1. Dressed in traditional Hmong clothes and modern clothes at the annual Hmong New Year.
2. Out on the open field, rain or shine, Hmong people carry umbrellas to attend the celebration.
3. There was a march to open the celebration. The Thai camp authorities made it known there should be some acknowledgement of the kindness of Thai hospitality.
4. in Ban Vinai, HNY celebration lasts for about a week
5. There was a stage for performances, including a Thai-Hmong band.
6. Sometimes performances are off stage and at the ball tossing area, where a woman and man would ball toss and sing folksong, kwv txhiaj.
7. For many families it was not as joyful as for some others as they did not have traditional clothes.
8. It seems half the camp at least had no traditional Hmong clothes, just the donated clothing from Thais and several countries. Nonetheless, they all celebrated enthusiastically, traditional fine clothes or not.
“We were still living in the same side of the world so they were still the same but at the time we were poor so when it was New Years, there was no celebration. We just got two little chickens to do our spiritual ritual and that was it. If it were the real traditions we would’ve eaten chicken and pork and do everything fully with all of our relatives but since we were poor, when it was New Years we just got two chickens to call our family’s spirits and that was it”
9. HNY brought Hmong from America, Australia, France, and other parts of Thailand to BV in later years.
10. If refugees wanted to call families in America, they asked the guards for permission to use the telephone outside of the camp gates. They paid to make a call.