For years and years I've always heard that the Miao/Hmong ancient writing was hidden in the paj ntaub (flower cloth). And I never really knew if it was true or not. But now some Hmong elders came out and said that the Hmong writing is indeed in the flower cloth. The magnificient designs on the flower cloth are the characters in which the Miao/Hmong people used. I do not know if this is 100 percent accurat for all I know the Hmong people have always kept their tradition orally. And they have been able to keep their funeral ritual strictly the same no matter where they live in different parts of the world. Whether they live in China, Thailand, Laos, France, and in the US and they have parted each others for many years now. The funeral rituals are still the same. So I believe that it is true that the Hmong people writing was preserved in the flower cloth.
It is believed that when the Hans took over China thousands of years of ago the burned and distroyed all Miao/Hmong texts. And as soon as this happened the empress ordered all Miao/Hmong women to preserve the writing in the flower cloth.
For those of you who are Hmong do you guys always hear you parents say "rau siab kawam ntaub, kawm ntawv", which today it means "do well in school" but it literally translate into English as "learn the cloth, learn the writing". Did you guys ever chatch that that saying was literally saying "learn the cloth, learn the writing"? Becaus I didn't catch that at all after all these years until now.
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tainted_monk3y's journal
