Photos: Hmong New Year celebration in Anchorage

Hundreds of people gathered on Anchorage’s Delaney Park Strip over the weekend to celebrate the Hmong New Year. Many wore traditional clothes as they watched dance performances and listened to music performed on a stage near the rose garden. Vendors in a row of tents on the west end of the park strip prepared traditional food.

While flipping pork belly strips on the barbeque, Mee Yang said, “It’s like a sense of community coming together. Typically we have Hmong New Year at the end of every year to celebrate the end of harvest. For me I’m very grateful to be here to see all the community, to see everybody dressed up in their traditional clothes.”

Hmong New Year is generally celebrated at the end of December and the beginning of January, said Thomas Xiong, president of Hmong Alaska New Year.

“The weather in Anchorage, Alaska, is not good at that time, it’s too cold. This year we planned to do outside so we can do more activities,” he said.

Ntxhais Ntuj Nag performed a traditional Hmong dance on a stage at the Delaney Park Strip on Sunday. Mai Der Vue said the dance “showcasing the Hmong New Year and bringing the younger generation to meet someone who can possibly be their life partner. A tradition of the Hmong elderly coming together from near and far.”