 |
|
A mother/daughter in traditional costume. Mom is Blia Moua and
daughter is Selena Xiong. Selena attends Denfeld High School.
(Photo by Ivy Viano) |
The Hillsider
The secular New Year is January 1, 2016, but the Twin Ports Hmong celebrated the new year on the first Saturday in December 2016.
The Hmong came to the United States as refugees from the Vietnam War. They had been in Laos where they were recruited by the CIA beginning in the early 1960s under President Kennedy to help Fight the communist invasion of Southeast Asia.
The first Hmong family arrived in the Twin Ports in 1978 .
Their culture, language, and background are all very different from that of the other Southeast Asian refugees who came out of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand following the Vietnam War.
