The Wisconsin Hmong Association, Inc. will host a very special Madison Hmong New Year celebration this year, a landmark gathering that will honor the 50th year since Hmong people left Laos and Vietnam and made the United States their new home.
The Hmong New Year, which traditionally marks the end of the current year and welcomes the new year, will take place on Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 1-2, at the Alliant Energy Center. This event is open to the public and welcomes individuals of all backgrounds to join in the celebration.
Madison Hmong New Year Committee President TsavFoom Vaj says a good portion of this year’s event will be dedicated to and will pay homage to the Hmong elders and pioneers that he says “came first to this country.”
“This is an important annual event for us. From what I’ve seen, being a Madisonian for the last 35-plus years, is that we have kind of strayed away from our elders and our culture and our traditions,” Vaj tells Madison365. “So this year we’re going to go back to our roots, meaning that it’s just not going to be a new year celebration only … but it’s going to be a tribute to the elders and the pioneers that have come here first.
“Both the president of the Wisconsin Hmong Association and I will make a short speech to thank the elders and to acknowledge them for bringing us here, and we will recognize the hardships that they had to face,” he continues. “The new year should serve as a reminder of our roots.”
In the olden days, the purpose of the Hmong New Year was to mark the end of the harvest season and a time for families to sit down and eat together, to enjoy the harvest with relatives, friends and the community.
“When we were a small community, we used to band together and practice culture and tradition,” Vaj says. “But as we advanced through the times and in our current times, we kind of lost a little bit of what we are and who we are … what our identity is. So we want to reiterate and reinstate that into our society that we are still one as Hmong and these are our culture and traditions. We can’t forget who we are.”
According to its mission, the Wisconsin Hmong Association is “a non-profit organization that embraces culture and traditions, leadership, and empowerment through development of academic and social programming to serve Hmong-American youths, adults, and families throughout Dane County.” The Hmong New Year Celebration is one of its signature events. Vaj stresses that the whole community is invited.
“We have some exhibits and things that have been built just to educate the youth and the Hmong community, but we also want to educate the community outside the Hmong community, too, as well,” he says.
The Madison Hmong New Year’s Celebration’s Saturday lineup will feature, as always, a Hmong dancing competition.
“There are a lot of dance teams out here. This year, there’s going to be about 23 dance teams competing and that includes teens who are from the age range of 12 to 18, and then we’ll have a mini team with children ages 12 and under,” Vaj says.
“We’ll have a singing competition. The majority of the singing is all in Hmong,” he adds. “And then we’ll also have the pageant. I’ve been working with the pageant organizers to help empower the young ladies in our community and to give our young ladies and the Hmong women in our society a voice.”
Madison politicians and dignitaries will speak in the morning of the event, where traditional Hmong cuisine will be served. The youth from Lakeview Elementary, a Hmong bilingual school, will also perform. A fashion show later will show traditional Hmong clothes and dresses.
“The fashion show will showcase our clothing and who wears what,” Vaj says. “So it serves as a little history piece towards our clothing and how the clothing has changed over time, because back in the day, our clothing meant a lot … it told you what region you’re from. It told you what dialect you spoke, and how those other Hmongs in that region carry themselves.”
(Photo: Wisconsin Hmong Association, Inc)
Sunday’s Hmong New Year schedule will have many of the same things, including Hmong singing, a Hmong historical presentation, and Hmong dance groups from throughout the state of Wisconsin, along with a Hmong pageant. Towards the end of the day, raffle prize winners will be announced and the presentation of awards will take place, along with the crowning of Miss Grand Hmong.
Vaj stresses that this is an event for everybody. As much as the focus will be on the elders this year, he says he hopes to see plenty of young people at the event.
“This is also the year to help our younger generation and youth understand our history as Hmong, the hardships our elders face, and to rejuvenate them about our identity as Hmong with shows, games, and exhibits that showcase the Hmong before modern times and before the war,” Vaj says.
With that in mind, the Hmong New Year’s event will be free to those 10 years old and younger.
“It’s a good time right now to teach our youth, because our youth will carry our the legacy and the torch for us … but it just depends on what we teach them,” Vaj says.
Likewise, those older than 55 will also get in free, as a tribute to elders.
“I think it’s so important to pay tribute to the elders and the pioneers because they really were facing the hardships — being refugees of war and leaving their homeland and then coming to Thailand to be refugees there and facing the hardship there,” Vaj says. “They had the foresight and the knowledge to say, ‘Hey, look, instead of being farmers and gatherers, we can take our younger generation to a new land where we don’t know the language and the customs. We don’t know anything besides farming and hunting, but we will come to a modern society where we can thrive and flourish.’
“So we wouldn’t be here where we are today without them,” he adds. “And we want to honor them.”
For more information about the Wisconsin Hmong Association and its Hmong New Year Celebration, click here. General admission to the event is $5 per person. Seniors (55 and up) and youth (10 years old and under) are free. Parking is $8.
