By: Shoshiana Vang 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) — The Hmong community in Northwest Arkansas celebrated its 2025 Arkansas Hmong New Year. The Hmong Association hosted the celebration with food, live performances and sports competitions for two days. It was opened to everyone and not inclusive to the Hmong people. The event happened on Oct. 4 to 5 in Summers, Ark.

Hmong Association President Tou Yia Lee emphasized an important reason for this year’s Hmong New Year is that it reminded the community about the ethnic group’s origins.

“It’s been 50 years since we [the Hmong people] have migrated from Laos and Thailand to America,” Lee said.

The Hmong people originated in the China before migrating to other southeast Asian countries. In 1975, a small group of the Hmong people settled in four temporary immigration centers the United States. One of the centers was Fort Chaffee in Arkansas.

Although there was only a small group at first, more than 100,000 Hmong people settled in the U.S. starting in 1979. According to the 2023 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 360,000 people that identified themselves as Hmong in the U.S, and Arkansas ranked 12th for the growth of its Hmong population at 2,017.

Lee said the Hmong New Year celebrated the good harvest throughout the year, so the Hmong community come together every fall to welcome the new year.

However, as the years progressed, the younger Hmong generations do not celebrate the traditions like the Hmong New Year. The event was originally a way where people can socialize and court each other through a game of ball toss called pov pob.

Lee said to get the younger generations interested in the Hmong New Year, they incorporated sports and dance competitions. Youths can register in teams for soccer and volleyball games or compete with traditional group dance performances. There is also an open microphone for traditional poetry and singing.

Since the Hmong community planned to have a more formal building for their events, Lee said a community event center construction is a work-in-progress. The Washington County Planning Board had previously approved the conditional use permit and the Quorum Court had ratified them for the center, but the projects have not been constructed.

“In Arkansas, we have our own land, so we celebrate the Hmong New Year outside instead of outside like up north,” Lee said. “In Laos, we also celebrate it outside.”

The Northwest Arkansas region hosted 21 Hmong New Years, including this year. The Hmong New Years occurred throughout different states at different times, but they all have the same meanings.

“The Hmong New Year is the only holiday for the Hmong [people], so we get together to meet our friends and eat food,” Lee said. “We need to continue to have the New Year every year so that both older and younger generations can get together.”