Why Hmong people wear silver?

[evil-in-deed]

heard the reason why hmong people wear it around their necks were to prevent the chinese from cutting off their heads... like armor...

 

[evil-in-deed]

Edit: Found a picture of the lock.
[sub]http://www.stamps-auction.com/pics/x4850.jpg[/sub] <-Wooden lock thingy.

interesting... i do remember some elders talking about a wooden lock on peoples necks... as to prevent them from escaping through doors...

i wonder if it was because of this and the stories were passed down... altered of course...

[Amara]

Yes, this guy is xeemlauj aka niamtxiv aka qaib from Asia Finest. He has about 20-30 accounts on AF alone. He also goes by the nicks "nan tribes" and "txivyawg" on China History Forum, where he is making such a big stink.

[BeautifulDisaster]

heard the reason why hmong people wear it around their necks were to prevent the chinese from cutting off their heads... like armor...

 

[hmongperson]

Never head of the story or know the real reason as to why we wear silver, but I have heard a story of why silver and not gold.

The story goes that a Hmong man went to God and asked him for a symbol to represent his wealth. God instructed him to a road and told him to wait there. God told the man that along the road wil come gold, he is strike gold over the head and take it home with him. The catch is that gold is a rare commodity so he must be patient and for him to not doze of or he will miss gold. The Hmong man hid behind a rock and proceeded to wait for gold. The hours dragged on so he decided to rest his eyes for a second. As soon as he closed them, gold passed him by. All he saw was a gold streak. Gold got away but right behind it was silver so he hit silver over the head and brought it home. Nowadays, no matter how wealthy a Hmong person is, he does not represent his wealth with gold, but rather in silver.

[candy vaj]

Never head of the story or know the real reason as to why we wear silver, but I have heard a story of why silver and not gold.

The story goes that a Hmong man went to God and asked him for a symbol to represent his wealth. God instructed him to a road and told him to wait there. God told the man that along the road wil come gold, he is strike gold over the head and take it home with him. The catch is that gold is a rare commodity so he must be patient and for him to not doze of or he will miss gold. The Hmong man hid behind a rock and proceeded to wait for gold. The hours dragged on so he decided to rest his eyes for a second. As soon as he closed them, gold passed him by. All he saw was a gold streak. Gold got away but right behind it was silver so he hit silver over the head and brought it home. Nowadays, no matter how wealthy a Hmong person is, he does not represent his wealth with gold, but rather in silver.

great story except there is no "god" in hmong culture. there is only "puj saub thiab yawm saub". failed christianity attempt to tell hmong people their own origins.

[hmongperson]

great story except there is no "god" in hmong culture. there is only "puj saub thiab yawm saub". failed christianity attempt to tell hmong people their own origins.

Yawm saub, is our word for God.

[NceegVaj]

Long ago, Hmong people have "love festival" where young men and young women go to find husbands and wives.
During the festival, Poj Ntxoog (the unseen/spirits) also come to find wives and husbands...
Poj Ntxoog would attend the festival. The handsome ones and the beautiful ones would often die after the festival because
Poj Ntxoog would take them to be their men and women.

Hmong people decided to wear silvers all over their body and clothes.
Another year later, Hmong people again celebrate the annual "love festival."
Poj Ntxoog would come out to find husbands and wives, but as they came, they did not find any
handsome or beautiful ones. Poj Ntxoog came, but only saw the old elderly folks.

People could see the handsome and the beautiful women and men playing and singing, but
Poj Ntxoog couldn't see them at all.

The silver "ci" or blinded the eyes of Poj Ntxoog. This is why, Hmong people wear silver, as a way to
make themselves invisible from the eyes of Poj Ntxoog.

This is probably complete B.S.  Someone please tell me I'm wrong.  never ever heard such BS.

[candy vaj]

Yawm saub, is our word for God.

huab tais ntuj is our word for god.

yawm saub works for huab tais ntuj. get your facts straight.

[hmongperson]

huab tais ntuj is our word for god.

yawm saub works for huab tais ntuj. get your facts straight.

You can call it whatever you want, I'll call it whatever I want. All that matters is the point got across. It wasn't a debate in the first place so I'm not going to debate with you which one is the correct translations.

For your information, incase you need to check your facts, translations are subjective. Not everyone translates somethings in the same way.