Culture

Kab Lis Kev Cai

The customs, ceremonies, and made things that carry Hmong life from one generation to the next. This shelf holds general surveys of Hmong culture, studies of marriage ritual and oral tradition, books on music and the instruments that belong to ceremony, and the textile books: paj ntaub embroidery, batik, reverse applique, and the story cloths sewn in the Thai camps, where a decorative tradition became documentary. Start with Ya Po Cha's An Introduction to Hmong Culture for the whole of it, then follow whichever thread is yours. Read it alongside the religion shelf; in Hmong life ceremony and belief are not separate subjects.