Map of Thailand and Laos

Hmong in the United States

Since the late 1960s Laotian-Hmong have experienced a period of extraordinary cultural disruption and displacement through political upheaval, war, exodus from their homeland in Laos to refugee camps in Thailand, and resettlement in new countries such as the United States. Because of these tremendous changes, Hmong refugees now settled in the United States have encountered numerous problems in their ability to maintain traditional cultural practices in a context so vastly different from their homeland. Nearly every aspect of Hmong life has undergone change. Lack of appropriate traditional materials, availability of new resources, legal restrictions, the dominance or example of other social institutions and practices, and other factors associated with living in new surroundings have had profound impacts on all facets of Hmong traditional life.

Hmong Textiles

The production of highly-decorated textiles called paj ntaub in Hmong (pronounced "pan dow" and meaning literally "flower cloth") has long been an integral part of everyday and ceremonial Hmong life. When incorporating specific colors, color combinations, designs, and fabrics, the cloth is used in clothing to denote affiliation with a particular family, tribe or clan and in a variety of rites of passage such as naming ceremonies, births, courtship, marriage, and death. Young girls begin as early as at five years of age to learn from their mothers and grandmothers the intricate stitches and patterns that comprise the vocabulary of the needlework artist. Mastery of the techniques and expansion of the repertoire usually takes years and needleworkers with an exceptional degree of skill are valued members of the community.

Even in the face of the extreme disruption and displacement that Laotian-Hmong have experienced over the past thirty years, Hmong have maintained a continuity of some, though not all, traditional practices. Among the various forms of Hmong traditional expressive forms, textiles can be singled out as a particularly vital and flourishing form in both traditional and new contexts of production and use.

The Design Motif Index

The names of the designs illustrated here were primarily obtained through interviews conducted in the late 1970s and early 1980s with White Hmong women living in the Lansing, Michigan area. Where possible, the pattern name is given in both Hmong and English. In some cases, more than one name was given for a pattern.

[From C. Kurt Dewhurst and Marsha MacDowell, eds. Michigan Hmong Arts, East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Museum, 1983, p. 15]

Designs used by Hmong