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Author Topic: Nice seeing Hmong San Diego celebrating and keeping our culture alive  (Read 163 times)

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Offline theking

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Hmong community keeps culture alive in San Diego
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, about 5,000 Hmong made their way from southeast Asia here to San Diego to start a new life.




SAN DIEGO — While San Diego County's Hmong community has dwindled in numbers over the past four decades, those who remain are determined to keep their culture alive.

Among them is San Diegan Pa Yang, who is ready to celebrate.

"I feel like we've been locked up and put away," she laughed. "I miss seeing the Hmong community come together!"

SAN DIEGO — While San Diego County's Hmong community has dwindled in numbers over the past four decades, those who remain are determined to keep their culture alive.

Among them is San Diegan Pa Yang, who is ready to celebrate.

"I feel like we've been locked up and put away," she laughed. "I miss seeing the Hmong community come together!"

It is a vibrant community here in San Diego County, largely kept apart for the past two years by the pandemic: a community that many San Diegans know little about.

"Historically, we've come a long way,' Yang said.

It's a history that stretches back thousands of years. Members of an ethnic group without a country of their own, the Hmong migrated from China to Laos, Thailand and nearby countries more than three centuries ago.

"We were considered, you know, the 'poor people' of Asia," Yang added. "We lived in the mountains, lived in huts."

Following the Vietnam War, in which the Hmong helped U.S. forces fight the communists, tens of thousands were forced to flee, first to refugee camps and then to the United States.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, about 5,000 Hmong made their way from southeast Asia here to San Diego to start a new life.

Among them was Ia Vue. One of only six in her family to survive the war, Ia settled in Linda Vista in 1980. That is where she raised her family, helping support them through her unique talents in an elaborate form of cross-stitching known as paj ntaub.

She uses her talents to create elaborate story cloths, capturing through images not only her people's history. but her own personal journey fleeing to safety.

"She had to cut bamboo to put it under their arms to help them float across the river,' said Yang, translating for Vue.

Her experience is far different from members of the Hmong community born and raised here in San Diego, like her son, Richard.

"Growing up, it was a little difficult for me," Richard Vue said. "It was a clash, a clash of cultures."

Richard is also committed to keeping the Hmong culture alive. For the past twenty years, he has served his community as a shaman, a spiritual healer who performs traditional rituals and ceremonies, including weddings and funerals.


« Last Edit: May 18, 2022, 12:25:34 AM by theking »

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