H'mong people
With
nearly 500,000 inhabitants,H'Mong (Meo) ethnic group occupies 0.8% of the Vietnamese
population. Coming from South-China some hundreds of years
ago, they belong to Meo-Dao linguistic group and live mainly
in Lao Cai, HaGiang, Tuyen Quang. H'Mong ethnic group grows
maize, opium, subtropical fruits and vegetables, breeds cattle
and hunts wild animals.
"T�T
MEO" - NEW YEAR FESTIVAL OF THE H'M�NG PEOPLE
This is
the name other fraternal peoples give to the New Year festival
of the H'Mong - an ethnic minority residing on the high-mountain
regions of Vietnam, ranging from the Sino-Vietnamese border
in the North to NgheAn province in the centre of Vietnam.
The H'Mong have developed their own calendar to calculate
times of year for farming on their burnt-over land and wet-rice
terraced fields. They also have their own way of identifying
the date of the New Year. Perhaps no one has studied the coincidence
in the timing of "Tet Meo" - the New Year festival
of the H'Mong - and the Christian New Year week lasting from
Christmas (December 25) through to the first day of January.
At this time, peach blossoms bloom resplendently all over
the H'Mong hamlets, amidst the soft and white mists. To prepare
for Tet, the H'Mong put their house in order, redecorate the
altar with pieces of paper cut out with stylized images of
the Sun - a manifestation of the Sun-worshipping practice
of the H'Mong people. These stylized drawings of the Sun are
also stuck to the doors to welcome the New Year and prosperity
for the family. Smaller versions (approximately 5cm x 10cm)
of Sun drawings are stuck on working tools such as the hoe,
plough, rake, etc. as well as on pigsties, buffalo stables,
horse enclosures...... and reflect the earnest desire of the
people to welcome prosperity to every element of their life.
During this time, women are occupied with dressmaking and
embroidery so that each family member has a smart set of clothes
to wear to welcome the New Year, the most special of which
is the typical dress of the H'Mong women.
On New
Year's Eve, every family kills a black-and-red-feathered cock
to offer in worship to the deities and ancestors. When killing
the cock, they pick out bundles of red feathers and stick
them with the cock's blood to the middle of the decorations
of stylized Sun pictures. The cock-killing and sticking of
cock feathers to the Sun drawings is considered a crucial
part of the New Year-Welcome rituals of the H'Mong. This act
is seen as an inseparable part of the rite of welcoming the
New Year and a sign for the festivities to begin. Throughout
the 7 to 8 days of Tet, the H'Mong families in each subhamlet
(consisting of several houses nestling on one or two mountain
slopes) take turns to kill their pigs to host group feasts.
The host family commences the party by a ritual service inviting
deities and their ancestors to return to join the family in
celebrating the New Year in the presence of other groups of
families. Only after that can the party begin in a festive
atmosphere filled with laughter and the voices of all generations
- elders and young, women and men, adults and children...
Many feasters stay up overnight around the family fire to
teach and learn songs together comprising the H'Mong service
hymns, love and courting songs, kinship songs, proverbs, etc.
Particularly on the first day of the New Year, the H'Mong
belonging to the same group or village automatically gather
in a large yard or a flat ground to take part in or to cheer
traditional games amidst melodious tunes of the khen (pan-pipe),
lip organ, leaf organ....The most popular game that draws
a lot of participants and fans is papao shuttle. Papao is
a small ball made of cloth, which is thrown between two teams
- women and men. Once the ball is cast into the air, it is
caught by someone in the other team. At first, the casting
and catching acts seem to be natural showing no particular
skills. The flying course of the papao becomes an invisible
line linking and binding every couple of playmates closer
"in tune" with each other. The papao shuttle lasts
for hours. Participants become more and more engrossed, and
they play untiringly even though the game is just a repetition
of two acts - throwing and catching the ball. Naturally, the
players who remain to the last minute are always couples of
playmates who have fallen in love with each other and exchanged
their feelings through the papao. The first happy day of a
New Year not only brings a common joy to all people, but also
marks the beginning of many love stories of young boys and
girls. Many H'Mong couples start their love and nuptial life
from the New Year welcoming day. In addition to the papao
game, there are other collective events such as Con throw
- a game where Con (a fringed cloth ball ) is thrown through
a hoop hung at the top of a high post, and the" khen
"dance is performed by talented young men who blow kh�n
and at the same time dance gracefully and alternately between
lines and strong movements. Besides attending communal parties
and jolly events in their own hamlet, many H'Mong take their
time to visit friends in distant villages while most young
people continue their dating and intimate exchanges through
singing and blowing lip- and leaf-organs. During "Tet
Meo", weddings of the couples whose love had been born
from the papao event of the previous year are celebrated,
even as new love blossoms and bears fruit by the end of the
New Year or at the next New Year festival. "Tet Meo"
thus ends with happiness and heralds fresh hopes for the future.
(VNS)
Cham
people
Top
With about
100,000 inhabitants, Cham (Cham, Chiem, Hoi) ethnic group
originates from Ancient Cham Pa Kingdom. They live mainly
in Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen. Belonging to
MaLai-Da Dao linguistic group, the Cham people remains influenced
by matriarchy and Indian culture. The ancient Cham writing
is Sanskrit-based. Hinduism and Mohammedanism are their principal
religions.
THE UNIQUE
CHAM CULTURE
The Cham
culture is a unique tradition, contributing much to the diversity
and richness of the Vietnamese multi-ethnic culture. From
the first century AD, the Cham people received deep influences
from Indian culture. In the 7th century AD, Cham Pa was already
a kingdom with a capital in TraKieu (now Quang Nam) with a
temple dedicated to the Indian Valmiki and his famous epic,
the Ramayana.
By the
middle of the 8th century AD, their capital was shifted to
Nha Trang and five years later to Dong Duong, 15 km away from
Tra Kieu in the southeast. The Cham are one of the 53 ethnic
groups in Vietnam and comprise various subgroups. There are
around 98,000 Cham people, including the Cham Hroi in Binh
Dinh, Ph� Yen and those living in Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and
other parts of southern Vietnam. Inhabiting a large area,
the Cham also have many diversified customs and social practices.
While most of the Cham in HoChiMinh City, AnGiang and Tay
Ninh, and the Cham from Cambodia follow Islam, those living
in Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan provinces follow Brahmanism. Islam
is modified to suit the people here and is called 'Bani'.
The Cham language is of the Malayo-Polynesian family and is
spoken by about 250,000 people (G. Moussay, Dictionaire Cham-Vietnamien-Francais,
published by Phan Rang Culture Centre 1971). However, it does
not necessarily follow that the Cham in different regions
can fully understand each other. It is natural that the Cham
borrow local words and expressions at the place they reside,
mainly from Kho Me and Vietnamese. In terms of their script,
only the Cham Dong (in Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan provinces) have
preserved their original script. The Cham script is now being
taught at elementary school to help maintain this unique linguistic
tradition. The Cham also utilised the Akhar Thrah scripts
from Nam An which has been incorporated into present-day Cham
scripts. Ancient texts written on papyrus or paper used both
of these scripts and include various epics and love stories
such as the Devamuno Inra Patra, Ummurup, Cambini, Bini-Cam,
Sah Pakei, Patauw Kamai, Patauw adat Likei etc. This ancient
literature gives a clear picture of the life and society of
the Cham through history. Together with academic literature,
the Cham also have very rich popular literature which comprises
hundreds of stories, sayings, idioms, puzzles, songs etc.,
which make up a precious literary tradition. Cham people have
songs for fishing using the 'vai chai' rhythm (pwoc jah),
betrothals (danh dom da ra), milling rice (danh rasung chai)
etc. These rhythms are also sung during festivities with dances
which have become a real attraction to spectators. Surely
the greatest and most unique contribution from the Cham culture
is their architecture and carvings.
Historical
stupa compounds inMy Son (Quang Nam-Da Nang), Thap Ba (Nha
Trang), Thap Cham (Ninh Thuan) and various Tara statues in
Dong Duong, and Apsaras in TraKieu have all had their position
confirmed in the Southeast Asian sculptural tradition.
Though
most of these works were created for religious purposes and
stemmed from Brahmin spiritualism, they became popularised
and part of the Cham national culture. As such, the Indian-inspired
Vishnus, and Shivas went through considerable transformations
and became more human when recreated by Cham artisans. In
the present day, the Cham people have adjusted their lives
to local conditions. People in Tay Ninh mostly work in agriculture,
fishing and commerce while those who live near HoChi Minh
City have developed an urban lifestyle. The majority, however,
still maintain traditional professions like cultivation, husbandry,
weaving and ceramic production. Cham handicrafts are now exported
to various countries where they are highly appreciated due
to their unique style and high quality workmanship. (VNS)
Ede
people
Top
Divided
into Kpa Krung, Adtham, Mthur, Ktul..., Ede ethnic group with
more than 160,000 inhabitants living in the heart of Dac Lac
Highlands, Khanh Hoa uses the Malayo-Polynesia language. They
dwell in stilted houses with sloping roofs. Besides farming
and breeding, they hunt wild animals, taming elephants and
picking fruits. Their culture is original with many well-known
epics.
K'PAL
AND THE LIFE OF THE EDE PEOPLE : K'pal or "Sacred bench"
is an essential feature of all festivities and ceremonies
of the Ede, an ethnic group in Central VietNam. It is reserved
for the elderly of the village, guests and musicians, and
females are strictly forbidden from sleeping on it. The bench
is carefully constructed in strict conformity with age-old
rules. It is usually 13 m long, 0.7 m wide and about 21 to
22 cm thick, and the whole process of making it must be completed
within seven days. To make a k'pal, the head of the family
first makes an offering to the god Giang Wah Yang, protector
of all ceremonial objects and cultural symbols. Offering preparations
includes a fine pot of distilled rice wine, kept for at least
one year at a pure place believed to be under the close watch
of the gods of the forest and river. In addition, there are
the tools to be used in the making of the k'pal, like axes
and hammers. Early in the dry season, young men go deep into
the jungle in search of suitable wood from a tree that meets
several conditions, including having no creepers, no birds'
nests or bees. The Ede people believes that such trees are
haunted by spirits and, therefore, objects made from them
are not likely to lead to a peaceful and prosperous life.
Once the tree has been chosen, an axe without a handle is
thrown into its trunk and left there overnight. If the axe
does not fall down, the practice is repeated twice more before
cutting the tree down to make the k'pal. The family head then
summons seven workers to cut the tree down. Once the k'pal
is completed - within seven days - rice wine is offered and
a goat-sacrifice ceremony held for the forest god. The goat's
meat is distributed to the workers. Later, the k'pal is taken
home in a ceremony during which the entire family dresses
in traditional Ede costumes and plays the Ki Path and Ding
Tat or other traditional musical instruments. The family head
and the local wizard lead the procession. The family head
dances the ceremonial Adring dance with a shield to show the
family's pride and martial arts. Then, amid the reciting of
poems, offerings are made to the gods and the k'pal is carefully
brought inside the house and tied to the wall. For one whole
day, no one is allowed to pass the place where the k'pal is
kept. Throughout the night, the family head and other male
members of the house must dance the ceremonial dances three
times, offering the gods seven pots of wine and a buffalo.
(VNS)
Kho'mer
people
Top
With
800,000 inhabitants (1.3% of the Vietnamese population),
Kho'mer occupies the second rank among the populous ethnic
minorities in Vietnam. Being the tillers by nature, they
skirted Mekong River to settle in Hau Giang, AnGiang, Kien
Giang,Dong Thap, Long An, Tay Ninh. They are descended from
the ancient Kho'mer people with a famous civilization in
the past. Their villages are often surrounded with pagodas
and rows of palm-trees.
*
Ooc-om-boc Festival
Many
festivals of the more than 50 ethnic minorities that live
in Vietnam contain similarities of one kind or the other.
Among those that retain a totally unique character is the
Ooc-om-boc festival of the Khmers in Nam B� (Cochinchina
under the French domination). On the 15th day of the tenth
month of the lunar year, all the Khmers living in about
600 villages scattered in this area gather to celebrate
in unison the Ooc-om-boc festivities. The main activities
in this festival are offerings made to the rabbit on the
moon, the water procession and boat racing. The legend about
the rabbit on the moon goes that the poor, but generous
rabbit was asked for alms by the Genie Porac, disguised
as an old man. Having nothing to offer the poor old man,
the rabbit collected firewood in the forest and made a bonfire.
Then he knelt before the old man and said, " As I have
no food to offer you, please accept my humble meat and feed
on it ". With these words, the rabbit jumped into the
fire. Deeply moved by the rabbit's sacrifice, the genie
used magic to extinguish the fire and save the rabbit. Then,
turning to the moon in the sky, the genie said, "O
Moon, please let everyone see clearly the shining example
of benevolence and self-denial set by this little creature!".
From then on, the legend says, people have always seen the
rabbit on the tenth-month moon. Every year at harvest time,
the Khmers make delicious cakes of young sticky rice which
they believe the rabbit is partial to. The cake is also
presented to the monks in the pagodas. The "water"
procession follows.
As the
cultivation of rice is the occupation of most Khmers, water
is key to survival and regarded as a benediction of Heaven
that brings wealth and happiness to the people. The "Ngo"
boat procession is definitely the event of the festivities,
and definitely the most spectacular. In Khmer dialectm,
Ngo means a bow. Ngo boat is a canoe made out of the trunk
of a sao tree, a precious tree widely grown in the Mekong
delta region. The tree used for making canoes must be a
very old one, often 50 metres long. As the boat is sacred,
it must be made in the yard of a pagoda. It is adorned with
motifs typical to the Khmer ethnicity, and mainly related
to religious beliefs. The most common motif is the Naga.
Prize-winning boats are preserved in pagodas and revered
as objects of worship by the people. Those who have witnessed
boat racing festivities in Vietnam from North to South concede
that the Ngo boat racing is the most attractive. Each boat
can hold as many as fifty athletes dressed in black or violet
uniforms, including a head-dress or a cap. The captain of
the team is seated at the bow of the canoe. Waving his hands
like the conductor of an orchestra, he maintains the rowing
rhythm of his boat. In the middle of the boat stands the
"gia lang" (village elder), wearing a red head-dress.
He beats the gong to encourage the rowers to proceed faster.
The
Ooc-om-boc festivities, especially gio boat racing, attract
people from all over western Nam B�, not least the Viet.
Art troupes fromHo Chi Minh City and the Central Highlands
also come to take part in the festivities. In 1993, a festival
of five-sound musical instruments was held on the occasion.
It helped bring together to all the ethnic minorities living
on this land legends of courage and benevolence, the two
virtues they most revere. (VNS)
Muong
people
Top
With about
800,000 inhabitants, Muong ethnic group occupies 1.3% of the
Vietnamese population. The Muong people's residential sphere
set up an arc between the Vietnamese from Vinh Phu to west
of HoaBinh, then to midlands of Nghe An and Thanh Hoa. They
belong to Viet-Muong linguistic group, but their culture is
closer to Thai ethnic group. They live on growing rice, breeding,
forging. Their residential area houses Hoa Binh Culture of
the neolithic era along with which rice-growing appeared over
8,000 years BC.
KHUA LUONG
Khua Luong
("Beating the mortar" in the Muong dialect) is a
game played with wooden instruments by the Muong ethnic group,
who settled in northern Vietnam in the early days of the nation's
history.
The instruments
of this game consist simply of mortars and pestles, all made
of wood. Mortars and pestles are very familiar items of use
in the life of the Muong community. They are used to husk
rice before it is cooked, or to crush lean meat to make "gio",
"banh giay" and so on. Thus the sound of the pestle
and mortar is very familiar to the Muong women. Gradually,
it came to be used as a musical instrument producing familiar
sounds and rhythms. Through generations, this musical instrument
has known many refinements and finally was used as an instrument
for a concert by both young people and the old people in the
village. This musical instrument dates back many thousands
of years and has been preserved to date as a precious tradition
among the Muong ethnic group. It might have come into existence
long before the Viet community knew how to melt copper to
make bronze drums and bronze bells for musical instruments.
Nowadays,
among the Muong community at Thuong Xuan, Thanh Hoa province,
there exist many Khua luong teams each comprising six to eight
young girls. They can play up to 12 traditional concerts reflecting
the landscape and the atmosphere of the Ban Muong (Muong villages)as
well as the feelings of the people there. The most typical
of the concerts are those depicting "a wedding party
in the village", a scene of " Welcoming Guests",
of "Waiting for the Bride" and of the wedding ceremony
itself. In the "Welcoming Guests" item, a merry
atmosphere is created through the sounds of pestle and mortar
as the people busy themselves with husking rice and making
cake to entertain the guests. In the "Waiting for the
Bride" concert, there reigns an atmosphere of impatient
longing for the bride. In the "Wedding Party", the
stately sounds help people to get rid of the noisy crowd and
enter a world of quiet felicity as the bride and groom gather
under the cosy roof of their new house. Besides the four main
concerts, there are some others such as "Welcoming New
Rice", the "Early Rains", "Hymn to the
Genie of Thunder". It is hard to imagine the perfection
of the sounds and music unless you attend one of the ceremonies
where khua luong concerts are performed. The music leaves
a deep impression on the audience and, at times, tugs at the
heartstrings.-- VNS
Thai
People
Top
With
nearly 900,000 inhabitants (1.45% of the Vietnamese population),
Thai ethnic group is divided into Thai trang (White Thai)
and Thai Den (Black Thai) on the basis of the clothing colour.
The residential sphere spreads from Red River right bank
to Thanh Hoa, NgheAn Highlands. It is easy for them to mix
with native ethnic groups. They settle in valleys surrounding
immense fields (Muong Thanh, Quang Huy, Than Uyen, Nghia
Lo), and live on farming, breeding, weaving. The Thai people
has its own writing and a very developed popular culture.
In
the western part of Nghe An Province, there reside
about 13,000 ethnic Thais belonging to the sub-groups of
Tay Thanh, Tay Muoi, and others. Like their counterparts
in the North-West of the country, the Thai community here
possesses a rich culture that has been built up over the
centuries. In their everyday working life, the Thai minority
has developed a rich and abundant culture. Many traditional
rites and festivals exist along with other Thai cultural
activities. In this article, we introduce one particular
cultural event - the Thai's Cave-Picnicking Festival.
According
to the elders in the community, the Cave-Visiting Festival
of the Thai people living in the mountain villages surrounding
Qui Hop dates back to time immemorial, and was in existence
up to the middle of the twentieth century. Every year during
the period from the 3rd through the 10th day of Thang Gieng
( the Lunar Year's first month following Nguyen Dan - the
Lunar New Year's Day), the Thai folk in and around the locality
flock to the Cave - Picnicking Festival. The event takes
place in Tham Mon (Mon Cave) located in the Chau Quy commune,
Qui Hop district. The Cave visitors are of all ages, but
mainly single young people. They are natives from the villages
of Qui Hop and other neighbouring districts in West Nghe
An. Visitors are allowed to enter the cave only once a day
until they find themselves a boy or girl friend, and return
home when the festival ends. It is an inviolable rule that
cave visitors must not bring in a lamp, fire or any source
of light. All visitors come into the cave for the festive
occasion amid complete darkness. Young people first enter
in groups, then disperse and move further into the dark
cave. Once inside the cave, the girls usually gather in
small groups of two or three, and stand timidly in the cave
alleys. The boys, also in small groups, grope in the dark
for girl friends. Every action must be made by hand, and
every move made by foot as calling, speaking or shouting
are completely forbidden... Having found a friend of the
opposite sex, the boy can talk with and court the girl in
the cave. If they find each other suitable, the couple come
out of the cave hand-in-hand and go to the boy's home to
announce their love to his parents. The parents then take
the responsibility of guardianship, by assisting and creating
favourable conditions for the couple to become husband and
wife. That the Festival takes place in such a dark cave
makes it an extremely fun-filled and enjoyable experience.
All unmarried Thai boys and girls are eager to go to the
Cave- Visiting Festival to try their luck at seeking a life
companion. The Thai men traditionally look for a pretty
girl of marriageable age who must be well-built and in good
health. Therefore, in the cave, a boy first makes sure that
he finds himself the right girl, that is, he asks in whispers
after her name, her whereabouts and her parents so as not
to mistake a blood sister or relative whom he cannot marry.
He then feels her thoroughly to find out whether she is
strong and sturdy . If satisfied, he then starts to exchange
intimacies, courts her and ultimately leads her out of the
cave. Such a play of courtship all in the dark cave with
the boys fumbling for the girls who hide themselves in the
cave gorges or alleys cannot be free of conflicts and jostlings
among the men. A struggle inevitably ensues when a boy finds
a girl who has a flaw and tries to get rid of her. Similar
to practices such as the "moonlight dance" or
"moonlight stroll" of some other ethnic minorities,
the Cave - Picnicking Festival of the Thai community in
western Nghe An is a cultural activity - a community-gathering
place for dating and courting couples. It is a healthy practice
and requires the participants to strictly adhere to the
community's rules and customs. In earlier times, when social
events were virtually non-existent among the Thais, the
Cave-Picnicking festival presented a good opportunity for
young people to discover and exchange love. The Festival
in fact was an indispensable part of the cultural life of
the Thai people in western Nghe An up to the first half
of this century. (VNS)
Nung
people
Top
With
about 650,000 inhabitants, Nung ethnic group occupies 1.05%
of the Vietnamese population. Divided into many branches (Nung
Phan Sinh, Nung Chao, Nung Inh..), they live in Cao Bang,
Lang Son, Tuyen Quang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Ha Giang. This ethnic
group migrated
late to Vietnam and had relations close to the T�y people.
Their popular literature and arts is abundant in poems and
tales..... They are courageous, battle-tested, good at farming
and able to trade . After 1954, many of them migrated to Eastern
Cochinchina and Central Highlands.
Dao
people
Top
With
more than 400,000 inhabitants, Dao ethnic group occupies 0.65%
of the Vietnamese population and belongs to Meo-Dao linguistic
group. They live at the altitude of 700-1000m, whereas H'Mong
ethnic group at the more considerable altitude. Most of them
inhabit Ha Giang - TuYen Quang, and part of them in the northwest
regions. Dao ethnic group came to Vietnam six centuries ago,
and remains in a nomad life.
Hoa
people
Top
In
the late 19th century, nearly 500,000 Chinese migrated to
Southeast Asia. With 1,000,000 inhabitants, Hoa ethnic group
occupies 1.77 % of the Vietnamese population and lives mainly
in ChoLon area ofHo Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Kien Giang, Da
Nang,
HaNoi, Hai Phong, Qu�ng Ninh .....Most of them are workers
and have been naturalised in Vietnam. However, many members
of Hoa ethnic group are expert in business and held several
leading economic branches in South-Vietnam before.
Viet
people
Top
Viet
ethnic group occupies 87% of the Vietnamese population. From
the first residential area in Hong (Red River), Ca and Ma
basin, they gradually advanced southwards together with other
ethnic groups. The concentration was noticeable in the deltas
from lower section of Red River, Coastal Centre to lower section
of Mekong River. Viet's residential sphere spread uninterruptedly
from the Ng�c cape to Ha Tien where the continental and oceanic
ecological environments met each other. The
society was tightly organized in form of hamlets, villages,
communes and townlets. Each village was a factor maintaining
the traditional social structure of the Viet ethnic group
and where small trade, agricultural and handicraft production
took place. Its familiar landscapes resided in rice-fields,
gardens, ponds, breeding and handicraft occupations. Linguistically,
there was the transition from Chinese language to" nom"
language, then to "quoc ngu " (national language)
with Latin-based letters in the late 19th century.
Site Menu
