...a number of names and designations. Often, the colour or a specific pattern or the design of clothing is used by locals or outsiders to designate the various distinct groups of the Hmong people. Each Hmong subgroup has its specific customs, tradition and dialect, which vary slightly from those of other subgroups.

Population
In 1995, there were 315,465 Hmong living in Laos . Next to the Lao and Khamu, the Hmong are the most numerous single ethnic group in Laos.

Of great importance to the Hmong is their clan system, around which centers the family, religion and social organisation of entire communities and village centers.

Clothing
Traditionally, White Hmong women wore a white pleated skirt which gave them the name “White”. The skirt reached to the knees, their legs being encased in gaiters. A plain dark long-sleeved jacket with embroidered red collar flaps and hem covered the upper body. A turban completed the everyday dress. Today, only a few women wear the skirt and only during festive events. Usually women wear loose Chinese style black trousers. Men wear loose black trousers, multi—coloured sashes from the waist down, long-sleeved black vests and caps with blue stripes. A three-folded cap with dozens of buttons and motifs, is replacing the traditional turbans.

During festivals, Hmong women wear very heavy necklaces. Both men and women wear a lot of jewelry made of solid silver.

Handicrafts have a traditional place in Hmong soceity. Almost every village has a skilled carpenter and blacksmith. The carpenter makes cabinets and back-baskets. In former days, he produced spoons and bowls from wood and wove sandals of hemp. The blacksmith makes hoes, axes, knives and other farming tools as well as necklaces, bracelets and other Hmong jewelry from silver.

Hmong women are famous for their elaborate and exquisite embroidery and their ornate batik pattern on costumes. Nowadays, in many Hmong villages, commercially manufactured cloth has replaced traditional cloth woven from hemp. Hmong women weave cloth to make a new set of clothing for the traditional New Year festival.

Houses and villages
Hmong live in villages all over northern and central Laos . Most Hmong village in Laos between 1,000 and 1,500 meters high. Many Hmong villages can only be reached on footpaths or horse tracks. Many Hmong communities, sometimes entire villages, are made up of members of the same clan, to which members of the family are added by betrothal.

Hmong build rectangular structured houses on the ground. The walls are made of split bamboo or wooden planks and the roof is thatched. Hmong groups usually only have one door.

The interior of a Hmong house consists of a hearth in one corner with all the necessary cooking utensils scattered around, such as water gourds, pots, plates, etc. Some Hmong houses have a second fireplace near the first one, on which herbs and other healing ingredients are prepared for sale to outsiders or used within the family or clan for medical treatments of sickness. The space under the roof serves partly as a storage loft. At the other end of the house is the sleeping compartment for the entire family, which is partitioned off from the main room by bamboo mats or planks.

Agriculture and economy
Traditional Hmong economy is based on agriculture and animal husbandry. The Hmong are engaged in slash and burn agriculture to grow their food crops. The soil is used for one crop after another for only 3 years, rice or corn, after which the land is abandoned for 12 years. While the old fields are lying fallow and being restored by nature, the farmer has to clean new fields until the fertility of the soil is reestablished in the old places.

Hmong agricultural efforts are still directed toward self-sufficiency. Dry mountain rice supplements maize as a staple food crop. Nowadays, maize is almost exclusively fed to horses, pigs and chickens. Now, rice cakes have replaced corn bread. In addition to these crops, the Hmong grow beans, taro, eggplant, cucumber, ginger, yams, cabbage, soybeans, manioc, sugar cane, pumpkins, chicory, parsley and tobacco. The French introduced potatoes to them around 1920. Fruits include bananas, peaches, melons, papayas and recently also strawberries. Some yearsa ago almost every Hmong family grew hemp. Hemp was an important material for weaving traditional Hmong women's skirts and men's clothing.

The most important crop in the 20 th Century was opium. In the past, every Hmong village had an opium hut where the most addicted men meet to smoke their opium pipes.

Hmong people raise small, black—bellied pigs, their favourite livestock. They also keep chickens and goats. Hmong who have settled at lower altitudes keep a few water buffaloes. The most important domestic animal for the Hmong is a horse. They regard a horse as a status symbol and an important means of transportation.

The Hmong people are always ready to take advantage of new opportunities and learn new techniques. Wherever Hmong live, they belong to the upper income class, from the abilities to invest great skills in agricultural activities and adapt to new economic opportunities and chances.

Hmong men are master hunters, with parties of ten to twenty men going into the forest sometimes for over a week at a time. Hmong women gather wild food, including mushrooms, young bamboo shoots, honey and herbs. Herbs are prepared as medicines.

Society
Every Hmong village has a village chief and a council of elders. The headman presides, beside the shaman, over all ceremonies involving births, marriages and deaths, as well as over some rituals to honor the village guardian spirit.

The most important social and political organisation is based on the lineage or clan system. The lineage is traced from a common ancestor through the male line. All the members of a single clan with the same surname have special ties, duties and taboos, which are important during traditional ceremonies of ancestor worship and during funeral rites. Clan membership for Hmong women will change on marriage and remarriage. Only descendants of the male ancestral lineage can inherit.

Hmong girls often marriage at 14—15 and often have three children by the age of 18 years. Hmong boys marry between 18 and 20. The New Year festival in December is the prime time for courting. Girls and boys line up to throw cloth balls to each other. Those mutually attracted gradually pair off. Sexual relations among the Hmong are liberal. Polygamy is widespread, some wealthy Hmong have four or five wives.

When a woman gives birth, the placenta is buried under the floor of the house. For the first three days after delivery, the newborn still belongs to the spirit which sent it. Thereafter, the baby is admitted to the world of men, receives its name and is placed under the protection of the house spirits.

Ceremonies and beliefs
The Hmong believe in a variety of natural, ancestral and supernatural spirits. Among the spirits are those that occur naturally and have been in existence since the beginning of time, and a group of man-made spirits. Each Hmong village has a spirit shrine to honour the spirits which protect the village from evil, located in a large tree close to the village. Dab are spirits, such as household spirits, the wild forest spirits and the spirits associated with hunting, herbalism and blacksmithing. Such spirits are responsible for accidents and disasters, such spirits must be periodically exorcised.

Many spirits are associated with the house. The Hmong believe that the earthen floor inside a house represents the world of nature, the roof and rafters represent the vault of heaven and between both zones is the world of man. In the pillars of the house dwell the ancestral spirits from the male lineage and each quarter of the house has its presiding deity, to which offerings must be made. Other spirits include the spirit of the main housepost, hearth, loft above the fireplace, lintel of the front door and the marital bedroom. Opposite the front door resides the spirit of wealth, which protects the household and all its members. The spirit of the ancestral alter is a powerful supernatural character. The Hmong also erect small altars in the rice fields and often make offerings to the spirits on their way home from work in the fields.

Besides these sprits an array of other gods, deities, witches and demons exists. The Hmong are especially concerned about witches. They believe that witches can cast spells and bring evil upon persons, or turn themselves into werewolves.

The primary religious practitioner among the Hmong is the shaman, either a man or woman. All religious activities are carried out under his leadership.

Elderly Hmong women prepare themselves for death by making elaborate funeral garments in which they will be buried. The deceased are buried in graves at a favorable place on a mountain side during sunset. The Hmong bleive that a person has three souls, which upon death separate. One goes to heaven, one remains in the grave and one becomes reincarnated. The Hmong spend much on farewells to their deceased. The departing souls must be shown the right way to reach heaven and the answers that must be given to various individuals to be met on that road, since some of these will be evil spirits disguised to mislead the soul.