Author: matoulas

Khmu’ is one of the three main ethnic groups in Laos which consists of the Lao Theung (Khmu’), Lao-Loum, and Lao Soung (Hmong). The Khmu’ ethnic group is the original indigenous inhabitants of Laos.  Khmu’ has their own language, written alphabets that was taught to them during the colonial era.  They preserve and protect their culture, beliefs, and traditional costumes which makes them unique from the many ethnic groups in Laos. The Greh Ritual ceremony is the most important New Year celebration for Khmu’ people.

The ritual processes observed during the Greh are what we believe and respect to be very important to our culture, a tradition that was passed down from our forefathers, Khoune Cheung (Ta’ Cwaq). No matter where Khmu people live, we always celebrate `Mun Greh, either as an individual family gathering or as a community social event. Every family, every clan, and in every city, Greh is celebrated in the month of December through January (‘Nwan Ciaq-‘Nwan Ñi)     

The Greh celebration represents many great aspects of life, such as preparing and serving food, raising all kinds of animals, planting crops in the fields, harvesting rice and storing the seeds for the next year’s farming season. The Greh ceremony consists of banana trees, sugar cane, flowers called Raaq Roon, two jars of rice wine as a centerpiece. The centerpiece’s decoration is surrounded with many different kinds of root and vining crops, such as yam, pumpkins and taro etc., and variety of farming tools such as shovels, sickles and knives.     

The main purpose of the Greh ceremony is for us Khmu people to remember and give thanks to our ancestor “Ta’ Cwaq, Ya’ Cwaq’.  We want to thank them for the year’s bountiful harvest from the farm, a healthy life, and peace for all Khmu’ people. During the ceremony we ask them to continue to give us abundant crop, healthy life, peace and prosperity in the up-coming year.

The steps or processes of the Greh Celebration

A group of people, young and old parade towards to the Greh’s centerpiece to announce the New Year celebration by dancing, singing and hitting gongs.

Sword dance is part of the Greh ceremony, it represents the bravery of our ancestral warrior slashing and whirling his weapon to chase and scare the enemies. In addition, Sword dancer in the old day as known as Shaman whom has a power spirit to overpower of all bad spirits; performs his dance with sword to eliminate all bad spirits out of the ceremony’s location prior to the start of the Greh ceremony.

Nang Keo Dance (Fone Nang-Keo) is performed right after the Sword Dance is completed. It’s a traditional dance for Khmu Greh ceremony. This dance is performed to call the great ancestor’s spirits to come and bless the Greh ceremony, embrace the gathering, and welcome the Khmu Greh ceremony.

Next step is to show respect to the community elders, leaders, and important guests by having them seated in front of the Greh’s centerpiece before the Shaman start the event.

The first segment is the ritual performance ceremony that honors the current year by the Greh Shaman. Originally, Khmu in Laos performed Greh ceremony by having the Shaman take the hen, cut the beak, and smear blood down onto the knees of the family members and the respect elders. Currently in United States of America, Canada, and European countries, due to International Animal Rights Law, we use a of bundle of flowers dipped in the ceremony’s holy water instead. At this point the Shaman will swipe on the family/respected elder’s hands above their knees from top-down to the bottom while he is chanting and wishing for all the bad lucks such as sickness, diseases, economic sufferings, and starvation due to bad harvest to be gone. Once the first round of the ritual is completed, the first sacred rice-wine, which represents the previous year is opened for the respected members to drink. During this time there’s no singing of Khmu song called, “Term.”

The second segment proceeds by the Greh’s Shaman to welcome the New Year. Again, traditionally, the Greh’s Shaman would take the rooster, cut the beak, and smear blood upward onto the knees of the family members and the respect elders. Currently, we once again use a bundle of flowers dipped in the ceremony’s holy water to smear the hands/knees of the family members and respect elders. At this point the Shaman will swipe on the family/respected elder’s hands above their knees from the bottom up. During this round all hands are   opened, facing up to receive the New Year’s prayers from the Greh’s Shaman.  The Greh’s Shaman will be chanting the Greh’s special verses to wish for a good life, good luck, good health, prosperity, peace and happiness for the up-coming new year. The second rice-wine jar is opened and all the respected members are invited to drink and welcome the New Year. During this time there will be selected folklore singers to sing “Term Khmu” while respected elders drink the rice-wine.  In addition, all the Khmu instruments such as swq-kool, pi, gong, and high hatch are being played at this segment. You can hear the sound of the gong and high hatch in a rhythmic tune of celebration, welcoming the Khmu New Year.

Lao-Khmu Traditional (Baci) ceremony

The Baci (Wrist-ties) ceremony is known to be the most important Ceremony in Laos and it’s performed by many ethnic groups in Laos. It’s believed to bring good luck and invites the good spirits to come back into the body and soul. Again, the Baci ceremony is being performed by the Master Ceremony by chanting the Baci language in wishing for a good life, good luck, good health, prosperity, peace and happiness for the up-coming year while all family members, respected elders, and important guests are seated around the centerpiece (Pha-Kwan).  After the Master ceremony finished chanting, then he ties the wrists of the elders and the most important guests first with the white strings from the center piece.

Thereafter, all people that gathered tie each other’s’ wrists with the white strings and wish one another a good luck and prosperity for the Khmu Greh New Year.

Happy Khmu New Year (Sm ‘maay le’ Nwm Hmmé’)

The main purpose of the “Greh” celebration is to preserve and protect our culture and heritage, to share our tradition with others, and most importantly, to pass it on to our future generations.

Written By: Tony Khoutsavanh
Resources:
1. www.khmuoc.org
2. The book of Khmu’ livelihood by Mr. Suksavang Simana and Elizabeth Preisig.

Historically, our Khmu leaders and board members have comprised of majority men, seniors, and tribal elders. These great leaders have laid the foundation and build a structure for us. We will use the structure and continue their work to build a future for our Khmu people.

For this new year and the start of a new decade of 2020, it is an opportunity for us to grow with time. Our focus will be the following strategies

1. Identify young men and women from different Khmu communities that may have interests and aptitude to work in their communities-to create the next generation of Khmu leaders.
   
2. Create a cultural appropriate leadership curriculum, one which include young people from all of the Khmu communities.
   
3. Build a team in which each group will have one topic to focus on including Higher Education, Fundraising, Community Outreach & Training, Elderly care, and Cultural Preservation.

Written By: Tracie Chulaparn Friedman (KNF President)

We have found through informal tracking and counting our Khmu community memberships that there have been a good amount of success with higher education. However, even with these successes we achieved, there is still huge gaps in this area. Our top priority is to narrow these gaps.

Our first goal is to find the root causes on issues that may hinder our Khmu communities from pursuing higher education, to understand certain barriers that affect youth, young adult and families from such achievements. 

Our second goal is to help create a structure to help reduce these barriers, educate everyone about the importance of higher education, and furthermore help create a mentorship model. Finally, our last goal is to bring in and encourage our graduates and young adults to help mentor other young Khmu people in their communities. With the above strategies, we hope to narrow the gaps for our Khmu communities and help our people come together.

Written By: Tracie Chulaparn Friedman (KNF President)

The goal of the Khmu National Federation, Inc. (KNF) is to provide cultural preservation for our Khmu people and their communities in the United States. Cultural preservation will be the retention of customs and heritage of our Khmu people in which are showcased through clothing, music, traditional hand tools, ethnic foods, dance and performances. Our primary tradition includes hand-tying setup (Quan) which is displayed with whole chicken, eggs, white strings, fresh fruits, fresh flowers, taro, yams, sticky rice, water and wine.

In addition to the Quan, two rice wine jars will be required for each ceremony. Three other important elements for the cultural preservation for our Khmu people are the sword dances, Khmu singing of the (Term), and the traditional dance performances of rice planting and harvesting. Each year, the KNF selects one of its Khmu Community Associations to collaborate and combine to have one (Greh) New Year celebration.

The Annual Greh celebration in that particular city and/or region becomes the main focus of the KNF to help support, advise and ensure appropriate setup that aligns to cultural themes of traditional Greh celebration. This annual event which rotates from year to year spanning from Khmu Community Associations in Santa Ana, Fresno, Stockton, Bay Areas cities in California, Washington State, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Massachusetts. These annual events provide us the opportunity to support our Khmu communities and help promote and retain our cultural heritage which will be preserved for future generations.

Written By: Tracie Chulaparn Friedman (KNF President)