Reflective Essay: The Hmong New Year

It’s that time again, a new year, as the year approach the end, the Hmong New Year is celebrated by many Hmong people throughout the world in different months where Hmong people live, either that be in October, November, or December. But no matter what, where you find a large population of Hmong people, you know there’s going to be some sort of Hmong New Year event taking place that year. From what I remember, when I was little, my parents took me to the Soccer Tournament (another Hmong event), where I broke an umbrella because I hated going to these types of event, so I never went back to any. Ever since then, I have kept my distance from any these types of events until this anthropology class made me revisit my roots. The Hmong New Year
As you access through, you ride an escalator down and see Hmong people wearing traditional Hmong clothing, you can see woman wearing dresses called, “Ris Tsho Paj Ntaub.” These dresses are colorful, ranging from pink, white, green, and sometimes blue; the color white and green can indicate what type of Hmong dialect they speak, either that be Hmong dawb (white), or Hmong ntsuab (green). The dresses are also decorated with small silver coins hanging along the dresses, the woman also wears a headdress and a silver necklace called, “Lub Xauv Ncai.” While the man wears a traditional Hmong clothing, consisting mostly the color black, sometimes wearing a smaller silver necklace. In the center of the event is where the ball tossing ritual, called “Pov Pob.” If a man likes a woman he would ask the woman to pov pob with him, and if the woman is interested in him she would accept his offer, maybe leading to a relationship. The two first engage each other by standing afar, probably 3 to 5 feet away from one another on two separated long yellow tape on the floor; standing in the middle is prohibited. They both toss a ball back and forth to each other, which is just a regular tennis ball, however, back in Laos and Thailand, they would toss a ball made of cloth. Questions asked and answers as they throw the ball back and forth, hence the ball tossing,
First, we must define what ritual is, “Ritual is a ceremonial act or a repeated stylized gesture used for specific occasions” (Nanda/Warms 2011: page number 296). As you know, ball tossing is an act or gesture that is used only at the Hmong New Year for a possibility courtship between a male and female. From what I’ve seen, ball tossing at the Hmong New Year doesn’t seem to fit stage one or two of the rites of passage, except stage three. Because during the event, all Hmong people come in for a gathering to enjoy live music, performances, etc., and no one is separated from one another. During the ball tossing ritual in stage three one’s status can go from single to a relationship if one finds each other interestingly