By Mai Chao Duddeck
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Legend tells of a story from a long time ago that there was a great flood. The flood turned the world upside down and all living creatures died except for a brother and a sister. They were sealed safely in a wooden funeral drum by their parents. When the flood water reached the sky, the Sky God took pity on them and pierced the earth so the water could go down. Once the water disappeared and the drum landed on solid ground, the brother and sister climbed out of it. They were lonely being the only two humans left. As they grew older, the brother suggested they become husband and wife. The sister refused and was later tricked by the brother, so she reluctantly agreed. Eventually, the brother and sister had a baby. Sadly, the baby looked nothing like a human because it had no body parts but was a soft lump of flesh shaped like an egg. The new parents sought guidance from the Sky God and the god told them to cut the egg into equal pieces, then bury the parts in pairs among the sheep, pigs, bamboo, and other places. The brother and sister did as instructed and went to bed after their hard work. The next day, they heard noise and saw the land was filled with people and animals.
The brother and sister looked where the sheep were and found the Lee couple, which began the Lee clan. They discovered the Moua couple by the pigs’ area, thus, the Moua clan started. They found the Xiong couple by the bamboo forest and there the Xiong clan was established. The brother and sister realized the world was filled with living creatures who came from the places where they had buried the baby flesh. It dawned on them that the baby was actually a seed to bring people and creatures back to life. The brother and sister no longer felt sad, and their world was once again filled with life.
There are multiple versions of this folktale about how the clans came to be. In ancient China, another story shared how the Hmong clans were formed. Many generations ago, the Hmong were grouped by the color of their clothing, by their linguistic dialect, and by clans. As the Chinese imperial government divided the Hmong by clothing affiliation (e.g., white, black, red, blue, green), kinship groups or clans became an important identifier of the separation. In order to suppress the Hmong from uprising against discrimination, unfair taxes, land confiscation and unjust violence, this division by the imperial government made a lasting impact on the Hmong people’s psyche and social life. Today, the clans remain one of the most critical aspects of Hmong social life in parts of China, Southeast Asia, and around the world. This article explores the 18 Hmong clan names, social structure, and lastly, taboos that some Hmong clans observe.
Clan Names
A clan consists of members from the same paternal lineage or last name who are linked by the namesake. A Hmong clan is made up of a cluster of families and cultural traditions. The family has a shared and traceable ancestor or has a common cultural tradition such as weddings and funeral proceedings. People become members of a clan through marriage, being born into it, being adopted or welcomed through other cultural ceremonial ways. For example, when a son is born, he takes on the father’s surname which carries the clan name. When a woman marries, she takes on her husband’s name. The parent generation would call her nyab daughter-in-law followed by their son’s name, for example, Nyab Pov.
The Hmong people from Laos who are now living in the US have recognized 18 distinctive Hmong clans. Some scholars assert there were originally 12 clans, but the larger clans split to become smaller clans. The chart below shares the clan names in English, in White Hmong and Blue/Green Hmong Leeg Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA). Lastly, modern variations of clan names such as adding a grandfather’s name to identify their clan lineage are not included in the list. For example, Zongnhialor indicates the grandfather is Zong Nhia Lor, so the first and last name of the descendent is written as Pengxu Zongnhialor.
Hmong 18 Clans
Social Structure
Hmong people’s social organization is based on male kinship and the clan system. Families receive clan support when they live close to each other and help one another by being loyal to their clans. Hmong clans provide social support (e.g., advice giving, networking), cultural authority (e.g., disputes, divorces, leadership guidance), and economic security (e.g., physical labor, bride price). The same paternal clan members are referred to as kwv tij or brothers from the father or husband’s side and neej tsa from the mother or wife’s side. Each clan has its own leader and cultural experts who are responsible for managing conflicts, negotiating marriages, educating others, and performing religious rituals.Â
Historically, the oldest living member is the leader. In modern times, younger people have risen to become clan leaders and built organizations such as the Hmong 18 Council in Minnesota and Wisconsin to serve the community-at-large. The Hmong people observed collectivism over individualism, often putting the needs and concerns of the group before their own. Further, it is common for multigenerational family members to live together. In some families, the oldest male child or the youngest male child are expected care for their elder parents.
Traditionally, the Hmong people practice exogamy where marriage partners could not be someone from the same clan. In olden times, it was taboo for certain clans such as the Fang/Vang, Her/Hang, Kue/Thao, and Lor/Pha to marry, because it is believed that they diverged from a common ancestor or through a special ceremony that united the paternal lineage or brotherhood. These beliefs are slowly changing, especially in the United States, where some young people have chosen partners from the same clan name.
Taboos
Taboos are forbidden social practices that are believed to have negative or dire consequences. Those who grew up in traditional families may have heard some of these taboos and observed them. These taboos grew from superstitions believed to bring sickness or bad luck to any person who breaks them. There are nuanced and diverse beliefs that exist within each person, family, and clan and the taboos do not apply universally. Though each clan has their own folklore and traditions surrounding taboos, these have been some of the most common.
Clan Taboos
| Hmong Clan | Taboos |
|---|---|
| Her/Hue/Herr/Heu | Can’t eat sour fruit with meals or have fruits placed in the same area with rice because it will bring bad luck. Daughters can’t eat chicken wings (causes stomach pain or gets exhausted quickly when working), chicken feet (claws take away good fortune), and chicken stomach and colon (will be lazy). |
| Lor/Lo/Lau/Lao | Cannot marry a Pha/Phang clan member because these two clans originated from two brothers or that they were bonded by a ceremony. They are considered brothers and sisters. |
| Moua/Mua | Cannot marry a Chang clan member because the clans originated from two brothers. They are considered brothers and sisters. Some considered themselves as Moob Leeg and not Blue/Green Hmong because some believed that Green Hmong practiced cannibalism. |
| Pha/Phang | Cannot marry a Lor/Lo/Lau/Lao clan member because both clans originated from two brothers. They are considered brothers and sisters or that they were bonded by a ceremony. |
| Vang/Va | Certain fruits cannot be served on the table with rice (e.g., apples, oranges, peaches, grapes, pears) because they bring bad luck. When packing travel food, fruit and rice cannot be placed in the same bag. It brings bad energy and causes hallucinations like seeing snakes. Daughter-in-laws and Father-in-laws cannot eat together at the same table because it will bring bad luck to the son and daughter-in-law. |
| Yang/Yangh/Ya/Yan | They are not allowed to eat animal liver and hearts. Bad fortune and illnesses like being blind will follow. |
| Other Beliefs: | Siblings cannot marry in the same year or one of them will be prosperous while the other will have misfortune. One way to get around this is for one sibling to marry at the end of year while the other marries at the beginning of a new year. A bride must never look back once she walks out of her parents’ house to begin her life or she will have a bad life. At Hmong weddings, peppers and spicy food cannot be served. It will cause tears to shed and heartaches for the couple. After giving birth, women/young mothers must eat a postpartum chicken diet for a whole month. If they do not maintain the diet and keep their bodies warm, then they will age quickly, experience aches and pain, have weak bladders, and uncontrollable bowel movements. Don’t eat chicken wings or the person eating them will write crooked. Don’t eat chicken stomach or the person eating it will not be smart. Children should not point at the moon because they will get a cut behind one of their ears, or their ears will get cut off. To remedy this, they need to spit on their hands and say they are rubbing chicken poop on it. Don’t fall at a traditional funeral or the person’s spirit will fall out and cause them to be sick or even die. Don’t whistle at night while alone or it will attract lonely ghosts. Women should not brush their hair or do make up at night because it will attract bad spirits. Don’t get bitten by a turtle or it will never let go until lightning strikes. |
Like stories shared across the world, taboos are told across cultures with variations of the same idea. One common theme appears to be the same warning and ending if taboos are violated. Whether the superstitions were created to scare others, they are part of the Hmong experience. To maintain strong family ties and build healthy communities, the clans continue to shape new generations of Hmong people as they redefine their roles. The relationship between family, relatives, and clan members, reinforce the importance of a collective society. The relationship between family, relatives, and clan members reinforce the importance of a collective society.Â
References
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Cha, D. (2003). Hmong American concepts of health, healing, and conventional medicine. Routledge.
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Her, C. (2019). Boiled chicken w/Hmong medicinal herbs. C. Her Creations. https://chawjcreations.com/2019/09/27/boiled-chicken-w-hmong-medicinal-herbs-tshuaj-hmong-hau-ntsug-qab/
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Stanford Medicine. (2019). Family/clan structure. Ethnogeriatrics. https://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/hmong/introduction/family.html
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Contributing Editor: Yia Vue
Illustrator: Alex Yang