Hmongs custom of “wife stealing” I. Origin and meaning of the “wife stealing” custom II. The process of “wife stealing” III. Things to note when “wife stealing” IV. “wife stealing” custom in nowadays. The couple is loved before, but the grooms family doesnt have the weddingpresents money or the girls parents disagreed.
WELCOME TO TEAM SUNFLOWERS Sunflowers: Than Thi Thuy Duong Nguyen Thi Huong 70 Bui Quynh Trang Nguyen Thi Huong 71 H'mong's custom of “wife stealing” I Origin and meaning of the “wife stealing” custom II The process of “wife stealing” III Things to note when “wife stealing” IV “wife stealing” custom in nowadays I Origin and meaning of the "wife stealing" custom Origin of “wife stealing” • The couple is loved before, but the groom's family doesn't have the wedding-presents money or the girl's parents disagreed • Having "wife stealing", the man can prove his love for the girl and his courage 2 Meaning of “wife stealing” custom • The custom of "catching a wife" has profound humanity meaning, confirming the freedom of marriage, contributing to the elimination of customs such as: "Where parents put their children to sit", wedding-presents, suitable alliance However: • • If the boy love one-side and catch the girl, the girl will try to run away After days, If she can’t run away, the wedding still happen This custom still has many limitations II The process of “wife stealing” - On the day of the appointment, the boy and his friends went to the girl's house or took the road to drag the girl home The girl who looked resisting forced the boy and the group to pull on her - Arriving at the boy's house, the girl was offered a ritual of worshiping at the main door (joining the family) with an offering of a pair of roosters and a silk roof, before entering the house - On the wedding day, the bride is fully equipped with traditional clothes and costumes to join the groom and relatives of the groom's family to bring wedding gifts to the bride's house for night and day III THINGS TO NOTED WHEN “WIFE STEALING” Although they love each other and promise to live with each other their whole lives, no girl will willingly step into her boyfriend’s house That’s why the man has to organize “a stealing event” so she will come to live in his house The more friends that participate in such an event, the happier the couple will be, the longer they will live, the more children they will have and the richer they will be 2 As a matter of custom, the man’s people are not allowed to fight back when thay receive all the beatings from the girl family so the man can take the girl to his house The stealing or pulling must be carried out skillfully so the girl’s legs not touch the ground and she does not fight back or bite the man and most importantly, she does not get hurt 4 The girl’s family will cook a meal and invite the man’s family to stay and eat At the meal, a representative of her family will ask her if she can spend the rest of her life with the man’s family If the answer is positive, they will pack her personal belongings so she can take them to her husband’s house Otherwise, if the girl cries and tells them that she does not want to return to the man’s house, then the marriage is cancelled https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1hagjPiOlA IV “wife stealing” custom in nowadays • “Wife stealing" is still a long-standing tradition of H'mong and Thai people • But today as society has become more civilized, this custom is no longer necessary but it still thrives • Many subjects lacking in culture, ignorance of the law or bad people have taken advantage of the custom “wife stealing" to cause some social evils such as early marriage, sexual abuse or human trafficking On February 5th, a female 9th grader named V Sa Pa (Sa Pa, Lao Cai) was arrested and married to a family by a family in San Sa Ho • The matters are very common in the mountainous provinces, where the custom of “pulling a wife" is used as a tool for evil purposes It can be seen that those matters are the wake-up call for the government and individuals about the abuse of customs and wrong behaviors • “Pulling a wife" is inherently a cultural beauty but has been transformed to serve evil purposes It is expected that such phenomena will be eradicated so that the custom retains its inherent beauty ...H'mong's custom of wife stealing I Origin and meaning of the wife stealing custom II The process of wife stealing III Things to note when wife stealing IV wife stealing custom in nowadays... "wife stealing" custom Origin of wife stealing • The couple is loved before, but the groom's family doesn't have the wedding-presents money or the girl's parents disagreed • Having "wife stealing" ,... the marriage is cancelled https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1hagjPiOlA IV wife stealing custom in nowadays • Wife stealing" is still a long-standing tradition of H'mong and Thai people • But