Observation of a Hmong Wedding

Mai Shoua Her

Writing 10

March 29, 2009

My Trip Down Marriage Lane

I have been waiting so long for break. I am finally home, with my families and friends, doing things that I want to do. I can say that, just being close to those that knows me and care about me is a pleasure already. Since college life is such a burden at times and there is no one that I like to be with there. However, being home is not the only reason for my smiles. One of the most memorable trip that I took during my spring break was actually a trip to a traditional hmong wedding.

I was really happy to be there since I have not been to a traditional Hmong wedding since my junior year of high school. It was fun and funny at the same time. This time to get the full experience of the wedding, I decided to paid attention to the process of the traditional wedding procedure. The first process of the wedding was, as I remember, the groom kneeling down for about one hundred times or more to the elders of the girl’s relative. I could not stop laughing as I looked to see from the grooms face that, after about fifty times of going up and back down on his knee, he barely made it through with his legs shaking badly in the end.

The next process of the wedding was the marriage songs. I frequency left the scene on and off again since the songs were really long, three or four songs in total with each lasting about thirty-minutes to an hour long.

I came back during the drinking ceremony, which to me, is one of the highlights of a traditional Hmong wedding. Basically anyone who wants him to drink can make him drink with the only expectation that what you give him, you must drink yourself. I have actually heard stories of groom going to the emergency room for this; regardless, it is still funny to watch if you are from the bride’s side of the family.

A funny moment during the drinking ceremony was when the groom and his best man started crying, talking about...