Online since 2002. Patricia and James Cummings, Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH

Hmong Textile Art
 The Tie That Binds a Culture

by Patricia Lynne Grace Cummings

Hmong baby carrier from Thailand. The straps have been cut. According to Hmong belief the baby will come to harm if this step is not taken.

AFTER READING THIS ONLINE ARTICLE, FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO SEE MORE BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS, BE SURE TO READ OUR NEW ARTICLE, "FOLK ART EXPRESSIONS: HMONG NEEDLEWORK" IN THE JULY 2009 ISSUE OF THE QUILTER MAGAZINE, NOW ON SALE. THIS IS THE FIRST OF A TWO PART SERIES, THE NEXT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF THE MAGAZINE.

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If you have ever laid eyes on a piece of H mông Textile Art, you know that it is love at first sight. The intricately stitched creations of Paj ntaub are made with loving hands and utilize a number of techniques including cross stitch embroidery, surface embroidery, reverse appliqué, and appliqué. They call to mind the similar, yet different technique of  molas. The Kuna Indians who live on archipelagos off the coast of Panama also utilize appliqué and representational figures in those stitched pieces.

The "H" is silent in H mông and the word sounds like "mung."

Types of Patterns

The H mông people produce two types of textiles: geometric and pictorial. Each piece is uniquely-made and is a one-of-a-kind textile, yet certain recurrent themes are present. Common themes are “Snail’s House,” “Elephant Foot,” and “Ram’s Head,” a few of the geometric design names.

                                       
Two blocks (above) by Ia Moua Yang which feature Dragon's Tail and Hearts.

Hearts are very often used as a motif. An intricate design called Dragon’s Tail has Sawtooth-like appendages. In contrast to the jewel tones and batik fabrics sometimes used in today’s Paj ntaub creations, here is a photo of a H mông wall hanging rendered in more subtle tones of blue-gray. I was given this piece in 1992. 

Click on any image for a larger view.

The pictorial wall hangings reflect a culture which relies heavily on oral tradition to tell the story of its people. Their history is recorded by means of story clothx. The wall hangings, which are two layers and not quilted, feature human figures, animals, and crops on peaceful hillsides. In other more startling works, the images of war are present, and depictions of the forced departure of the H mông people from Laos, after the Vietnam War. The photo here is one shared by Betty Wilson of Wisconsin from her personal collection.

Marketing Opportunity

The above photos show the embroidery designs that can be seen on the bottom and top of a back panel of a denim shirt purchased in Nevada. Click on each image to see embroidery details. Scans courtesy of Patti Ives.

Today, the H mông people sell their stitched pieces at craft fairs and quilt shows. They have extended their product line to include Christmas ornaments and clothing accessories such as tote bags, wallets, vests, pillows, and garments. More recently, wall hanging designs have concentrated on religious themes. Betty Wilson reports that 90% of the wall hangings she is seeing in local craft fairs in Wisconsin are of this type. She adds, “Time heals.”

                                                
                              H mông Christmas Ornament

Sometimes colorful, unfinished blocks can be purchased, either to frame, or to use in one’s own quilting projects. The blocks shown in this article were acquired at a quilt show in Pittsfield, Massachusetts several years ago and were being sold at the Berkshire Quilt Festival by Ia Moua Yang of Michigan.

"Elephant's Foot" by Ia Moua Yang is beautiful with its jewel tone colors.

Age Old Tradition

Although the H mông people left their homeland behind, they have preserved their cultural traditions through the making of  “flower cloths.” This type of appliqué, adorned with embroidery, originated with the creation of ceremonial clothing for major life events. Celebrations of births, weddings, and even death required specially-made cloth created by the woman of the house.

Today, the old traditions continue. They encompass customary celebrations, but most especially the H mông celebration of the New Year. Those are held in cities across the United States that have large H mông populations. At these events, daughters can show off their new, specially created outfits, usually made with the assistance of  their mothers. The skills needed for this traditional stitching are transmitted from mother to daughter, or from grandmother to granddaughter, (as grandmothers sometimes have more patience). This needlework tradition is diminishing as the H mông become more Americanized.

Poignant Children’s Story

The Whispering Cloth: a refugee’s story (Boyds Mills Press, 1995), is a book for children that packs a very powerful message about the plight of a H mông girl. One morning, she awakes to find both of her parents lying in pools of blood. She and her grandmother escape across the Mekong River in a small boat, under gunfire, and make their way to a refugee camp on the other side. While in the camp, her grandmother guides her as she learns how to make Paj ntaub.

As she works, the cloth begins to tell the stories of her life and eventually, it comes to include the big airplane that will take them to America. Though fictional, the book recounts how the young girl initially created this piece with the idea of selling it to a trader. What do you think happened? I won’t give away the ending but I will say that it is very moving and is one that all who have ever held a needle could understand well. The book was written by Pegi Deitz Shea, illustrated by Anita Riggio, and the needlework images were stitched by Iou Yang.

Origins of the Hmong People

The last twenty-five years or so have seen a large number of H mông immigrants to the United States. The origin of these people is thought to have been in Siberia, Tibet and Mongolia. Nomadic, they later migrated to China. The H mông began to leave China at the beginning of the nineteenth century and this migration increased in the 1860s because of the cultural discrimination they faced. They settled in the mountains of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and Vietnam, raising crops and animals, and practicing "slash and burn" farming that was the reason behind the need to move every ten years or so.

Language Group

China tried to force the H mông to abandon their language, a Miao-Yao language in the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The word Miao in Chinese means "barbarians," whereas the word "H mông," is a name that has no specific meaning, although some authors have insisted that the word means, "free."

Missionaries attempted to establish a Romanized version of the H mông language during the 1950s, the RPA, using their typewriters. With the struggle to gain facility in the language of their new country (English), as with all immigrants, there is always the danger of the previous language being lost, especially with each succeeding generation. Luckily, in this case, the H mông do not have to rely solely on the spoken word but can also express themselves with story art created by busy needles.

The Vietnam War and the Flight to Freedom

During the Vietnam War, this peace-loving, agrarian people supported the United States by fighting the Viet Cong and acting as CIA operatives. Surprisingly, it has been stated that the H mông population lost more soldiers in battle than did the United States. When the United States withdrew troops from Vietnam in 1975, the H mông people fled Laos. More than 200,000 H mông refugees have resettled in places such as Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Fresno, California, and in various cities of Wisconsin, Texas, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 

Others were not so lucky, as the H mông people were targeted for genocide, and were held in Communist camps, persecuted for their attempts to aid the United States, had lethal poison gas (mycotoxins dropped on them from the air), although that has been debated, and endured other atrocities. Some were expatriated from Thailand to Laos but were not allowed to return to hillside farming, but were made to stay in the lowlands within enclosed units, where they were systematically-starved, violating all manner of common decency and humanity.

Resources For Needlework

The book titled, The Pa Ndau of Ia Moua Yang-Keeping Alive the Treasure of the Hmong: The History, Technique and Symbols of Pa Ndau was written by Ia Moua Yang and Carolyn Shapiro in 2002. This is a personal look at the tradition of “Cloth Flowers,” through the eyes of a native. Ia provides a lot of insight into the significance of these textiles within the family. She discusses the symbolic meanings of color and its use to ward off evil spirits. (The
H mông believe strongly in the spirit world). Clear step-by-step diagrams, directions, and photos are provided within this invaluable resource.

A wonderful online article by Associated Press Writer, Jean H. Lee, describes Thong Ly, a student at California State University in Fresno, as saying the “pa Ndau” is as important to his people as the American flag is to American people. To read more of his thoughts, and to hear about a quilt that was made (for the student center at CSUF) that celebrates the H mông people and their culture, see: http://www.hmongnet.org/culture/pandau2.html

Additional Links

Quilt Ethnic

H mông history and culture

Womenfolk Page - 2005 article

Newspaper Article

Our website article was listed as a resource in the Allentown, PA news-
paper, Morning Call, on April 23, 2005 for more information about the
 H mông people and their needlework.