H'Mong Ethnic Minority

History: The Black Hmong immigrated from China approximately 300 years ago.  Language: The spoken language belongs to the Hmong - Dao language family.  The Hmong writing was romanized in 1961 but is not widely used today. Costume: The Black Hmong women are famous for making cloth from hemp and dying it a deep indigo blue. They wear long blouses decorated with batik flowers over short trousers, and wrap long scarves around their legs. They wrap their long hair around their head and wear a blue turban. The men wear long jackets with shirts and a long waist coat embroidered at the collar, and a small hat. Today some Hmong wear Viet or western clothes. Social organisation: Hmong women are respected in their community as being equal with Hmong men.  Husbands and wives are very affectionate and do many of their tasks together like going to the market, working on the field and visiting relatives. In this way, they help each other to develop a strong community life.  Marriage: For the Black Hmong it is important that a girl knows how to embroider and work well in the field. These skills are more important than her beauty. Boys and girls are allowed to get to know each other before they get married. They go to the love market where they eat and sing songs together. After this time, the boy can propose marriage and if the girl agrees, she goes to live in his house.  She is put in a small room and visited by the boy’s mother and sisters who give her food to persuade her to accept the marriage.  The boy must give the bride s family silver coins, pigs, chicken and rice wine for the wedding ceremony.  The bride has some time to decide if she accepts the marriage - even after living with her husband for a few days, she can choose to break their agreement. If the boy doesn’t have a dowry to give to the girl’s family, he lives in her house until he is able to marry her.  Funeral: When there is a death in the family, the deceased’s children fire a gun to let everyone in the area know.  People in the village come to deceased s house with anything they have -  chicken, rice, a small pig or rice wine -  to help the family.  Everybody sings and eats until the deceased is wrapped in a mat and carried to a grave by one group, while a coffin, which has been kept in a cave somewhere near the grave, is carried by another. Both groups have to run very fast to meet at the grave to make the deceased forget the way home. If the deceased’s family is not able to supervise the funeral rituals, they can wait for a few years before organising a special one called ma kho. They invite people in the village to a place by the grave for the funeral for a celebration, at which they sing and dance. Beliefs: Many places are reserved for worshipping in a Hmong house – there s a place for ancestors, for the house spirit, for the kitchen spirit, even the door spirit. There are different rituals which forbid people to walk into the Hmong house or their villages.  For example, a green tree branch on the front door indicates that entrance is forbidden.  Artistic activities: The Black Hmong are very good at making agricultural tools, wooden furniture, musical instruments and jewelry. They are also famous for their handicraft and embroidery.  They generally only make such items to meet their own needs, but other minorities in the area buy their produce because of its high quality.  Since the advent of tourism in Sapa, many Hmong women make decorated cloth to sell on the town s main streets. Festivals: Like the other minorities, the Black Hmong have lots of different festivals during the year. They ensure that there is always time for community activities, which play an important role in their life. One of the most important festivals is the New Year, which they celebrate for an entire month. It happens about one month earlier than Vietnamese Tet. During this time, boys play flutes and girls play an instrument made from two leaves. They all spend time together playing traditional games.  The Blue Hmong minority The Blue Hmong share the same origin as the Black Hmong.  Most of their rites and rituals are the same -  only their clothes are different. The Blue Hmong women wear long skirts over long trousers, with a blue bib worn over the top.

Source:  www.traveltosapa.com

Tay Ethnic Minority

History: The Tay are the earliest known minority in Vietnam, who are thought to have arrived from inland South East Asia about 500 BC. They settled in valleys in the north west part of Sapa. Language: Tay language belongs to the Tay - Thai language group. Their alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet devised in 1960, similar to the Viet alphabet. Costume: The traditional dress is made from indigo dyed cotton. It is usually plain, with little embroidery or other decoration.  The women wear a simple shirt with silver buttons down the front teamed with black trousers.  Both sexes wear colorful head scarves. Nowadays the Tay are often seen wearing Viet and western clothes. Social organisation: The Tay social system used to resemble a feudal society.  One man in each village owned the land, forest and rivers.  He ruled over the people living on that land. This regime appeared very early and ended in 19th century. Tay now live in villages of mixed ethnic groups, enter into mixed marriages and leave their traditional settlements to work in other areas.  They have adopted other elements of Kinh culture and of the Tai speaking people, are considered the most integrated into main stream Vietnamese culture. Birth: While pregnant and even after giving birth, the mother and father have to avoid many different things in order for both mother and child to be healthy, for the child to grow up quickly and strongly and to avoid evil spirits. When the new born is three days old, there is a ritual in honor of the midwife.  One month after the birth, there is a celebration and party to name the baby. Marriage: Young Tay men and women are free to love, but the decision to become husband and wife rests with their parents. The boy s parents need to know the potential bride s fortune so they can compare it to their son s.  To do this, they consult an astrologer who judges how well matched they are.  If the signs look favorable, the marriage can take place. After the wedding, the wife stays with her parents until she is pregnant. She will only go to live at her husband’s house in the late stages of pregnancy. Funeral: The funeral rituals are quite similar to Vietnamese. The funeral brings deceased s spirit to the world of the after life. Three years later, there is a ritual to bring the spirit to the ancestors and to end the mourning period. There is an annual day in honor of the deceased. Beliefs: The Tay worship ancestors, the house spirit, kitchen spirit and the midwife. Housing: The Tay live in houses built on stilts originally designed to protect them from wild animals.   Nowadays, they use the first floor for storage and cooking. When building a new house, the owner has to choose the right place very carefully.  Many factors are considered, including his age and horoscope. On the day that he and his family move to the new house, the head of the family must start a fire and keep it burning all night. Food: The Tay used to eat sticky rice most of the time, but now eat regular rice. For festival occasions, they make many kinds of cakes such as square rice cake (banh chung - symbol of the earth), round rice cake (banh day  - symbol of the sky) for the New Year Festival and pounded young sticky rice that is roasted (com) for the Mid Autumn Festival. Production activities: The Tay use traditional wet rice cultivation.  The rice is grown on the hills with very little water, which is well utilised using irrigation methods like digging canals and laying water pipes.  They produce high quantities of food by practicing such intensive cultivation methods.

Source: traveltosapa.com