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Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collection, 2015.196.434.1, Connecticut Historical S ...
Lao New Year Community Celebration, 2001
Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collection, 2015.196.434.1, Connecticut Historical Society, Copyright Undetermined

Lao New Year Community Celebration, 2001

Subject (Cambodian, 1959 - 2016)
Subject
Subject
Subject (Laotian)
Subject (Cambodian)
Date2001 April 15
Mediumborn digital photography
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.434.1-.23
Description2015.196.434.1-.5: Images of Hmong boys playing qeej while dancing and performing at Lao New Year 2001.

2015.196.434.6-.10: Images of Cambodian dancers Somaly Hay, Sokphury Yos, and Nicole Hay performing at Lao New Year 2001.

2015.196.434.11-.12: Images of Hmong girls dancing and singing while performing at Lao New Year 2001.

2015.196.434.13: Image of a young Lao woman taking part in the “Nang Sungkarn” event at Lao New Year 2001, presenting and celebrating the young women of the community who exemplify Lao cultural values such as kindness, learning, grace, respectful behavior, and good character. The participants, dressed in traditional clothes, give speeches to the gathering and take part in ceremonial processions.

2015.196.434.14: Image of Lao Narthasin dancers at Lao New Year 2001.

2015.196.434.15: Image of Manola Sidara introducing Lao Saturday School students at Lao New Year 2001.

2015.196.434.16: Image of Lao community members at 2001 Lao New Year tying a knot around the wrist as a symbol of spiritual connection.

2015.196.434.17: Image of Cambodian dancer Somaly Hay and her husband Khandarith Hay at the 2001 Lao New Year celebration.

2015.196.434.18: Image of monks at the 2001 Lao New Year ceremony.

2015.196.434.19-.20: Images of Lao Narthasin dancers with pah khuane at the 2001 Laotian New Year celebration.

2015.196.434.21-.23: Images of Hmong dancers who performed at the 2001 Lao New Year celebration.
NotesSubject Note: Lao New Year is celebrated in Connecticut by members of the Lao community each April. Known as the Boon Pee Mai or the festival of the fifth month, this is a time of special meals and ceremonies lasting for several days. Traditionally, on the last day of the old year houses are cleaned and put in order as a symbolic activity intended to expel any bad spirits that may be hiding in the home. On the first day of the new year, people go to the temple where they wash the statues of the Buddha with perfumed holy water. The ceremonies ensure good health and prosperity in the new year. In Connecticut, Lao gather at temples for religious ceremonies, and hold special banquets that feature music and dance by local dance groups such as Lao Narthasin led by dance educator and chef Manola Sidara. Other events have included an annual presentation by the students of Lao Saturday School which ran for many years at Jefferson School in New Britain organized by Manola Sidara and Howard and Sue Phengsomphone. Many of these events are organized by the Lao Association of Connecticut. Many Lao New Year celebrations in Connecticut have involved guest artists from other cultural backgrounds and traditions. In 2008 and 2009, CCHAP collaborated with WNPR’s acclaimed radio discussion show "Where We Live" to document several ethnic festivals across the state. Words and sound were woven together to create podcasts and audio slide shows that take viewers and listeners right to the festivals. This project visited and documented a festival at the Lao Temple in Morris.


Subject Note: Pah Khuane - Originally made from banana leaves, these ornamental sculptures are used in Lao ceremonies and celebrations as a focal point for gathering people together and encouraging health and healing. They can also be an altar piece for a wedding ceremony, or given to people coming out of hospital to replenish their spirit. Khuan means spirit, and the decorations carry strings which are symbols of bonding and holding of the spirit, as also seen in Lao Buddhist ceremonies when the monk will tie a string around someone’s wrist as a sign of spiritual connection and well-being.


Subject Note: The basi or sou khuan (ceremony) that features the tying of a string around a person’s wrist is called mat khene. This ritual is a central part of Lao Buddhist events as well as weddings, births, house warmings, or after a death. The practice by a monk or honored elder tying a white cotton thread around a person’s wrist, or tying a cotton thread around the wrists of a bride and groom, symbolizes the connection and well-being of the person’s or family’s spirit.


Subject Note: The Lao Association of Connecticut (LAC) is a community-based non-profit formed in 1980 to provide assistance to Lao-Americans in areas of need such as cultural preservation, education, advocacy, translation, and access to services. Its Board of Directors is comprised of senior members of the Lao community, including educators and artists. LAC was instrumental in developing Lao Saturday School in collaboration with Jefferson School in New Britain, starting in 1994 and running for several years, offering classes in Lao language, history, and arts as well as ESOL and citizenship to adults. LAC sponsors an annual New Year Celebration in April that brings Lao together from all over Connecticut, held for many years in New Britain and elsewhere in temples around Connecticut. LAC has also organized events and projects that serve the community; the group collaborated on the Southeast Asian Problem Gambling Project run by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, as well as other health initiatives. LAC also worked with CCHAP and other Southeast Asian communities to recruit students and parent volunteers for after-school classes, involve students and teachers in community activities; and introduce artists from the other communities to each other.


Biographical Note: Lao Narthasin of Connecticut is a group of young Lao-Americans who study and perform traditional folk and classical dances from the southeast Asian country of Laos. Most of these dancers were born in the United States to parents who immigrated here from Laos. They study Lao language and culture in special classes offered by the organization Lao-American Culture of Connecticut in cities such as New Britain, East Hartford, and Bridgeport where many Lao are now living. The Lao Narthasin dance group developed out of the Lao community's desire to preserve its heritage in America. Members of the company, who reside in cities throughout Connecticut, are trained by experienced instructors from notable Lao dance families. The founder of the group, Manola Sidara, is a Lao dance educator and community activist whose life has been devoted to serving her community. Born in 1969, in Vientiane, Laos, Manola joined the National Dance School at the age of five, along with her sister. After her family fled Laos, she continued learning traditional dance with master dancer Sone Norasing in Colorado until moving to Connecticut in 1989. Lao Narthasin now includes a third generation of dancers, and instructors include former students such as dancer Nancy Sayarath. Dance traditions in Laos are either classical, performed at the royal palace, or based in the rural folk cultures of the over sixty ethnic groups in Laos. Lao Narthasin performs both dance genres. Dances include the Hoyn Phon Yhia Welcome Dance where fresh flowers are offered to guests, and the Pow Lao Dance, featuring dancers from different tribal groups. The graceful movements made by the dancers reflect qualities of beauty, respect, and politeness so valued in Laotian culture. Hand gestures also tell stories in the dances, with subtle movements symbolic of spiritual beings such as deities ascending in the heavens. Many of the dances celebrate community festivals - the rice harvest, water festival, New Year, or the Fireworks Festival bringing prosperity and good fortune. Lao Narthasin wears many different authentic costumes appropriate to each special dance. The group often performs at festivals and ceremonies at temples in Connecticut and Rhode Island.


Subject Note: The Hmong community in Connecticut, around 300 in number, is based mostly in the Enfield and Manchester areas. They work in factories and service occupations, as well as skilled manufacturing, often in aerospace industries. The Hmong came to the United States as refugees from the Indochina wars in the 1970s after the Communist takeover of Laos, sponsored by the American government because many Hmong assisted the military and the CIA. At that time the Hmong were persecuted in Laos, and this still continues today with considerable fighting going on. The Hmong are a tribal group originally from Mongolia who migrated to Laos where many still live today. There are also Hmong communities in northern Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, and China (where they are called Miao).

Connecticut Hmong people are both traditional and contemporary. Older women used to make the gorgeous applique and embroidery work known as paj ndau, and they still create traditional costumes for women and men, albeit with modern shortcuts (traditional dyeing techniques are replaced by printed cloth, for instance). Men who are traditional community leaders, such as Boua Tong Xiong, still perform wedding and funeral rituals, as well as conflict resolution according to time-honored practices. Hmong traditions practiced in Connecticut include embroidery and story cloths, funeral and wedding songs, music on the bamboo instrument qeej, ballads and courtship songs kwv ntxhiaj, and social dancing. Hmong leaders started the Hmong Foundation of Connecticut as a way to keep the community together and continue to provide many kinds of needed assistance. The Foundation, which is led by a Board of Directors, is open to all Hmong living in the state. Members provide services such as translation, transportation, family relocation to Connecticut, assistance with finding jobs and access to health care, Hmong language classes, and traditional Hmong advising and dispute resolution. The Hmong Foundation of Connecticut became a separate organization in 1996 after the Connecticut Federation of Refugee Assistance Agencies, an umbrella service group, disbanded. The group sponsors Hmong New Year in November and a celebration for Hmong high school graduates in June.

The Hmong have a number of sub-cultural groups; one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Blue Hmong is their custom of batiking cloth with blue indigo. One specific kind of textile that the Hmong have become known for are the “story cloths”. These are a comparatively new genre first made in the Thai refugee camps around 1975. In these embroidered pieces, direct figurative references are made to folk tales, myths, personal family stories, and scenes of village life. These story cloths also depict the turbulence and hardships of the war years in Southeast Asia. Hmong textile works also include many references to the natural world, to the plants and animals, which are native to the hills of Laos. (Winifred Lambrecht, Ph.D (CCHAP project partner); July 2006)


Additional audio, video, and photographic materials exist in the archive relating to these communities and artists.


Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
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