeral rituals as well as conflict resolution according to time-honored practices. Because the men who understand the complete rituals (which take days) are so few, Boua Tong is determined to pass on his knowledge, teaching young men to play the ritual bamboo instrument qeej and sing the wedding and funeral songs. For two years, needlewomen from the community have been teaching their skills to students under CHAP’s Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (link).
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