Imagine, after a day of toiling in the fields, walking back home while simultaneously cross stitching.
This is the image Lymay Ku, the parent educator liaison for Burke County Public Schools, has painted of the Hmong tradition of cross stitching for LeaAnne Webb's crafts class Wednesday at Freedom High School.
With little free time to cross stitch, women would have to perform the necessary task whenever possible, Webb relayed to her students.
Ku said the cross stitching patterns in the Hmong culture are passed down through the generations by memory, rather than through print.
Considered a valuable skill for women, girls learn to cross stitch starting from a young age, Ku said. She began at the age of 7-years.
Girls may learn the skill from aunts, older sisters or their grandmothers, Ku said, but often mother's were too busy to teach the young girls.
Ku expressed disappointment that the skill is not widely taught to young Hmong girls anymore. She feels it is important for the tradition to continue, as it has for hundreds of years.
Four of Webb's students spent a week with Ku learning how to cross stitch before coming back to teach the class in small groups.
The students are spending the week stitching a pattern that will then be combined into one sash, Webb said.
Webb, who became interested in the Hmong culture as a teacher at East Burke Middle School, said she chose to exhibit Hmong cross stitching because her classes focus on the unity and inclusiveness of all the students.
Two of Webb's students modeled traditional Hmong dress, which included several cross stitching accents. The students were asked to identify the patterns they were currently stitching in the finished product.
Ying Vue, 18, a senior and one of the models, said she learned how to cross stitch at a younger age, but lost some of the skills when her interest lapsed.
Vue expressed interest in continuing to keep up her cross stitching skills after the class finishes its project.
"I'm glad that we're learning and that (the other students) are interested," Vue said.
Freshman Lance Riddle, 15, said all of the information on cross stitching and the Hmong culture has been interesting.
"I just think it's amazing," Riddle said of the entire project.
Although Riddle began the project doubting his cross stitching skills, he said, "It's simple once you get the hang of it."
"I had no idea the Hmong culture had any of this stuff," Riddle said.
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