Summer School Cultural Stories #1 Hmong Culture by Blong     Have you ever wondered what Hmong people do in their culture?     I have had a Hu Plig in my house a lot of times. When some one is very sick a man or a woman comes to Hu Plig.  Hmong  Hu Plig for their newborn baby before they name it a name.     Hmong people hunt for food to eat. It is fun hunting together with your friend.  You go hunting for your favorite animal that you want to eat.     In Hmong New Year you throw a ball with a girl or a boy, try to know each other better.  In Hmong New Year some people sing, dance, perform, and do plays on a stage. You wear Hmong clothes to the New Year. It is fun to be with your friends and play together.     Have you ever wondered what Hmong do in their culture? In Hmong culture we hunt, and Hu Plig, and celebrate. Hmong Culture By Bao     Hmong culture is an amazing culture. Paj ntaub is one part of Hmong culture. I hope to give you some idea of my culture.     Paj ntaub is when women and girls make Paj ntaub and sell at Hmong stores. They make Paj ntaub to wear at Hmong New Year. The Paj ntaub takes a long time to make. Sometimes it takes weeks.     Sometimes at Hmong New Year they do Hu Plig. When the children are sick, the dad goes to the Shaman to come to make the children get better.  A Shaman calls all your spirits back to you so you can get better.     When it is Hmong New Year people are very happy.  The men and women throw balls at Hmong New Year. Men and women wear new clothes to Hmong New Year. When I go to Hmong New Year I buy food to eat and drink.     Paj ntaub and Hu Plig and Hmong New Year are important to Hmong culture and me. Family Culture By Christian My family is very cool to hang around with. This is why.  1.       Cooking     I like cooking with my mom because I like what I do with food. I like chicken. I like grilled chicken. We get Chinese take out sometimes. 2.  Video Games     I play video games every day, because that is the only thing to do in the house. I sometimes play games with my brother and beat him one time. I like playing but sometimes I get  mad because  I can’t beat the level. 3. Wrestling     We watch wrestling together. It is fun because my mom curses a lot. I like to see people fight and jump and stuff.     Well this is why my culture is cool. Bye. Family Christmas by Alexis                    Imagine lights shining, presents sparkling, and cookies baking.  Those are the things I hear and smell as I step one foot down the steps to start the day.     We hang candy canes on the Christmas tree.  Then a couple of hours later we begin our creations by taking the cookies out.        We make our own creations like garlic eggs, but I thought that was nasty.  We also made our own pineapple upside down cakes.  We made our own stuff like popcorn with caramel sauce.          After that we got ready to go to our aunt’s house.  But before we did that we dropped presents off at our relatives’ houses.  We packed up all of the food we made and took to our aunt’s house too.            We met lots of our cousins there and we got to go to the parade.  When we got to the parade my little sister met Santa Claus then we went home.   We had fun on this wonderful holiday and enjoyed everything we did today. Family Discipline By: Ka Bao       Do your parents have to tell you to clean your room or do your homework?         In my family I have a little sister. She always keeps putting things or stuff in her room. My mom and  dad keep telling her to clean her room. My big sister is messy too, just like my little sister. My mom and dad tell them to clean the room. They did what my mom says. My mom came to look at the room. It is all clean. My big brother is clean. My mom does not have to tell him to clean his room.          After dinner my little sister always takes out her homework to do. My big brother does not do his homework at all but sometimes he does. My mom has to yell at him to do his homework.          My mom does the thing like cooking. My big sister has to wash the plates and my big brother has to help to dry the plate for her. There are a lot of toys so I have to pick the toys into the bag.          My big brother does not do his homework. I do not like him at all. When I have homework, my dad helps me and sometimes it is not right.          In my family my grandpa tells me a story. When he was young he was a soldier and there was a war and other soldiers shot the guns into my grandpa’s leg. Then when my grandpa was old, his leg was hurt. Family Discipline by: Paaj Ntsaas          Family discipline is what my family has trouble with in my house. This story is going to take place in my house and some out of the house.     My big brothers are 12 and 13 years old. They like to hit people in the chest for fun and if someone bothers him, he will  hit you and make you cry. My little brother Joshua was sick and whenever we go outside he says “I want to go outside too.”     Whenever we say, “No, you can not go outside. You are sick. You can not go outside.” Then he cries and cries. We let him go outside to play but when he starts to cough, I take him inside because I watch him a lot and I  do not want him to get sick. I will not let him run around a lot so that he does not get sicker. Sometimes when he is not sick and mom and dad are not at home,  my big brother takes him up the hill and goes in the woods and makes fire. Then he gets in trouble and I get in trouble also.     My little brother and big brother always are making a mess. I have to clean up their toys and pick up dirty clothes. My little brother’s toys are always on the floor and I have to clean the house over, over and over again. My brothers are lazy and they make me clean the house a lot of times. At my house when we come from outside or school, we put all our  things on the floor and play again. When my mom makes food we grope a lot on it and it falls on the ground. Ants come and eat it up and we see a lot of ants in the house.     When my mom or dad is not at home, my big brothers like going to the library. Whenever  my mom is going by the Rice St. Library, my big brother says, “Stop at the library.”     When it is my big brother’s birthday, they ask my mom and say, “Mom, take us to the library.”     My mom gets mad at my big brothers.      My family is a hard place because of my brothers in the house. My family fights a lot.  Sometimes we do not like each other but we are still a family at heart. Family Discipline by Sheng      Have you ever thought that in each family there are different kinds of family discipline? If you want to know more about family discipline read this story and find out. Have fun and enjoy this story about family discipline.        In my family my little brother and niece mess the house and my big brother, sister-in-law, big sister, and I always clean the house or wash the dishes. When my middle brother talks on the phone with his friends or girl friend, he always talks too long. At night my big sister likes to do her homework late, because when she gets home, she takes care of the baby and plays. My middle brother always has lots of homework. I like to do homework when I get home because I want to sleep early so the next day I will not be tired at school.     When my uncle and my cousins come to our house, my little brother takes all of his toys and throws them to the floor to my uncle’s son. He plays and they mess the toys all over the living room. My little sister likes to take off her clothes, because in the summer it is hot. She takes off her clothes and goes outside to play with water. Then my sister-in-law buys some candy and she shares with my little brother and they eat and eat and eat until they want to drink milk. After that they throw the candy wrappers and milk bottles on the floor. Then my sister and I have to wash my niece’s and my brother’s hands and clean the floor and pickup the candy wrappers and milk bottles.                             I think that every Hmong girl should clean the house, cook, and work harder than boys. It is okay that Hmong girls should do everything in the family because in Hmong culture girls have to do almost everything in the house.     My family discipline is good and sometimes is bad. But I love my family even when my family does something bad to me. I still want to be with my family all the time. Family Discipline by Chue     Have you ever helped your family clean up stuff in your house? We help our family clean up as part of our family discipline.          I help my family clean up stuff. My sister is the one who cleans up stuff in our house. Also, my brother helps but he only does a little. My little brother and sister are messy, because they always put stuff everywhere in the house. My big brother and sister clean because they are the ones who tell us not to put stuff everywhere. They are the ones who clean the stuff in the house.     One time my brother and I went to sleep. It was like 10 or 11 o’clock. When my brother and I watch TV my mom always tell us to go to sleep because it is late. When we come back from school we play outside. I go play my computer  and when I see my mom open the door, she says to me, “it is late.” When my brother and I go to sleep  my mom checks to see if we are sleep. If we are not she will say to us to go sleep.     Sometimes I do my homework late. When my brother, sister and I come home from school my mom asks us if we have any homework to do. When we come back from school I go play outside then I will do my homework, but sometimes I do it at night. At night when I am done playing computer games, sometimes I am too tired to do my homework, so I just go to sleep.     I am happy that my family and I do things together in our house and help each other. Family Discipline By: Yer     Family discipline is very important in my family, because there are a lot of things happening in my family.     In my family there is a lot of fighting. My brother pushes me. My brother and sister like to hit the people that are in my family, but not my mom and dad. A lot of people like my brother and sister, but they like to kick members of the family.     In my house there is a lot of homework. Sometimes when my big sister has homework, she does it really late and sometimes my brother does not have homework. Sometimes when we do not do our homework, my mom and dad yell at us.      When my little cousins come over they put toys all over the floor. They like to break them and sometimes they suck on them. After they went home they would just leave the toys on the floor.     In my family we learn new things about each other and there are lots of things happening. I think family discipline is unfair for me, because people can sometimes break my family’s rules. Family Fun by Taylor     Family fun is different in every home. I do not know any family that has the same kind of fun that we have.     In my family birthdays are fun.  We eat cake first. Then we open presents.  It doesn’t take too long. We play games like left right center.     Family vacations are fun. I have been to a hotel and spent the night for 2 days with my mom and dad.  We went to the casino and the arcade.  I like to play ski ball and sonic.  At the casino I go to Kids Quest where they take you in the place where you can get snacks and play games.     My family goes to church at 9:30 on Sundays. We sing all different songs at church. At Sunday school  we play games and read stories and make crafts.     My family has all sorts of fun like going to church and going on family vacations and celebrating birthdays. Family Life By Justice     Family life is different in every home. I do not know any family that has the same kind of family life that I have.     In my family we do a lot of fighting. My little brother and sister fight over the television. My big sister and I  fight over the phone. My sister never wants to clean the kitchen and my mom tells her she has to clean it up anyways.     In my family we all get together and talk and play games and we always have a cook- out on holidays. On Thanksgiving I make macaroni and cheese and chicken. Even though we fight and yell at each other and act like we are crazy, we still do lots of thing together. Hmong Culture By Tou Hu Plig is so important to Hmong people because when your spirits fall the Txiv Neeb will Hu Plig. The spirits come back to the person.  The person can live. When it is New Year, Hmong also Hu Plig so the spirits come to them. They can Hu Plig to get a baby’s name too.     Ua Neeb is so important like Hu Plig because when some spirits leave, the Txiv Neeb will call back spirits to the person that got sick. Also when someone moves to a new house, the family does an ua Neeb to call spirits to come with them.     Hunting is important to Hmong because Hmong can have food to eat. Many times I went to the woods to cut down trees to make top-spinner and find some food. It was fun. We made a trap to catch some birds to eat.     I am happy because Hmong people have amazing things like Ua Neeb, Hu Plig and hunting.    Hmong Culture By Ger     Have you ever wondered why Shamans are so important to the Hmong culture?     For the Hmong New Year, Hmong people have to wear Hmong clothes. At the Hmong New Year sometimes you have ball toss to meet a mate. People always play sports at  the Hmong New Year.          Soul calling is to make people better. Sometimes when people do soul calling they eat boiled pork while they are there. For example, like when you fall at funerals, Hmong people believe that the dead person’s soul will come get the soul of the one who fell so that’s why sometimes people get sick.     Almost all Shamans are sometimes old. When Shamans do soul calling they wear a red or black cloth  over their eyes. Shamans cut the cow’s horn in half for equipment.     The Hmong religion is different from the American’s religion. HMONG CULTURE by KA YING                    Have you ever wondered why ua Neeb, Hu Plig, and Hmong New Year are so important to Hmong people?            Hu Plig is important to the Hmong people because their spirits will come back.            Ua Neeb is the most important tradition, because if someone is sick, a shaman can ua Neeb to see what is bothering the person or what is going on with his or her soul.             Hmong New Year is important to girls and boys because it is the good time for them to find a good life. They can have their own life, meet new people, throw the ball to each other and spend time with the one man or woman he or she loves the most.              Hu Plig, Ua Neeb, and Hmong New Year are important to Hmong culture. They are important to me because Hmong culture likes to do the same way. Hmong Culture by Mai     Have you ever wondered why Ua Neeb, Hu Plig and Hmong New Year are so important to the Hmong people?     Hu Plig is important to the Hmong people because when people are sick they Hu Plig to call the soul to come back.     Ua Neeb is important to Hmong people because when a baby is sick a Shaman can come to say an Ua Neeb.      The Hmong family has a pig. After the Ua Neeb, they cut the pig’s head. Hmong people do this so the baby will be fine.         When it is Hmong New Year a boy can take his girlfriend to the Hmong New Year to throw the ball  together and play games. Hmong New Year is the time for a Hmong girl to go and find a boyfriend.     Ua Neeb, Hu Plig, and Hmong New Year are very important parts of Hmong culture. Hmong Culture by Mai Yer          Some people do not know anything about Hmong Culture.  Important parts of Hmong Culture are dancing, hu plig, ua neeb.                                      Dancing     Some people like to dance at Hmong New Year and sing. Some people like to make a store of Pepsi and juice for the people who dance and come to buy.  Some  people like to teach their children to dance at Hmong New Year.                                Ua Neeb     Ua Neeb keeps monsters away.  Some people are so sick that they need ua neeb.  One time I had a ua neeb for my little brother, because he was sick.  But my brother died. I miss him and I cried                                 Hu Plig     Hu Plig calls the spirits to come back.  A baby does not like his/her first name and then the family has a hu plig to find a new name.  One time I had a hu plig for my little brother because he was sick and called the spirit to come back and then he was better.          Ua Neeb and Hu plig are special to my family because when my sister was sick my cousin ua neeb and called the spirits to come back. Hmong Culture By: Panou     Have you ever wondered what a ua neeb, ua teb, and paj ntaub are?     In our Hmong Culture, ua neeb is important. Ua neeb (spirits ceremony) is important because whenever we get a new house or get sick, we ua neeb. We also ua neeb to keep monsters away.     Ua teb (farming) is also important to our culture. People in our culture ua teb for selling food and for food to eat. Also many Hmong people like to be outside with their families.     People in our culture do paj ntaub, (story cloth) for selling and making beautiful clothes. Paj ntaub is also good for telling what has had happened in the past. Families sell their paj ntaub so that they can get money for the family.     Ua neeb, ua teb, and paj ntaub made me proud of my Hmong Culture because I like to ua neeb, ua teb, and do paj ntaub. Also I have done all these things before. Hmong Culture by Pheng     Have you ever wondered about ua neeb, hu plig, and Hmong New Year?     Hu plig is important to the Hmong people because Hmong people believe that a person has a soul. Hu plig is to help Hmong people live well and not get sick.     Ua neeb is important to Hmong people, because sometimes Hmong people are sick. A Hmong person who knows how to ua neeb can help people who are sick get well.     Hmong New Year is important to Hmong people because it is a festival with Hmong people for many, many years.     Ua neeb, hu plig and Hmong New Year are important to help Hmong people. Hmong Culture by Shee     Hmong culture is an amazing culture.   Paj ntaub, ua neeb and hu plig are parts of our culture.     Paj ntaub is important to Hmong culture because they can make a beautiful picture. Hmong people can sell a lot of paj ntaub, so they have money to buy food to eat.     Have you ever wondered what ua neeb is?     Ua neeb is important to Hmong culture because it keeps monsters away. Also an ua neeb is done in a new house because it will keep monsters away from the house.  When a person is sick, they have to ua neeb so the sick person gets better.     Have you ever wondered why Hmong culture has hu plig?     The Hmong people hu plig to call the spirits to come back.  When a baby is born, they hu plig and then they give a name to the baby.  One time I had a hu plig when I was sick.     Ua neeb is very important to Hmong culture because it helps a lot of Hmong people.   Hmong Culture By Sheng     Have you ever wondered why Hmong New Year is so important to the Hmong people? In Hu plig we call the soul to come back. When we have a newborn baby, we do Hu plig to welcome the new baby to the family Celebration. The Shaman calls the soul to come back. Ua neeb is when a shaman keeps spirits away at your house. The shaman keeps Monsters away. Shamans help sick people at Hmong New Year. We throw the ball to meet friends. We sing and dance to perform for the audience. Men dress in different Hmong clothes than women. Men wear pants with a red sash and money bags. Women wear dresses with designs. Hmong culture is different from American culture. Ua neeb is the most important tradition, because if someone is sick. A shaman can ua neeb to see what is bothering the person or what is going on with their soul. Hu plig, Hmong New Year and Ua neeb are very important to Hmong culture.  They are very important to me. Hmong Culture by Kao          Do you want to learn something important about Hmong Culture. It is the most important part of my life.     Hmong New Year                      Boys and girls throw a ball to each other and it is so fun. Hmong singing and dancing is a happy time and everybody has fun at New Year. Hmong people wear Hmong clothes a lot on the Hmong New Year.     Paj ntaub         Hmong people make paj ntaub. When they are done they sell them to other Hmong Americans and other .They pay the money to the person who make paj ntaub. Hmong make beautiful paj ntaub and when other people see them they will say Hmong paj ntaub is beautiful. When Hmong paj ntaub is done they feel so good.          Hunting         When Hmong were in Laos, Hmong built their villages on the mountain. Hmong did not have anything to eat. They hunted animals. Hmong have fun in the forest with their family and friends. Hmong sell animals if they kill a lot of animals.     Hmong Culture is very important to my life. I hope you understand Hmong culture. Hmong Culture by Shee     Hmong culture is an amazing culture.   Paj ntaub, ua neeb and hu plig are parts of our culture.     Paj ntaub is important to Hmong culture because they can make a beautiful picture and they can sell a lot of paj ntaub so they have money to buy food to eat.     Have you ever wondered what ua neeb is?     Ua neeb is important to Hmong culture because it keep monsters away and also an ua neeb is a new done house because it will keep monster away from their house.  When a person is sick they have to ua neeb so the sick person get better.     Have you ever wondered why Hmong culture has hu plig?     The Hmong people hu plig to call the spirits to come back.  When a baby is born they hu plig and then they give a name to the baby.  One time I had a hu plig when I was sick.     Ua neeb is very important to Hmong culture because it help a lot of Hmong people. HU PLIG BY YER HU PLIG is a time in Hmong religion when the good spirits are called back into a person. Sometimes, according to Hmong culture, evil spirits take the place of the good spirits and have to be called back. SPIRIT WORLD     They’re good spirits and bad spirits. Every Hmong home has an altar in their home and they put food on the altar. When they Hu plig they used the cymbal and the Shaman brings the sword and a drum. LOSING THE SPIRITS     When you see a Poj Ntxoog you have to Hu plig to the one who saw it. When you fall on your knees in front of the people who are dead they will come and get your spirits to go with them. CALLING THE SPIRIT BACK     When the shaman used the Kaum near the door if   it flip one up and one down that means that they can find the spirits, if it flips two down back that mean’s that they got the spirits when it flips up that mean’s the spirit is back to the you.                  Kingdom Hall By Scott Have you ever wondered that Jesus is God. Well  he is not. God is Jesus’  father and he is our father too.     Now here is a story called Kingdom Hall.  My family goes to the Kingdom Hall two times a week. First let me tell you about Thursday. It is from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. First we do a ministry school. I sometimes read from the bible. This will be my third time reading  from the bible.     On Saturday we go to field service. Field service is when we go and knock on doors and ask if they want to be a Jehovah Witnesses.     On Sunday we go to the Kingdom Hall. We sing. We pray. We listen last but not least. We do the Watchtower.  The Watchtower is a magazine with questions. It is from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. at 3:00 p.m. I have my bible study for 30 minutes.     We are Jehovah Witnesses. We like to help our Kingdom Hall. I will not forget our Kingdom Hall because in the new system I want to live a good life. That is why my family is a Jehovah witnesses. My American Culture By Makayla     Read about my culture, you will probably learn a new culture.     My religion is important to me. I am a Jehovah’s Witness, and I am proud of it. We do things different like we do not celebrate holidays, only anniversaries. We go to a kingdom hall instead of church. We can only marry other Jehovah witnesses.     My family and I go on vacations a lot. It brings us closer together. We can have fun and talk. It makes us learn a little more about each other.     My family and I talk to each other a lot. We feel comfortable to say stuff around each other. We are very open with each other.     When we do stuff we are not supposed to do, we get toys taken away and sometimes television. We learn our lesson… Most of the time!     Now you have learned about a different religion and culture. Family Discipline by Jerry     Family discipline has to do with the rules of the mother and father in giving discipline to children. This is a story of my home and the discipline that takes place in my home.     My brother’s bedroom is messy and small. It has a lot of desks. He has a very small bed, but he does not sleep on it.     My mother’s bedroom is clean, but sometimes messy. They have a lot of clothes that couldn’t fit in the bucket. My mom is very clean. Our living room is very, very messy. Under the sofa there are candy wrappers. On top of the TV and on the pictures there is dust all over them.     In our home we all have to keep our rooms clean that is part of our family discipline. Hmong Culture by Sia     Have ever wondered why Ua Neeb, Hu Plig, and Hmong New Year are so Important to the Hmong people?          Hu Plig is Important to the Hmong people because the ghost comes to take the person’s spirit. The Hmong people do Hu Plig for the person’s spirit to come back.          Ua Neeb is Important to the Hmong people because the Hmong get sick and the ghost takes the spirit. The Hmong people are tired and sleeping and going to die. Ua Neeb helps look for the spirit and fix the sick Hmong people back to normal.          Hmong New Year is Important to the Hmong people because on that day all the Hmong people meet and find each other. They throw balls and eat food and have tournaments. They have fun. All of the Hmong people do prize drawings and they walk around to look for their friend.          Hu Plig, Ua Neeb and  Hmong New Year are important to help Hmong people.       Summer_School_first_stories.doc