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| Source: Flickr. (c) mamasuco. |
15. E DE - 270,348 people; Location: Concentrated in Dak Lak Province, southern Gia Lai Province, and western parts of Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen provinces. Customs and habits: The E De live in houses built on stilts. These houses are generally elongated. The interior of the house is divided into two parts. The main part, called the Gah, is reserved for receiving guests. The rest of the house (called the Ok) is divided into compartments for a kitchen and for living quarters. At each side of the house there is a floor yard. The yard lying in front of the entrance is called the guest yard. Matriarchy prevails in E De society. Women are the heads of their families. The children take the family name of the mother. The right of inheritance is reserved only for daughters. The husband comes to live at his wife's house after marriage. If the wife dies and nobody among the wife's relatives replaces her position, the man then returns to his home and lives with his sisters. The E De practice a polytheistic religion. Culture: E De language belongs to the Malay-Polynesian Group. The E De have a rich and unique treasury of oral literature including myths, legends, lyrical songs, proverbs, and particularly well-known khan (epics). Their musical instruments are comprised of gongs, drums, flutes, pan pipes and string instruments. The Ding Nam is a very popular musical instrument of the E De which is much liked by many people. Costumes: Women wear a skirt and vest with colourful motifs. Men simply wear loincloths. The E De like to wear copper, silver, and beaded ornaments. Economy: The E De practice slash-and-burn agriculture and cultivate rice in submerged fields. Besides cultivating, the E De also practice animal husbandry, hunting, gathering, fishing, basketry, and weaving.
16. GIAY - 49,098 people; Location: Concentrated in Bat Xat, Bao Thang and Muong Khuong districts (Lao Cai Province); Yen Minh and Dong Van districts (Ha Giang Province); Phong Tho and Muong Te districts (Lai Chau Province); and Cao Bang Province. Customs and habits: The Giay worship not only their ancestors but also the genies of the heaven, the earth, and the kitchen, including the Goddess of Childbirth. The Giay villages are very crowded, containing hundreds of households. Houses are built on stilts or on level ground. The central bay of the house serves as a place for receiving guests and for the ancestor altar. Patriarchal customs rule Giay families. The children take on the family name of their father. The family of a young man usually seeks a marriage for their son. During pregnancy, Giay women must obey certain taboos and a special altar is set up for the delivery. Culture: Giay language belongs to the Tay-Thai Group. The cultural heritage of the Giay is rich including many ancient tales, poems, proverbs, puzzles, and alternating songs. Costumes: Men wear trousers, short vests and wind a turban around their heads. Women wear a five-paneled vest open at the side, which buttons under the right armpit, and trousers. They wear their hair wound around their head or wind it in a turban. Economy: The Giay practice rice cultivation in submerged fields and rear animals to provides for additional income. The Giay also rear plenty of horses as pack animals and for transport.
17. GIA RAI – 317,557 people; Location: Concentrated in Gia Lai Province, parts of Kon Tum Province and northern Dak Lak Province. Customs and habits: The Gia Rai believe in the existence of Giang (Genies) and hold many rituals connected to their genies. They live in separate villages called ploi or bon. Houses are built on stilts. The village chief and the elders have great prestige in Gia Rai society and play a role in running collective activities. Each village has a communal house called a Rong. A matriarchal system has been adopted. Women are free to choose their lovers and decide who they marry. The husband lives with his wife's family and has no rights to inheritance. The daughter, after marriage, no longer lives with her parents and inherits from them. The children take the family name of the mother. Culture: Gia Rai language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian Group. Long epics and old tales such as "Dam Di Di San" (Dam Di Goes Hunting) and "Xinh Nha" are very popular in Gia Rai society. Musical instruments include gongs, T'rung, To-Nung, and Krong-Put. Costumes: The Gia Rai garments resemble Tay Nguyen's garments. Economy: The Gia Rai live on slash-and-burn cultivation and terraced fields. Rice is their staple food. They also breed elephants. The men are very skillful in basketry, and the women in cloth weaving. Hunting, gathering, and fishing are other sideline occupations.
18. GIE TRIENG - 30,243 people; Location: Kon Tum Province and the mountainous areas of Quang Ninh Province. Customs and habits: The Gie Trieng lives in long houses built on stilts. Houses in the village are arranged in a circle around the Rong (communal house). Young woman decide when they will marry according to their own initiative. The Gie Trieng believes that all beings have a "soul" and a "spirit". Therefore ritual ceremonies and the watching of good and bad omens have prevailed. The sacrifice of buffaloes is a common ritual ceremony. Culture: The Gie Trieng language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group. Costumes: Men usually wear loincloths. Women wear skirts long enough to cover their chests and some have adapted to wearing a bra sewn into their skirts. Economy: The Gie Trieng lives mainly on the cultivation of the land, hunting, fishing, and gathering.
19. HA NHI - 17,535 people; Location: Lai Chau and Lao Cai provinces. Also called U Ni and Xa U Ni, the Ha Nhi have about 12,500 inhabitants settling in the provinces of Lai Chau arc Lao Cai. Ha Nhi language belongs to the Tibet-Burman Group. The Ha Nhi mainly worship their ancestors. They live on rice cultivation of burnt-over land or terraced fields. They are one of the groups who have a traditional experience in reclaiming terraced fields on mountain slopes, digging canals and building small dams. They use ploughs and harrows pulled by oxens and buffaloes to work the fields. The gardens are often close to their houses.
Animal husbandry is developed as well as the weaving of cloth, wattling of basketry articles. Most of the Ha Nhi can produce clothes for themselves. Women dress varies depending on the regions. The women of Lai Chau have a decorated dress in raw colours, different from the dress of Lao Cai women which is in indigo colour only.
The Ha Nhi have adopted a sedentary lifestyle. Each hamlet contains 60 house holds. The Ha Nhi consists of many family lineages. Each lineage comprises many branches. Every year, at Tet (New Year's Day), the people of the same lineage gets together to listen to elderly men speaking about their ancestors. Some lineages recall far back their 40 generation ancestors. The children often take the name of the father or name of animal corresponding to their birthdays as their middle names. The young men and women are free to choose their partners. Each marriage goes through two stages. In the first stage, the young man and women become husband and wife. The bride comes to life with her husband's family and takes the family name of the husband according to custom of the Ha Nhi in Lai Chau province. Also in Lai Chau, matriarchy is still observed. The second stage is organized when the couple gets rich or has a child.
Funeral customs vary according to regions, but common practices have prevailed such as when a person dies, the partition making off the bedroom of the deceased is dismantled, as well as the altar to the ancestors. The dead body is placed on a bed in the kitchen and good hours and days must be chosen for burial. To determine the place of burial, an egg is tossed in the air and the grave dug where the egg hit the ground and breaks. There is no cemetery of the whole village. Around the grave, stones are piled up without building a funeral house or a protective fence. Earth grown with grass is refrained from filling up the grave.
The Ha Nhi possess many ancient tales arc stories in long verses. The young men and women play their own dances according to rhythms and accompanied by musical instruments. The young couples used to expose their love by playing leaf panpipe, lip organ and vertical flute. The young girls like to play am ba, met du, tuy huy or nat xi (various kinds of traditional flutes) when night falls. The young boys like to play la khu, a string zither. Besides, the festivals, drums, cymbals and castanets are per- formed. The Ha Nhi also have many songs such as lullabies, duet songs, wedding songs, mourning songs and songs reserved for new houses, receiving guests and welcoming Tet holidays. Particularly, a wedding song of the Ha Nhi in Muong Te district of Lai Chau province is composed by 400 verses.
20. HOA - 862,371 people; Location: The Hoa live in all parts of Vietnam from north to south, in both urban centres and rural regions. Customs and habits: They build houses usually with three rooms and live close together. The families of the same lineage always reside together. In a Hoa family, the husband is the head of the household. The right of inheritance is reserved for the sons only. The eldest son always gets the greater part of the property. Parents decide the marriage arrangement of their children, and early marriages are common. The choices of a husband or a wife are often based on the desires of the family to have equal social standing or are dictated by business considerations.
According to customs, funerals must go through several rituals. The cycle starts with informing others of the mourning process, wearing mourning clothes, wrapping the corpse, opening the road for the dead soul, burying the dead, bringing their soul to the "country of Buddha in the west", and the last rite is the completion of the mourning process. Since respect for the dead is very important, in all villages and hamlets, there are temples, pagodas, and shrines built for veneration of the dead.
Culture: The Hoa language belongs to the Han Group. Costumes: Hoa men have adopted a dress similar to the Nung, Giay, Mong, and Dao. Hoa women's garments consist of a pair of trousers, a five-panelled vest which falls to mid-thigh, and a short sleeve shirt with five-panels. Economy: The Hoa practice various occupations including agriculture, handicrafts, trading, fishing, and salt-making. Hoa farmers have a long tradition of cultivating submerged fields. They also work as laborers, teachers, cadres, and other professionals.
21. HRE - 113,111 people; Location: The western parts of Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh provinces. Customs and habits: The Hre are atheists. The small-sized nuclear family unit is very common among the Hre. They live in stilt houses and the village chief is considered to have high prestige and plays an important role in village life. Culture: The Hre language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group and has close ties to the Xo-Dang and Ba Na languages. The Hre often hold buffalo-stabbing ceremonies which are accompanied by verses and songs. The Ka choi and Ka leu are two very popular tunes. Their musical instruments include the Brook, Ching Ka la, Ling Ia (traversal flute), and Ta lia (longitudinal flute). Costumes: Men wear loincloths and waist-deep vests. They may also remain bare chested and wear turbans as headgear. Economy: The Hre grow wet rice and farm. Basketry and weaving are other forms of income generation.
22. KHANG – 10,272 people; Location: Son La and Lai Chau provinces. Customs and habits: The Khang live in houses built on stilts, with three rooms. Each house has two kitchens, one kitchen is used to cook daily meals and the other is used to warm and cook meals which are offered to worship dead parents. Khang marriage ceremonies go through three steps. First, a marriage proposal is made. Next, parental approval is sought; and finally the wedding occurs. The first stage is held for the groom's family and the second stage is held in order to accompany the bride to her husband's home. Culture: Khang language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group. Costumes: Khang women dye their teeth black and chew betel like the Thai. Economy: The Khang mainly practice slash-and-burn cultivation using traditional techniques such as digging holes and planting seeds in these holes. They grow sticky rice which serves as their food staple. Their weaving products include chairs, baskets, flat baskets, suitcases, packs, and wooden boats. The Khang also grow cotton and exchange it for cloth and garments.
23. KHMER - 1,055,174 people; Location: Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, Can Tho, Kien Giang and An Giang provinces. Customs and habits: The Khmer mainly practice Brahmanism and Hinayana Buddhism. Before reaching adulthood, young Khmer people often go to pagodas to study and improve their virtues and knowledge. Culture: The Khmer have managed to preserve their own language and writings. They usually live with the Kinh and Hoa in "soc" (villages), and "phum" or "ap" (hamlets). The houses are simply built with thatched or tiled roofs. Major Khmer festivals include "Chon Cho Nam Tho May" (New Year Festival), Buddha's Birthday, "Don Ta" (Forgive the Crimes of the Dead), and "Ooc Om Bok" (Moon Worship). Economy: The Khmer have a long tradition in wet rice cultivation. Animal husbandry, weaving, pottery and sugar making from the "Thot Not" Tree are other forms of economic activity.
24. KHO MU - 56,542 people; Location: Nghe An, Lai Chau, Son La, Thanh Hoa, and Yen Bai provinces. Customs and habits: The Kho Mu still live a nomadic lifestyle. Their houses are built with temporary and rudimentary materials and have very little furniture. The husband must live with his wife's family for one year after marriage. Marriage between the same lineages is strictly forbidden. The Kho Mu believe in the existence of spirits. The heavens, the sound of thunder, the earth, the forests, and the field are all assisted by spirits. The worshipping of spirits of the village and of ancestors is very common. They also pray for bumper harvests and good annual production. Culture: The Kho Mu language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group. A rich heritage of tradition and culture can be found in this ethnic group. Costumes: The garments of the Kho Mu resemble the Thai group, but the women's ornaments are unique to this group. Economy: The Kho Mu live on slash-and-burn cultivation, hunting, and gathering. Basketry is also a very developed skill among the members of this group.
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| Source: Flickr. (c) Thai Moc. |
Origins
According to the legend, the first Vietnamese descended from the dragon lord Lac Long Quan and a heavenly spirit Au Co. They married and had one hundred eggs, from which hatched one hundred children. Their eldest son Hùng Vuong ruled as the first Vietnamese king. The predecessors of the Vietnamese people emigrated from present southern China to the Red River delta and mixed with the indigenous population.
In 258 BCE An Duong Vuong founded the kingdom of Au Lac in what is now northern Vietnam. In 208 BC, Chao Tuo (known as Trieu Ðà in Vietnamese), a former Qin general from China, allied with the leaders of the Yue peoples in modern-day Guangdong and declared himself King of Southern Yue. He defeated An Duong Vuong and then combined Au Lac with territories in southern China and named his kingdom Nam Viet, or Southern Yue. (Nam means south). Viet is cognate to yuet?, which is the pronunciation of Yue in ancient Chinese and some modern southern Chinese dialects. The term was used for various peoples in the region south of China, including the regions of northern Vietnam.
Distribution
Originally from northern Vietnam and Southern China, the Vietnamese have conquered much of the land belonging to the Champa Kingdom and Khmer Empire over the centuries. They are the dominant ethnic group in most provinces of Vietnam, and constitute a significant portion of the population of Cambodia. Under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, they were the most persecuted group. Tens of thousands were murdered in regime-organized massacres. Most of the survivors fled to Vietnam.
During the 16th century, some Vietnamese migrated north into China; although somewhat more sinicized, their descendants still speak Vietnamese and form the Gin people of China. They are among the recognized minority groups in the People's Republic of China based especially in or around Guangxi Province.
When the French left Vietnam in 1954, some Vietnamese people immigrated to France. However, there already have been ethnic Vietnamese residing and/or studying in France since at least the end of World War I. As a result of the partition of North and South Vietnam, nearly one million Vietnamese migrated from the north to the south to escape actual or perceived persecution. Meanwhile, a much smaller number of southerners joined the north.
The end of the Vietnam War prompted many others to leave the country. Many resettled in North America, Western Europe and Australia. Tens of thousands has been sent to work or study in Central and Eastern Europe and later settled there, the vast majority among those from the north or those who stayed in reunified Vietnam after 1975.
(to be continued)
Source: Vietnam Tourism
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