Objects collected from Laos to Thailand and to the U.S.
Mai See Thao and Family
Sash for Memory​
Daim sev paj ntaub: This was a paj ntaub hand sewn by my grandmother in Ban Vinai Refugee camp. She sewed a set and left it with my mother when my grandmother left to the U.S. My mom said my grandmother left it as dabmuag (memory). To this day, the sev has not been sewn into a functioning sev and my mother has lost the other set.
Paj ntaub that did not get sold in the camps
This image of the paj ntaub was my mother’s last remaining paj ntaub in the refugee camp that did not sell. She often sold paj ntaub to Thai folks but also shared it was also probably sold to Americans and the French.
French Indochina Coin
​My mother said it was her mother’s. She didn’t have much detail on it. My grandmother passed away in 2014. This coin is a reminder of French's failed Indochina colony. Replicas of the French Indochina coin are often decorated on HMoob women's clothes, particularly the sash.
Silver Bar
My mother shared that she bought this silver bar, 3500 baht, in the Ban Vinai Refugee camp after making enough money from selling her paj ntaub. She said she really wanted a silver bar and bought just one silver bar.
Gold Earrings
My parents got these earrings when they arrived in the US and moved to Green Bay WI. They had saved just enough money to purchase these earrings in Chicago from the Chinese. She’d given one pair to me and another to my sister but lost the “npauj”.
Baby Silver Necklace
​This was my mother’s first born’s silver necklace. Her father used to be a “blacksmith,” making HMoob rifles and knives. She said that his skills came to him in his dream and from “saum ntuj and vaj tswv.” My grandfather made this silver necklace when my mother was pregnant with her first born. She shared that this necklace is given the baby upon its birth, put on the baby, and then the umbilical cord would be cut. Her first born did not survive shortly after General Vang Pao was airlifted in 1975.
Fake Teeth
These fake teeth were given to my mother in Vinai. There was a HMoob person who could make fake teeth, a trade they learned in Laos by the Chinese that were displaced from China.