starryXing*
sarNie Adult
Hmm... let me think of some others too:
1) Grown men are prohibited from drinking breast milk or they will get hit with lightening. My dad told me the story was that a long time ago, men and children used to be able to drink their wives breastmilk (ewwww for the grown man doing that.
). There was a man whose wife had died and his child needed milk. I think that guy was a non-Hmong person. Anyways, the hmong man wouldn't let his wife share her breastmilk. So, the man cursed them that if the breastmilk was drunken for any other reason than to feed a child, or if a grown man drank it, he would get hit with lightening.
2) Don't whistle at night, or ghosts will whistle back or follow you (?).
3) Don't exchange blood with your lover or they will take you away when they die or vice versa if you die first.
4) Don't spend money for three days after celebrating New Years.
5) Don't eat rice with liquid (i.e. water, chicken stock...etc.) for three days after celebrating New Years.
6) Girls can't eat the sacrificial chicken (qaib xwm kab). My dad just told me that this chicken is supposed to bring you riches. Hmong people in olden times were a bit selfish and didn't let their daughters eat it because they didn't want their daughters getting rich as daughters usually get married and bring the riches away into their husband's family. But if sons got rich, they kept it in the family. My dad said he doesn't care whether his sons or daughters get rich--- so we all just ate our chicken this weekend. LOL.
7) Children can't eat blood dishes or they'll blush too easily.
8) Children can't eat chicken brain or they'll grow up stupid. Also can't eat other chicken parts as discussed by someone else here.
9) Can't kneel and eat at the same time.
10) If you dream about poop, you will get some money/good luck soon.
11) Don't eat eggs with two yolks, or you'll have siamese twins. Apparently girls especially can't eat it, but it's ok for boys (lol, my mom never told me why there's the difference).
12) Don't run in a funeral home or else you might trip and fall. Falling is bad at funeral homes.
13) You see ghosts if you poke a hole into a leaf and look through it.
14) Don't say kwv txhiaj outside near forest/woods/farms. Ghosts will hear. And if you're at those places and hear it, don't answer back.
15) Don't mourn in the open by yourself. I think this is because ghosts will hear and join you.
16) Never look back on your wedding day. Doing so brings bad luck for your marriage life.
17) Can't play around with shaman's tools.
18) Can't play the tune of funeral drums outside of funerals.
19) Don't point to or start counting stars unless you can count ALL the stars in the sky (meaning, you shouldn't do it as you can never count them all). Something bad was supposed to happen if you couldn't get them all-- but I forgot what.
20) If you drop a large item in the woods, make sure to pick it up. Or else, it could have bothered a spirit somehow and later impact you (i.e. There was a story about a guy who dropped his flashlight between a rock while in the forest, and later his teeth started to rot in between the cracks. The shaman said that his flashlight had been dropped between a spirit's teeth and so that's why it was mad and made the man's teeth rot. Scary....)
Stories/Explanations for some of the other stuff here:
*****
The pepper thing at weddings, I heard it's because if you eat it at the wedding, your life will be filled with problems and arguments with your husband/wife.
*****
My uncles are Yangs and here's the story my mom told me about the "Yangs can't eat heart" deal. Note: the Yang girls can eat it though cause they are expected to get married and take on other last names. But sons definitely cannot eat hearts.
A long, long, long time ago, some families gathered for a ua neeb/hub plig gathering. They killed an animal, I can't remember if it was a pig or cow (but I think my uncles don't eat any animals' heart).
One of the people who attended were a dad and his son. The son was mentally disabled. As they cut the animal, they stuck the heart into the cooking pot. A while later, they looked and they couldn't locate the heart. The Yangs accused the son of having eaten it. The father said his son hadn't eaten it, but if they didn't believe him and wanted revenge, they could kill his son. So, the Yangs killed the son. Later that day, they actually found the animal heart in their pot (don't really remember how that happened). Turns out the mentally disabled child never stole their heart in the first place! The dad cursed the Yangs that they were too cruel to accuse and kill his son under false pretenses, so from them on-- if any of their sons eat heart, they will go blind or die.
I don't think all Yangs follow this though, just some particular Yang clans like my uncle's.
1) Grown men are prohibited from drinking breast milk or they will get hit with lightening. My dad told me the story was that a long time ago, men and children used to be able to drink their wives breastmilk (ewwww for the grown man doing that.
). There was a man whose wife had died and his child needed milk. I think that guy was a non-Hmong person. Anyways, the hmong man wouldn't let his wife share her breastmilk. So, the man cursed them that if the breastmilk was drunken for any other reason than to feed a child, or if a grown man drank it, he would get hit with lightening.2) Don't whistle at night, or ghosts will whistle back or follow you (?).
3) Don't exchange blood with your lover or they will take you away when they die or vice versa if you die first.
4) Don't spend money for three days after celebrating New Years.
5) Don't eat rice with liquid (i.e. water, chicken stock...etc.) for three days after celebrating New Years.
6) Girls can't eat the sacrificial chicken (qaib xwm kab). My dad just told me that this chicken is supposed to bring you riches. Hmong people in olden times were a bit selfish and didn't let their daughters eat it because they didn't want their daughters getting rich as daughters usually get married and bring the riches away into their husband's family. But if sons got rich, they kept it in the family. My dad said he doesn't care whether his sons or daughters get rich--- so we all just ate our chicken this weekend. LOL.
7) Children can't eat blood dishes or they'll blush too easily.
8) Children can't eat chicken brain or they'll grow up stupid. Also can't eat other chicken parts as discussed by someone else here.
9) Can't kneel and eat at the same time.
10) If you dream about poop, you will get some money/good luck soon.
11) Don't eat eggs with two yolks, or you'll have siamese twins. Apparently girls especially can't eat it, but it's ok for boys (lol, my mom never told me why there's the difference).
12) Don't run in a funeral home or else you might trip and fall. Falling is bad at funeral homes.
13) You see ghosts if you poke a hole into a leaf and look through it.
14) Don't say kwv txhiaj outside near forest/woods/farms. Ghosts will hear. And if you're at those places and hear it, don't answer back.
15) Don't mourn in the open by yourself. I think this is because ghosts will hear and join you.
16) Never look back on your wedding day. Doing so brings bad luck for your marriage life.
17) Can't play around with shaman's tools.
18) Can't play the tune of funeral drums outside of funerals.
19) Don't point to or start counting stars unless you can count ALL the stars in the sky (meaning, you shouldn't do it as you can never count them all). Something bad was supposed to happen if you couldn't get them all-- but I forgot what.
20) If you drop a large item in the woods, make sure to pick it up. Or else, it could have bothered a spirit somehow and later impact you (i.e. There was a story about a guy who dropped his flashlight between a rock while in the forest, and later his teeth started to rot in between the cracks. The shaman said that his flashlight had been dropped between a spirit's teeth and so that's why it was mad and made the man's teeth rot. Scary....)
Stories/Explanations for some of the other stuff here:
*****
The pepper thing at weddings, I heard it's because if you eat it at the wedding, your life will be filled with problems and arguments with your husband/wife.
*****
My uncles are Yangs and here's the story my mom told me about the "Yangs can't eat heart" deal. Note: the Yang girls can eat it though cause they are expected to get married and take on other last names. But sons definitely cannot eat hearts.
A long, long, long time ago, some families gathered for a ua neeb/hub plig gathering. They killed an animal, I can't remember if it was a pig or cow (but I think my uncles don't eat any animals' heart).
One of the people who attended were a dad and his son. The son was mentally disabled. As they cut the animal, they stuck the heart into the cooking pot. A while later, they looked and they couldn't locate the heart. The Yangs accused the son of having eaten it. The father said his son hadn't eaten it, but if they didn't believe him and wanted revenge, they could kill his son. So, the Yangs killed the son. Later that day, they actually found the animal heart in their pot (don't really remember how that happened). Turns out the mentally disabled child never stole their heart in the first place! The dad cursed the Yangs that they were too cruel to accuse and kill his son under false pretenses, so from them on-- if any of their sons eat heart, they will go blind or die.
I don't think all Yangs follow this though, just some particular Yang clans like my uncle's.
