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Brian Bakst

A Hmong tradition: Leaders and community begin New Year celebrations

Hmong New Year celebration at St. Paul's RiverCentre.
Hundreds of participants, including St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Governor-elect Tim Walz, join in a traditional ball toss ceremony during the 40th Hmong New Year celebration at St. Paul's RiverCentre. The festivities last for three days.
Brian Bakst | MPR News

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The 40th Hmong New Year celebration is underway at St. Paul's RiverCentre after a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by political and cultural dignitaries.

The three-day event brings out revelers in traditional Hmong attire and is used to honor ancestors and mark the completion of the year's harvest.

DFL Gov.-elect Tim Walz joined in the festivities.

"The Hmong community has been here for 40 years," Walz said. "Incredibly prosperous and adding incredible diversity and strength to Minnesota. Certainly here in St. Paul, but I saw it in students who I taught back in the 90s that were refugees from the war in Southeast Asia."

Walz, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and other state and local leaders mingled with Hmong community members, posed for pictures and took part in a ball-toss ceremony.

Minnesota is home to a large Hmong population after the refugees from Laos began settling in the state in the 1970s.

The festivities run through Sunday.