Lịch sử

Lịch sử  Việt Nam.

Po Nagar Shrine (Sanctuaire Po Nagar): Part 1

j050807 Art, Chămpa, Culture, tourisme

Thánh Địa Po Nagar

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This sanctuary is a must-visit for those who have the opportunity to visit Nha Trang, the most upscale seaside resort in Vietnam. Located on a hill at the mouth of the Cái River, it was built continuously from the 8th to the 13th century according to inscriptions found on site. The appearance of this sanctuary in the Champa kingdom is linked to the turmoil that Champa experienced in the 8th century. The Champa kingdom was actually a federation of several states or rather « city-states, » with the most powerful one playing the role of « leader » (vai trò chủ đạo). Upon the advent of a new dynasty, its pura ascended to the top rank and thus became the capital of the kingdom. Thanks to Chinese historical documents and Cham inscriptions, it is known that until the beginning of the 7th century, the pura (or city-state) of Singhapura (lion citadel) in Trà Kiệu (in the current district of Duy Xuyên, Quảng Nam province) predominated.

At that time, the northern royal lineage was always protected by the male deity Bhadresvara, a linga representing a benevolent form of Shiva honored in the most sacred sanctuary of Mỹ Sơn. A new royal lineage soon made itself recognized in the mid-8th century in the southern part of the Champa kingdom (Kauthara) and needed another deity to protect it.
Po Nagar Shrine

The Trà Kiệu and Mỹ Sơn region, belonging to the current Quảng Nam province (the Cham province of Amaravâti), thus lost its importance in favor of Khánh Hòa (Nha Trang plain) and Ninh Thuận (Phan Rang region). Although its political center of power (Virapura) has not been located to this day, it is claimed to be somewhere around Phan Rang. On the other hand, it is certain that a major political event took place in the south of this kingdom, as this perfectly aligns with the date 758 provided in Chinese annals to mark the beginning of the Huanwang period (or Hoàn Vương in Vietnamese), lasting about 100 years. Lin Yi (or Lâm Ấp in Vietnamese), the former name given to this kingdom, is no longer used and is replaced by Huanwang in Chinese texts. This deity is a one-faced linga and is honored in the sacred Pô Nagar sanctuary located by the sea. She is clearly feminine and presented as the shakti of Shiva, Bhagavati.

Despite the sidelining of the Prathivindravarman lineage of the South reported in Chinese annals in 859 and the seizure of supreme power by the Bhrgu lineage in the northern kingdom at Indrapura (near Hội An) in 875 with the new king Indravarman II, the deity of Nha Trang in Kauthara continued to be honored as the protective goddess of the kingdom.

This shows the willingness of the Bhrgu lineage to integrate it into a coherent religious system which, until then based on the veneration of Bhadresvara (Mỹ Sơn sanctuary), recognizes a complementary position for Bhagavarti. The religious bipolarity around the god Bhadresvara at Mỹ Sơn and the goddess Bhagavati at Nha Trang would henceforth dominate the entire kingdom. The veneration of Bhagavarti aligns not only with the importance given to the matrilineal system adopted by the Chams but also with the unity the Chams needed at that time in the face of their enemies (Vietnamese, Khmers, and Javanese).

In order to acclimate to an unfamiliar natural environment where the stupas and religious constructions of the Chams, bearing the deep mark of Indian culture, were visibly strange, frightening, and mysterious with statues of Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu, and Pô Nagar, these new Vietnamese arrivals were forced to develop a lifestyle adapted to their new cultural environment. They did not hesitate to use the remnants of Cham culture to transpose them into their own religious universe and places of worship. They attempted to establish harmony between the supernatural and temporal powers of the territories they had managed to conquer. Fearing to disturb local spirits capable of bringing them harm, they sometimes appropriated the places of worship of the defeated or local people. This is the case of the Pô Nagar sanctuary where the Champa goddess Uma was appropriated by the Vietnamese. They did not hesitate to assimilate the legend of Po Nagar into a mythology arranged in their own way without managing to erase the Cham substrate of the myth. The Champa goddess thus became Thiên Y A Na (Thiên Y Thánh Mẫu) of the Vietnamese. This appropriation is renewed in other places in Vietnam during the southward march: the Black Lady in Tây Ninh or the goddess Chúa Xứ on Mount Sam (Châu Đốc).

In his inventory of Cham towers located on the Pô Nagar site, the French archaeologist Henri Parmentier recorded about a dozen worship buildings grouped in an area of 500 m2 at the top of a hill. Due to weathering and war, only 5 buildings remain spread over two construction levels. At the top, there are two rows of towers, the first consisting of three towers from north to south: the main tower dedicated to the goddess Yan Pu Nagara (or Thiên Y A Na in Vietnamese), the southern temple, and the southeastern kalan. As for the second row, only one tower with a curved saddle-shaped roof remains, dedicated to the children of Thiên Y A Na.

Facing the main tower of the first row, at the lower level, stands an open mandapa consisting of two rows of ten octagonal brick columns, each measuring three meters in height and more than one meter in diameter, surrounded by fourteen similar columns of smaller size. These columns were intended to support a roof shaped like an inverted boat hull, whose structure was made of wood.

This mandapa was built by Senapati Par and mentioned in the steles erected by this general of King Harivarman in 817. It was connected to the main tower by a brick staircase. This type of building is found at other Cham sites: Mỹ Sơn (Đà Nẵng), Po Kloong Garai (Phan Rang), or Bánh Ít (Bình Định). According to Henri Parmentier, next to these brick buildings, there was a wooden temple (or bimong in Cham) which was somewhat a resting place for offerings.
Thanks to Cham inscriptions, we learn that in 774, the wooden religious sanctuary of Pô Nagar was pillaged and destroyed by the Javanese (Chà Và in Vietnamese). This term refers to the populations of the South Seas, i.e., the archipelago and the Malay Peninsula. It was rebuilt in 784 in brick and stone by King Satyavarman. Then, around the middle of the 10th century, the site of Nha Trang was sacked by the Khmers, whose inscriptions spoke of the loot (a gold statue) taken from the goddess Bhagavati.

It was reinstalled in 965 by replacing a stone statue by King Indravarman. The 10th-century statue under the reign of King Jaya Paramesvaravarman could be the one still seen today in the main tower, but its head was restored in the Vietnamese style.

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Sculpture du Champa (VA, Part:1)

j050807 Art, Chămpa, Culture, Histoire

 

dieu_khac_champa

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Part 1

Until today, the exact ethnic origin of the Chams is not known. Some believe that they came from continental Asia and were pushed back along with other populations living in southern China (the Bai Yue) by the Chinese, while others (ethnologists, anthropologists, and linguists) highlighted their island origin through their research work.

Carving a statue is a religious act.

For the latter, the Chams were probably populations from the South Seas (the countries of the archipelagos or those of the Malay Peninsula). Cham oral traditions mentioning connections linking, in legendary times, Champa and Java support this latter hypothesis.
Nicknamed the Vikings of Southeast Asia, the Chams lived along the coasts of central and southern present-day Vietnam. Their main activities were essentially based on trade. They were in contact very early with China and territories as far away as the Malay Peninsula, possibly the coasts of South India.

Being dedicated to religious purposes, Cham sculpture was thus not immune to political repercussions and influences from outside, particularly those from India, Cambodia, and Java. These became the main forces of creation, development, and evolution of styles in their art. According to the French researcher Jean Boisselier, Cham sculpture was closely linked to history. Significant changes were noted in the development of Cham sculpture, especially statuary, with historical events, changes of dynasties, or the relations that Champa had with its neighbors (Vietnam or Cambodia). According to the Vietnamese researcher Ngô Văn Doanh, whenever there was a significant external impact, a new style in Cham sculpture soon appeared.

To illustrate this, it is enough to cite an example: in the 11th-12th centuries, the intensification of violent contacts especially with Vietnam and Cambodia, and the emergence of new concepts related to the foundations of royal power can explain the originality and richness found in the style of Tháp Mắm.

Hình ảnh điêu khắc cổ Chămpa

Being the expression of the Indian pantheon (Brahmanist but especially Shaivist and Buddhist), Cham sculpture rather resorts to the local interpretation of concepts and norms coming from outside with elegance than to servile imitation. It is above all a support for meditation and a proof of devotion. Sculpting a statue is a religious act. Subject to religious norms, the Cham sculptor, with his skillful hands, succeeded in fervently giving the inert stone a soul, a divine representation allowing the conveyance of the religious concept he wished to transmit with faith. Cham sculpture is peaceful. No scenes of horror are depicted. There are only somewhat fanciful animal creatures (lions, dragons, birds, elephants, etc.). No violent or indecent forms are found in the deities. Despite the evolution of styles over history, Cham sculpture continues to maintain the same divine and animal creatures within a constant theme.

Makara
Cham art has succeeded in maintaining its specificity, its own facial expression, and its particular beauty without it being said that it is a servile copy of external models, thus preserving its uniqueness in Hindu sculpture found in India and Southeast Asia. Despite the lack of animation and realism, Cham works were mostly carved from sandstone and much more rarely from terracotta and other alloys (gold, silver, bronze, etc.).

Generally modest in size, they depict religious beliefs and worldviews. They cannot leave us indifferent because they always give us a strong strange impression. This is one of the characteristics of the beauty of Cham art. In Cham sculpture, one finds free-standing sculptures (round-bosses), high reliefs, and low reliefs. A free-standing sculpture is one that can be viewed from all sides to see the sculptor’s work. A high relief is a sculpture with a very prominent relief that does not detach from the background. As for the low relief, it is a sculpture with slight projection on a uniform background. In Cham sculpture, there is a tendency to emphasize the roundness of creatures in the reliefs. Few scenes are depicted in this sculpture. There is a noted lack of connection or coherence in the assembly when otherwise.


The creatures found in Cham sculpture tend to always emerge brilliantly from the space surrounding them. They have something monumental about them. Even when they are grouped together in the works of Mỹ Sơn, Trà Kiệu depicting the daily life of the Chams, they give us the impression that each one remains independent from the others.

One can say that the Cham sculptor focuses solely on the creature he wants to show and deify without ever thinking about excessively unrealistic details and imperfections (such as the too-large hand or the overly bent arm of the dancer from Trà Kiệu, for example) and without closely imitating the original Indian models, which gives this Cham sculpture the « monumental » character not found in other sculptures. This is another particularity found in this Cham sculpture.

The works are not numerous but they testify to a beautiful plastic quality and the expression of various religions. It is difficult to attribute them to a single style. On the other hand, some traits close to the tradition of Indian art from Amaravati can be noted. It was only in the second half of the 7th century, under the reign of King Prakasadharma Vikrantavarman I, that Cham sculpture began to take shape and reveal its originality.

[Sculpture of Champa (Part 2)]
[ Sculpture of Champa (Part 3)]

Palais Kiến Trung (VA)

j050807 Art, Gallery, Histoire, Lịch sử, Vietnam

Kiến Trung Palace

 

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Located at the northern end of the sacred axis crossing the center of the Purple Forbidden City, the Kiến Trung Palace is an architectural work built by King Khải Định between 1921 and 1923. It is also the first building where there is a combination of European style, including both French architecture and Italian Renaissance architecture, and traditional Vietnamese architecture. The facade of this palace is richly decorated with colorful ceramic motifs and fragments, thus bearing the imprint of the identity of the royal court of the Nguyễn dynasty. On the advice of several French architects and engineers and the Ministry of Public Works, this palace, responding to the aesthetic taste of the time, was completed in just two years, from 1921 to 1923, on the former site where two other architectural works previously known successively as Minh Viễn Lâu (1827) and Du Cửu Lâu (1913) had stood. According to the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, it has been known as Kiến Trung (Kiến « erected » and Trung « straight, no deformation« ).

This palace was considered the residence of the last two kings of the Nguyễn dynasty: Khải Định and Bảo Đại. It was here that King Khai Dinh passed away on November 6, 1925. During the reign of King Bảo Đại, the palace and its interior were renovated in a Western style, including the bathroom. It was also in this palace that Queen Nam Phương gave birth to the crown prince Bảo Long (January 4, 1936). During the Vietnam War, this palace was completely destroyed along with other residences of the Forbidden City. Since 2013, the Huế Monuments Conservation Center has begun launching the restoration project of the Kiến Trung palace. This project was implemented from February 2019 and completed in August 2023 with a total cost of more than 123 billion đồng.

Today, the Kiến Trung palace has become the favorite place for all tourists when visiting the Forbidden Purple City.

Kiến Trung Palace is visible through the long

Trường Lang Corridor

[Return HUE]

The Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu)

j050807 Art, Histoire, Lịch sử, Sites touristiques, Văn Hóa, Vietnam

 

Temple of littérature 

One of the jewels in the heart of Hanoi

 (Một bảo vật giữa lòng thủ đô)

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Hiền tài là nguyên khí của quốc gia.
Nguyên khí thịnh thì thế nước mạnh.
Nguyên khí suy thì nước yếu

Talent is the life source of a nation.
A gushing source is the strength of a country.
A drying source weakens it.

The first National University of Vietnam, Quốc Tử Giám, celebrated its 940th anniversary in 2016. It can boast of having preceded by a good century the ancient and prestigious Western universities of Bologna, Oxford, and Paris. Built six years after the Văn Miếu, the Temple of Literature dedicated to Confucius, within the same enclosure, it is among the monuments of the capital that have survived ten centuries of turmoil, civil wars, and foreign invasions. It is contemporary with the Trấn Quốc, Một Cột, and Kim Lien pagodas. The imposing and well-preserved architectural complex in the heart of Hanoi contains very old parts that bear the color of time and the values of a past as rich as it is little known.

Consolidation of the Vietnamese nation

It was in 1076 that the College of the Sons of the Nation, Quốc Tử Giám, was created by King Lý Nhân Tông, of the great Later Lý dynasty. Since the reconquest of independence in 939, the task facing the Vietnamese sovereigns was immense and arduous. The previous dynasties of Ngô, Ðinh, and Earlier Lê had exhausted themselves in internal divisions and wars of conquest at the beginning of the victorious march southward. At the beginning of the 11th century, Vietnam, then renamed Đại Việt, was a nation of original ancient culture in a young state.

Inside still poorly established borders in the South, it remained necessary to strengthen national unity and to overcome the rivalries of great families that threatened to tear the country apart. Outside, it was necessary to maintain good vassal relations with the powerful Chinese neighbor. The Lý showed themselves capable of meeting these challenges. The construction of dikes to address the flooding of the Red River allowed the population to settle and favored the growth of agriculture.

The buying and selling of land were regulated, which led to the emergence of a class of small landowners alongside the great feudal lords. Crafts developed (weaving, goldsmithing, pottery, porcelain), and consequently, trade. On the advice of competent Confucian administrators, the Lý managed to establish a strong centralized government and were able to give legitimacy to the ruling elite. Inspired by the Chinese administrative model, King Lý Nhân Tông organized in 1075 the first examination to recruit mandarins who would exercise power. The following year, he added to the Văn Miếu a higher school to train senior officials, the Quốc Tử Giám. The educational institution, in this tolerant country, existed peacefully right next to the place of worship. Combining a temple dedicated to Confucius and a place of learning into a single complex, this construction is a unique work that highlights the originality of Vietnam compared to China.

Rise of a National Culture

During almost ten centuries of Chinese colonization, the Vietnamese had preserved their cultural originality and assimilated a large part of Chinese culture. The College of the Sons of the Nation therefore spread Confucian humanities: Confucian classics, philosophy, literature, history, and politics. Brilliant candidates memorized the Four Books of Confucianism, but also the history of Vietnam and China. They also studied the rules of poetic composition, learning to prepare all sorts of documents: royal edicts, speeches, mission reports, analyses, essays. The language in use was certainly Chinese or hán; however, the Vietnamese very early on, probably from the 12th century, used a special iconographic script, nôm, to transcribe the popular national language, kinh.

Under Chinese rule, the Vietnamese had learned just what was necessary to become good servants. Until the tenth century, there is no trace of Vietnamese literature. Only legends may have crystallized the collective memory, prevented from freely expressing itself under the pressure of the occupier. The nôm script, derived from Chinese ideographic writing, represented a national and popular reaction to foreign cultural domination. « The soul of a people lives in its language, » said Goethe.

This is an obvious fact in Vietnam. The language transcribed in nôm experienced vigorous growth whenever the national and popular movement gained momentum. After the great Nguyễn Trãi in the 14th century wrote his poems in nôm, the demotic script gained its nobility and no scholar disdained writing in nôm. Another great Vietnamese figure, Nguyễn Huệ, carried out a true revolution by imposing nôm as the official language in administration and mandarin examinations during his reign at the end of the 18th century.

The royal examinations gave a decisive boost to education throughout the country. The National University became for a long time the keystone of the educational system. Schools were established to prepare candidates for the mandarin examinations.

Alongside the large feudal estates existed a well-organized system of rural communes. In many of them, there was a private school alongside public schools, both at the national, provincial, and local levels. The teachers were educated men who had failed the exams, or holders of a baccalaureate, a license, and doctoral laureates who did not want to become mandarins or who were disillusioned with politics. The prestige of knowledge, the respect for teachers and talent had spread over the centuries even into the poorest peasantry.

Which mother did not dream of seeing her sons one day take the difficult exams? The popular saying was deeply ingrained in people’s minds: « Without a teacher, I challenge you to achieve anything. » Literature and public service were not separate in the traditional Vietnamese educational system. Poets contributed to the economic life of their country. Among the most brilliant statesmen and strategists, many were poets. The most famous among them, revered as heroes by the entire population, were:

Trần Hưng Đạo (1213-1300), who triumphed over the Mongols by defeating Kublai Khan
Nguyễn Trãi (1380–1442), a great poet and statesman who ended a new Chinese occupation by the Ming.
Nguyễn Du, a diplomat under the Lê dynasty, who with his verse novel, the Kiều, brought the nôm script to perfection. The latter two are listed by UNESCO in the Pantheon of the Men of Culture of Humanity.
The obstacle-filled journey of a candidate for the royal exams.

Initially, the national exams were held irregularly, depending on the needs of the imperial administration. From 1434 until 1919, the date of the last session, they took place every three years.

When King Lê Thần Tông redefined the rules in the 14th century, the examination took place in two successive levels: regional, then national, each in four phases that could last several months in total. It was necessary to successfully pass each stage in order to qualify for the next. The final test was held at the imperial palace before the king, who personally examined the last group of future doctors.

Some figures provide an eloquent overview of the demands and importance of the royal competitions:

On average, 70,000 to 80,000 candidates competed in the regional competitions.

Between 450 and 6,000 candidates were selected from these to take part in the national exam in Hanoi. They settled for the duration of the tests on the university campus in the city center with their bamboo beds, brushes, and inkwells. In 1777, the National University and the Doctoral Quarter had become an impressive institution comprising 300 classrooms, a huge library, and a publishing house. This vast complex was destroyed by war in 1946. At the end of the final exam at the imperial palace, only 15 candidates were awarded the title of Doctor (tiến sĩ), with an average age of 32. Between 1076 and 1779, the date of the last session held in Thăng Long (Hanoi), 2,313 candidates received the title of Doctor.

1306 of them have their names and ranks engraved in Chinese characters on the 82 steles (41 on each side) in the third space of the Văn Miếu Quốc Tự Giám in Hanoi. These 82 steles preserve the memory of the laureates admitted between 1442 and 1779. It was King Lê Thánh Tông who took the initiative to pay tribute in this way to the great servants of the country. 116 national exams took place during this period, which means that 34 steles are missing, and the reasons why they were not erected or have disappeared are unknown. From 1802, with the reign of Gia Long, the triennial exams were held in Hué until their abolition in 1919. The Quốc Tự Giám became once again the Văn Miếu, Temple of Literature, but was preserved. The tradition of inscribing the Doctors of the Nation on the honor roll was also maintained.

In the Forbidden City of Hué, on the first floor of the Ngọ Môn Gate, their names are clearly mentioned on a large black marble tablet, along with their village and province of origin. The competency exams were coupled with a formidable physical challenge for those from the provinces. The journey to the capital was fraught with dangers. Coming from a distant province, the future graduates sometimes had to travel up to 300 km or more, bringing with them food, a tent, a narrow bamboo bed, and writing materials.

Along the way, they had to fear both highway bandits and attacks from tigers and snake bites. If they managed to overcome all these obstacles, most of them preferred to stay a few years on site to study, in order to ensure the best chances of success.

Popular imagery often depicted the triumphant return of doctors to their native village, announced by a procession of banners and pennants, palanquins, ceremonial objects, preceded by family and friends. Throughout the journey, drums sounded marking the arrival of the child of the country who brought back, along with the doctoral certificate issued by the king, glory to the entire village. The village was henceforth distinguished as « a land of literature (đất văn chương). »

Then the laureate did not fail to bow before the altar of the ancestors and Confucius, before inviting everyone to a sometimes ruinous banquet. During the second millennium B.C. of Vietnam’s history, the intellectual elite emerging from national competitions produced, alongside brilliant strategists, mathematicians, statesmen, philosophers, men of letters, its share of simple bureaucrats and corrupt mandarins. According to Confucian tradition, no woman had access to official education.

The patients were so numerous that Phú Doãn Hospital (the current German-Vietnamese hospital) was soon overwhelmed. It was set up within the grounds of the Văn Miếu Quốc Tử Giám, whose ramparts served as a barrier against contagion. The disease was brought under control thanks to a vaccine developed by Doctor Yersin and the dedication of the doctors. But the Temple was in such a state that the French authorities decided to transform it into a hospital. They began searching for a new location to build the new building.

Aware that he was attacking the Holy See of Vietnamese culture, the representative of the Governor-General of Indochina, Pasquier, first consulted a prominent scholar, and the latter’s conclusion was unequivocal: « Adverse circumstances have soiled the steles and make the people’s hearts bleed. The Nguyễn, by transferring the capital to Huế, respected the integrity of the Temple. If you want to move it, the population will revolt. » A few days later, the French Government allocated a sum of 20,000 piastres to restore the Temple to its original state.
At other times in its troubled history, the population of Hanoi had shown its attachment to this monument, a symbol of its intellectual curiosity, passion for study, and creativity, notably during the fratricidal wars between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn. Nevertheless, in its current state, the Temple of Literature occupies a smaller space than at its peak.

Toàn cảnh nội văn từ
Thử địa vi thủ, thiên thu cần tạo thương lưu phương

Overview of the literary content
Trying the geographical hand, a thousand years need to create a lasting fragrance

Of all the temples dedicated to literature, this one is the high place;
the scent of culture lingers there beyond millennia.

The Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu)

Chu Văn An

Ông tổ của các nhà nho nước Việt

Erection of the laureates’ steles

[RETURN]

Angkorian empire (Chenla)

j050807 Art, Gallery, Khmer, Lịch sử, Văn Hóa

Đế Chế Angkor 

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At a time when the kingdom of Funan was weakening, a vassal principality of this kingdom, which Chinese historians often referred to as Chenla (Chân Lạp) in their annals, attempted to forge its destiny in the middle Mekong basin near the archaeological site of Vat Phu in the Champassak province (present-day Laos). This is the only name we have to this day. No Sanskrit or Khmer word corresponds to the ancient sound Tsien lap. The existence of this kingdom dates back to the end of the 6th century. Similar to the kings of Funan, those of Chenla also have a dynastic legend: a solar-origin Brahmin priest named Kambu Svayambhuva received from the god Shiva himself a nymph of lunar origin in marriage, the beautiful Mera.

From this union of K(ambu) and Merâ, a line of sovereigns was born, that is, the descendants of Kambujadesha, meaning « land of the descendants of Kambu, » intended to explain the name of the Khmers. This word Kambujadesha, abbreviated as Kambuja, was first discovered in 817 in an inscription of Po Nagar in Champa (or present-day Nha Trang, Vietnam).

During the French colonial period, this name Kambuja was Francized as « Cambodge. » As for the word Chenla, it appeared in the history of the Sui (589-619), where the sending of an embassy from this country was mentioned in 616-617. Located southwest of Lin Yi (future Champa) and a vassal state of Funan, the kingdom of Chenla (Chân Lạp) (future Cambodia), having become powerful, did not hesitate to seize the latter and subjugate it. This fact was reported not only in the New History of the Tang (618-907) by the Chinese historian Ouyang Xiu but also in an unpublished inscription from Sambor-Prei Kuk, which praised the king of Chenla, Içanavarman I, son of King Mahendravarman, for having expanded his parents’ territory with his grand exploits. This monarch established his capital at Sambor-Prei Kuk, renamed Ishanapura.

The fragmentation of Chenla into small states was witnessed again. It was only in 654 that Jayavarman I, a great-grandson of Içanavarman I, succeeded in reunifying his ancestor’s country and established his capital near Angkor. Upon his death, Chenla again broke up into numerous principalities, and soon the principality of Shambupura (today Sambor on the Mekong) managed to impose its authority. Its king, Jayavarman II, settled in Rolûos and proclaimed himself king of the entire Kambuja in 802. Then the settlement and religious sites of the Óc Eo plain began to be abandoned as the center of gravity of the new political formation from the North moved away from the coast to gradually approach the site of the future capital of the Khmer empire, Angkor.

According to researcher J. Népote, the Khmers coming from the North through Laos appear like Germanic tribes in relation to the Roman Empire, attempting to establish a unified kingdom inland known as Chenla. They saw no interest in maintaining the technique of floating rice cultivation because they lived far from the coast. They tried to combine their own mastery of water retention with the contributions of Indian hydraulic science (the baray) to develop, through multiple trials, an irrigation system better adapted to the ecology of the hinterland and to the local varieties of irrigated rice.

It is reported that in Chinese annals, Chenla was divided into a « Land Chenla » and a « Water Chenla » at the beginning of the 8th century. The former was established in the old territories of Chenla, expanded according to its military successes, from the Dangrek range to the middle Mekong valley and westward to Burinam, now part of the Thai province of Korat, while the latter corresponded to a multitude of fiefs of former Funan and was subject to the royal authority of the island of Java (Indonesia). Then, through a stele of Sdok Kak Thom dating from 1052 and found 25 km from Sisophon, we learn that Jayavarman II was crowned king in 802 after freeing his country from the tutelage of Java, and his country regained its unity under the name Chenla.

The latter soon gave way to the birth of the Angkorian empire at the beginning of the 9th century. It first experienced its peak and glory with King Suryavarman II, whom historians have often compared to the Sun King Louis XIV of France. Of a warlike temperament, he did not hesitate to first ally with the Chams to attack the kingdom of Đại Việt under the reign of King Lý Thần Tôn in 1128, but he was repelled in the Nghệ An region. He then tried to maintain his grip on Champa by placing his brother-in-law Harideva as ruler over the capital Vijaya (present-day Bình Định in Vietnam).

But this attempt ended in a crushing failure against one of the greatest Cham kings, Jaya Harivarman I, who recaptured Vijaya in 1149. Yet Chinese chroniclers spoke of him with great deference. Beyond the frenzy of his territorial conquests, Suryavarman II had a large number of splendid monuments built, among which was the famous site of Angkor Wat. According to the Italian researcher Maria Albanese from the I.I.A.O institute, it seems possible that Suryavarman II died following a disastrous military expedition into Vietnamese territory in 1150.

Then the empire of the Khmer kings expanded under Jayavarman VII, one of the fascinating personalities in universal history. During his reign, he managed to push back the limits of his empire by annexing Champa, Lower Burma, Thailand, and Laos. Georges Coedès, former director of the French School of the Far East (EFEO), painted for us a striking portrait of this great king, that of a pharaoh who can boast of having moved so much stone (Angkor Thom, Ta-Prohm, Bantay-Kdei, etc.).
Map of the empire

carte_empire_khmer

But after his death, due to the gigantic enterprises and incessant wars against his neighbors (Chams, Vietnamese, and Thais), the Angkorian empire began to experience a rapid decline caused by the multiple capture and sacking of its capital Angkor by the Thais (1353, 1393, and 1431). They were unified by Ramadhipathi to found the kingdom of Ayutthaya.

Faced with the assaults of the Thais, the Khmers had to abandon their capital Angkor and retreat to the geographic heart of their country, the Four Arms of the Mekong (Phnom Penh), with the last king of the Khmer empire and the first king of Cambodia, Ponhea Yat. This strategic and economic retreat is only one of the hypotheses suggested by researchers to hasten the decline of Angkor. But according to recent discoveries reported by National Geographic in its issue 118 of July 2009, the collapse of Angkor is largely due to climatic disasters that managed to destroy the most complex and ingenious hydraulic system, a jewel of Khmer civilization. The imperial city of Angkor had to face severe successive droughts from 1362 to 1392 and from 1415 to 1440, thanks to the analysis of growth rings found in certain long-lived cypresses such as teak or Siam wood.

When the hydraulic system began to malfunction, showing signs of weakness, the power of the Angkorian empire did the same. This is why, being the first to realize the importance of this system, the archaeologist Bernard Philippe Groslier of the French School of the Far East (EFEO) did not hesitate to describe Angkor as a « hydraulic city » when publishing his work in 1979. Designed to support religious rituals and ensure a constant water supply for rice cultivation, the gigantic barays (or water reservoirs) were drained in the event of successive major droughts. This could have dealt a fatal blow to this already faltering empire, weakened by internal divisions and successive Thai invasions, as Angkor was home to no less than 750,000 inhabitants over an area of about 1000 km². This brings to mind the period experienced by the Maya cities of Mexico and Central America, which succumbed to overpopulation and environmental degradation linked to three successive droughts in the 9th century. This disaster also brutally reminds us of the limits of human ingenuity, which can be easily overcome at any time by the forces of nature. Man cannot conquer nature under any circumstances but must become one with nature to live in harmony with it.

Bibliographie.

Thierry Zéphir: L’empire des rois khmers;  Découvertes Gallimard. 1997
Claude Jacques, Michael Freeman : Angkor, cité khmère. Book Guides
Bernard Philippe Groslier: Indochine. Editions Albin Michel 1961
National Geographic: Angkor . Pourquoi la grande cité médiévale du monde s’est effondrée? N° 118.  Juillet 2009
Maria Albanese: Angkor. gloire et splendeur de l’empire khmer. Editions White Star 
Georges Coedès: Cổ sử các quốc gia Ấn Độ Hóa ở Viễn Đông.  Editions Thế Giới. 2011
Chu Đạt Quan: Chân Lạp phong thổ ký. Editions Thế Giới . 2011

 

Mausolée Tu Duc (Version vietnamienne)

j050807 Art, Culture, Histoire, tourisme, Vietnam

 

Khiêm Lăng (謙陵)

Version française

English version

Không giống như các lăng mộ hoàng gia khác của triều Nguyễn, lăng mộ của vua Tự Đức chủ yếu là nơi ẩn náu trong thời gian trị vì của ngài. Đây là lý do tại sao nó không chỉ chứa một cung điện sau này được chuyển đổi thành nơi thờ cúng sau khi ngài qua đời, mà còn có một nhà hát và hai gian nhỏ bằng gỗ đỏ xinh xắn (Du Khiêm và Xung Khiêm) nơi ngài thích ngồi để thư giãn và sáng tác thơ. Lăng mộ này, được xây dựng từ năm 1864 đến năm 1867 bởi ba nghìn binh lính và công nhân, có khoảng năm mươi tòa nhà được bao quanh bởi một bức tường đá và gạch dài 1.500 mét bao phủ diện tích 12 ha. Tự Đức lên ngôi vua vào thời điểm ông phải đối mặt không chỉ với sự phát triển của chủ nghĩa tư bản phương Tây mà còn cả tình trạng bất ổn nội bộ (Chiến tranh châu chấu do nhà thơ Cao Bá Quát lãnh đạo, việc anh trai ông là Hồng Bàng bị lật đổ vào thời điểm ông lên ngôi, vân vân). Để có thể nương tựa, ngài không ngần ngại ra lệnh xây dựng lăng mộ làm nơi nghỉ ngơi trong suốt cuộc đời và là nơi ở cho cuộc sống vĩnh hằng sau này của ngài.

Galerie des photos du mausolée Tự Đức

Trong lăng mộ này, đình Hoa Khiêm là công trình chính nơi vua làm việc, đình Lương Khiêm là nơi vua ở và ngủ. Hai ngôi mộ khác cũng nằm trong khuôn viên lăng mộ. Đó là mộ của hoàng hậu Lê Thiện Anh, vợ vua, và một trong ba người con nuôi của vua, vua Kiến Phúc.

Kiến trúc của lăng mộ này không chỉ phản ánh bản chất lãng mạn của nhà thơ-hoàng đế Tư Đức mà còn phản ánh sự tự do vốn còn  thấy thiếu trong các lăng mộ khác cho đến ngày nay. Không có gì ngạc nhiên khi lăng mộ này đã trở thành điểm đến yêu thích của hầu hết du khách nước ngoài và Việt Nam.

lang_tu_duc

 

 
 

Imperial Citadel of Thang Long (Hanoï)

j050807 Art, Histoire, Lịch sử, Sites touristiques, Vietnam

 

thang_long

Vietnamese version
Version française
Pictures gallery

Due to historical events, the imperial city of Thăng Long seems to fade over time in the collective memory of the Vietnamese, with its remnants hidden within the land of the ancient city of Hanoi. Vietnamese archaeologists had difficulty locating its site despite a series of archaeological excavations initiated at Quần Ngựa and in the geographical area of the Hồ Chí Minh mausoleum, etc., since 1970. It was only in 1998 that they succeeded in locating, in the geographical areas near Hậu Lâu adjacent to Hoàng Diệu street and Bắc Môn (the North Gate from the Nguyễn period), bases of stone pillars and columns with lotus motifs as well as other manufactured objects from the later Lê period. In 2000, they were allowed to carry out another excavation inside Ðoan Môn (the only gate of the forbidden city), which led to the discovery of the royal road (ngự đạo) from the Trần period. With other archaeological excavations undertaken from December 2002 until 2004 near No. 18 Hoàng Diệu street, other remnants dating back to the pre-Thăng Long era (before the 11th century) were found.

Thanks to the picks of Vietnamese archaeologists, the imperial city of Thăng Long is beginning to reveal its secrets and politics, administration, and culture over nearly thirteen centuries (under the successive dynasties of Lý, Trần, and later Lê). The architectural ruins (foundations, pillar bases, sections of royal brick roads, water drainage systems, wells, etc.) exposed in the imperial city of Thăng Long undoubtedly testify to the architectural complexity of the palaces of that era, whose existence has been confirmed by the discovery and presence of several types of high-quality ceramics with aesthetically sophisticated motifs, including ceramics from the Lê period bearing Chinese characters meaning Quan (official) or Kính (respectful) and motifs of five-clawed dragons and phoenixes.
Imperial city map

map_thang_long

These ceramics were reserved exclusively for kings and queens. Thanks to the archaeological excavation, the following conclusion was reached: the architectural remains from the Lý-Trần-Lê periods found had been stacked on the layer from the Chinese Zong Pinh-Đai La period (Tống Bình-Đai La) (7th-9th century).

This observation does not call into question the importance given until now to the Royal Edict (Chiếu dời đô) that the founder Lý Công Uẩn of the Lý dynasty, later known as Lý Thái Tổ, promulgated in the spring of 1010 (Canh Tuất) regarding the transfer of the capital. After eliminating the Vietnamese king Lê Long Ðĩnh of the earlier Lê dynasty (Tiền Lê), Lý Thái Tổ realized that after a few years of reign, Hoa Lư, the capital of Vietnam built in a mountainous region, was too difficult to access. It was impossible to ensure prosperity there and to secure the destiny of Vietnam (tính kế cho con cháu muôn vạn đời). The capital had to be transferred to Ðại La, the former capital of the proconsul of the Chinese Tang dynasty, Kao Pien (Cao Biền), during the period of Chinese domination.

Hoàng thành Thăng Long

This city could protect the population from floods and inundations with its fairly high and well-exposed terrain, but it was also a location corresponding to the favorable orientation of mountains and rivers and to the position of the coiled dragon and the sitting tiger. To avoid awakening popular unrest, he did not hesitate to resort to the credulity of his people, as would later be done by the advisor to the hero Lê Lợi, Nguyễn Trãi, in the liberation struggle against the Ming. He spread a rumor that he had seen a golden dragon emerge from Ðại La and fly into the sky in his dream.

That is why Đại La was called Thăng Long (The Rising Dragon). Like other kings, he could have imposed his will on his people by decree, but he preferred to submit to the will of Heaven and the aspirations of the people, deliberately using their superstition to accomplish a great work for an independent Vietnam. His reign was known as « Thuận Thiên » (Following the Will of Heaven).

 

Orphaned, raised in a pagoda, and educated from a young age by the learned monk Vạn Hạnh, growing up in his shadow, he soon became a great king of Vietnam because he was imbued with Buddhist thought during his reign. In him, one finds not only wisdom, dialogue, insight, and tolerance but also the undeniable will to contribute to the strengthening of the Vietnamese nation (a highly centralized administrative system, a fairly flexible tax regime, Buddhism accepted as the state religion, priority given to education, etc.). It was under him that Vietnam was recognized for the first time as the kingdom of Annam. The authors of the work « The Complete Historical Records of Đại Việt » (Ðại Việt Sử Ký toàn thư) continually praised the years of Lý Công Uẩn’s reign. His dynasty was later described by the Vietnamese historian Ngô Thì Sĩ as a dynasty of clemency (Triều Lý nhân Ái).
leaves

Decorative sheet attached to the tile

Thanks to Việt Sử lược (The Brief History of the Vietnamese State in the 14th Century), we know that in the plan of the imperial city of Thăng Long built in 1010 by King Lý Thái Tổ, there was in the middle of this city the Càn Nguyên palace, later called Thiên An and finally renamed Kinh Thiên (Audience Hall) by King Lê Thái Tổ. Around this palace, to the east, there was the Tập Hiền palace and the Phi Long gate; to the west, the Giảng Vũ palace and the Ðan Phượng gate; to the south, the Cao Ðiện palace and the Long Trì veranda with its corridors on both sides; and to the north, the Long An and Long Thụy palaces, not forgetting to mention to the west and east of these the Nhật Quang and Nguyệt Minh palaces. Additionally, there were the Hưng Thiên pagoda and the Sao Ngũ Phượng tower. In 1011, the Thái Thanh palace, the Vạn Tuế pagoda, and the Trần Phúc Buddhist library were constructed. (Việt Sử lược, translated and annotated by Trần Quốc Vượng pp 70-71).

Based on the plan of the imperial city from the Lê period, Vietnamese archaeologists have delineated this city as follows: the north around Phan Ðình Phùng street, the south located at Trần Phú street, the west beyond Ông Ích Khiêm street, and the east around Thuốc Bắc street. The area of this site is estimated to be about 140 hectares during the Lê period. However, it would be slightly smaller under the Lý and Trần dynasties. On the other hand, the Hanoi citadel does not exceed 100 hectares under the Nguyễn dynasty.

During archaeological excavations, several architectural materials decorated with extremely varied themes are found. The decorative motifs include lotuses, chrysanthemums, or heads of mythical animals with rough and fierce features during the Đại La period (7th – 9th century). Then, under the period of the Đinh and Early Lê dynasties (Tiền Lê), there are lotuses and pairs of mandarin ducks, and finally, under the Lý dynasty, through dragons, phoenixes, leaves, and flowers, the art of decoration reaches the peak of beauty and perfection. Despite maintaining the basic elements of decoration from the Lý dynasty, this art tends to regain its simplicity and solidity under the Trần dynasty. As for the Later Lê period, there is a significant change in the simplicity of tile and brick decoration, along with a batch of new themes added compared to the periods of the Lý and Trần dynasties.

The remains and manufactured objects found in the imperial city of Thăng Long undeniably bear witness to a national culture and local originality because, besides the dragon of the Lý dynasty with its well-decorated crest not found in Chinese dragon motifs, one can discover the roofs of buildings from the Lý-Trần period covered with tiles adorned either with decorative leaves or with figurines of dragons or phoenixes that are not commonly seen in the royal palaces of neighboring countries. It can be said without hesitation that this site is part of a cultural heritage of invaluable worth for Vietnam, particularly for the city of Hanoi.

Listed as a World Cultural Heritage site, the imperial city of Thăng Long has become today a must-visit site when one has the opportunity to visit the capital, Hanoi.

 

Photos gallery of imperial city  Thăng Long

 

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Bibliographic references:

Hoàng Thành Thăng Long.
Thăng Long imperial citadel.
Nhà Xuất Bản Thông Tin
Hànội 2006
The Culturel Information Publishing House
 

The Nùng (English version)

j050807 Chine, Culture, Traditions, Văn Hóa, Vietnam

The Nùng

Vietnamese version

French version

The Nùng are part of the Tày-Thái group of the Austro-Asiatic ethnolinguistic family. According to foreign ethnologists, they are related to the Tày of Vietnam and the Zhuang or Choang (dân tộc Tráng) of China. Although the Tày and the Nùng speak their respective languages, they manage to understand each other perfectly. Their languages differ slightly in phonetics but are similar in vocabulary use and grammar. The Tày were present at the end of the first millennium BC.

This is not the case for the Nùng. Their settlement in Vietnam dates back to only about 300 years ago. However, their presence in southern China (Kouang Si (Quảng Tây), Kouang Tong (Quảng Ðông), Yunnan (Vân Nam), Guizhou (Qúi Châu), and Hunan (Hồ Nam)) is not very recent. They were also one of the ethnic groups of the Austro-Asiatic Bai Yue or Hundred Yue (Bách Việt) group. Also known under the name Tây Âu (Si Ngeou or Âu Việt) at a certain time, they played a major role in the founding of the second kingdom of Vietnam, the Âu Lạc kingdom of An Dương Vương, but they also engaged in relentless struggle against the Chinese expansion led by Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di (Tần Thủy Hoàng) with the Luo Yue (the Proto-Vietnamese). They also participated in the uprising of the two Vietnamese heroines Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị in the reconquest of independence under the Han dynasty.

They continue to preserve to this day many memories and legends about these two heroines in Kouang Si.

At a certain distant time, the Nùng were considered a branch of the Luo Yue living in the mountains before being definitively given the name « Choang » because they are closer to the Tày and the Thais than to the Vietnamese in terms of social organization and language. By calling themselves Cần Slửa Ðăm (people with black clothes) (người mặc áo đen), they claim to be different from the Tày, who are known as Cần Slửa Khao (people with white clothes) (người mặc áo trắng). Despite their clothes being the same indigo color, both peoples do not dress in the same way. This observation was noted by the Vietnamese writer Hữu Ngọc Hoàng Nam, author of the first monographic essay on the Nùng in Vietnam, who highlighted an important remark about the meaning of the words Đăm and Khao. For him, these allow the identification and distinction of subgroup membership within the Tày-Thai linguistic group through differences in clothing colors, dialects, and customs. Those belonging to Đăm (black or Đen in Vietnamese) include the Nùng, Black Thái, Thái, Black Hmongs, Black Lolo, etc., and those belonging to Khao (white or trắng in Vietnamese) include the Tày, White Thái, Lao (or Dao), White Lolo, White Hmongs, etc.

This remark does not convince the Vietnamese linguist Hoàng Mai, who comes from the Tày people, because for the latter, the Tày, despite belonging to the « Khao or White » group, always wear black clothes. Moreover, the word Slửa is not simply a word designating everyday clothing but is somewhat Áo hồn (Slửa Khoăn) because among the Thais, the Tày, and the Nùng, a garment symbolically represents the living soul of each individual. This was reported by the Vietnamese ethnologist Cầm Trọng in his article entitled « The Participation of Thai Culture in the Formation and Evolution of Vietnamese Culture » (International Conference on Thai Studies (1984/08/22-24; Bangkok).

Relying on this strong argument, he was led to conclude that the word pair Đăm – Khao (Black-White) should rather belong to the domain of spiritual culture because it is used to trace back the origin of subgroups within the Tày-Thái ethnic group, just as among the Vietnamese it is customary to evoke the word pair Rồng-Nước represented respectively by Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ to trace their origin.

The Nùng are divided into several subgroups known under different names: Nùng Inh, Nùng, Dính, Nùng An, Nùng Phàn Sinh, Nùng Cháo, etc. These names originate from the migration of the Nùng coming from the provinces of Kouang Si and Kouang Tong in China. In Vietnam, the Nùng are located in mountainous regions, deep forests, or valleys with altitudes not exceeding 300 meters above sea level. They often live mixed with the Tày in the provinces of the Upper Region. But their concentration is higher in Lạng Sơn (43% of the province’s population) and in Cao Bằng (32%). Most Nùng live in stilt houses, but there is still a small minority who prefer to live in houses at ground level with rammed earth or unfired brick walls.

Before building the house, the owner must carefully examine the horoscope of their age to find a favorable year for construction. Sometimes it is necessary to wait at least 2 or 3 years to find it. Their presence is essential at the time of clearing the construction site, establishing the foundation and columns, and setting up the roof.

The orientation of the house is one of the important criteria that the owner cannot neglect because it could be responsible for all misfortunes for him and his family. It is customary to say in the Nùng language: đảy kim dòm mò mả, thong thả dòm tì lườn. (Success in business comes from ancestral tombs. We are safe thanks to the land and the orientation of the house).

Demographically, they are ranked 7th among the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. In their history, the Nùng also have the legend of Báo luông Slao Cải. It is the story of the benevolent giant who cleared the land and taught them how to grow rice, corn, cotton, and everything they needed. The Nùng are accustomed to wearing fairly simple clothing, without embroidery or patterns. These are made from coarse indigo-colored fabrics. This color harmonizes with nature in the green environment of the forest. Their clothing can vary from light to dark shades of indigo. This variation depends on the preference of each Nùng group. Indigo remains the symbol of loyalty, as told by a Nùng legend:

There was a poor orphan living in a hut at the edge of the forest. One fine morning, a young beggar appeared at her door and asked for food. Being so poor, she could not offer him any. She had to go to the market to sell her beautiful hair and bought food for him. From that day, they became husband and wife. Because of the war, he was forcibly enlisted and never returned. Tired of not receiving any news, she set out to look for him and died along the way. She transformed into an indigo plant whose leaves provide indigo, a color that is everlasting and synonymous with loyalty through the ages.

In the traditional costume of Nùng women, there is the turban scarf, the jacket, and the pants. Generally speaking, regardless of the Nùng group, there is always a square turban, a five-panel jacket buttoned under the right armpit and extending down below the hip, and loose pants called chân què (*) whose upper edges are folded over with a turned belt. Depending on the Nùng group, there are slight modifications to the jacket. This is the case for the Nùng In and Phàn Slình groups, whose women wear jackets with sleeves and button bands decorated with black pieces. However, for the Phàn Slình Cúm Cọt group, the jackets are shorter than those of the other groups and are accompanied by red fringes around the neck. Only the details differentiate these groups. On the other hand, Tày women wear long dresses reaching the calf with fairly tight sleeves. Regarding the pants, most Nùng women wear classic loose chân què pants, except those from the Nùng Dính group who are accustomed to wearing skirts with belts adorned with 12 colored pieces symbolizing the twelve months of the year.

Their jewelry is made of silver because, in their ancestral traditions, it protects them against harmful winds that affect their health. Besides the aesthetic beauty that this metal can provide, it is always considered a thermometer in assessing seasonal epidemics. Nùng women and men are accustomed to wearing necklaces, bracelets, and rings. Additionally, Nùng women’s adornments include earrings and chains around their waists.

As for Nùng men, their trousers are of the same style as those of their women. Their jacket, with a stand-up collar about 2 cm high, is open at the front and adorned with 7 fabric buttons and 4 pockets. The Nùng have several Tết celebrations throughout the year, but the lunar Tết remains their major festival. This is celebrated with great pomp and marked by the presence of a large number of delicious dishes in each family to bid farewell to the old year.

The Nùng customarily eat a duck because it helps to get rid of the bad luck they had during the old year and brings them good fortune with the new year. On the eve of the new lunar Tết, the Nùng woman must fetch water from the well with a bucket. Then she boils it to make good tea before offering it to the ancestors. As for the Nùng husband, he must visit the temple to make offerings. There are many prohibitions that must be respected during the first days of the lunar new year:

Cúng hỉ phát sò (Wishing happiness and prosperity)
I send you my best wishes for happiness and prosperity

Bươn chiêng pi mấu (The first month of the new year)
for the month of February of the new year

Hét lăng tú lì (Anything is allowed)
You will be permitted to accomplish your achievements

Chi lăng tú đẩy a (May all wishes come true)
and to realize all your wishes

Nùng women are not allowed to wash clothes on New Year’s Eve. Chickens cannot be killed. Oxen and buffaloes must not be mistreated. Bowls must not be broken and cleaning should not be done.

On the second day, chickens may be slaughtered to offer to the ancestors and spirits. Visits to relatives, especially to the maternal family (Bên ngoại), are permitted. Children will receive money that adults customarily give them in small envelopes known as « bao lì xì.« 

From the third day, in each village, the Nùng organize a popular festival called « Hội Lùng Tùng » (descent to the fields), often held on the land in front of their communal house. The participation of each family is visible with an offering tray. The presence of a shaman is essential because he is supposed to perform the rites to gain the favor of Heaven for agricultural activities and better harvests and to protect people from diseases. Besides the ritual ceremony, there are also folk games: lion dances, cloth ball throwing (chơi ném còn), tug of war (kéo co), spinning top launching, shuttlecock kicking, etc. It is also an occasion for girls and boys to get to know each other by forming groups for alternating songs, and slì exchanges between two young girls and two young boys.
Lion dance
Similar to other ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia, the Nùng are animists. They believe that there is a soul that animates not only living beings but also plants, stones, etc. That is why their worship includes a large number of spirits: forest spirit, earth spirit, mountain spirit, river and stream spirits, tutelary spirit, childhood spirit (Mụ Mẹ Hoa), etc.

Similar to other ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia, the Nùng are animists. They believe that there is a soul that animates not only living beings but also plants, stones etc. That is why in their worship we see a large number of spirits: spirit of the forest, spirit of the soil, spirit of the mountains, spirit of the rivers and streams, tutelary spirit, spirit of childhood (Mụ Mẹ Hoa), etc.

But the most important worship remains the ancestor worship. Each Nùng household has an altar always placed in a left compartment. This is a sacred place. At the center of this altar is a wall ancestral tablet (or a bài vị) bearing parallel sentences and Chinese characters recording the lineage of the ancestors. Generally speaking, the head of the family plays an important role in all respects.

Being both father and husband, he is the only one who can arbitrate all family problems, especially the division of property. This will be done upon the death of the parents or when one of the married children, who had been living under the same roof, separates. Only boys can claim this division. The eldest brother will then receive a significant share because he will be responsible for living with the parents. However, there is an exception for the Nùng Dín Hoàng Sa Phì group (Hà Giang). It is the youngest child of the family who will inherit a significant share of the property because he will be the last to marry and will have the responsibility to accompany the parents until the end of their lives.

In case the family has no sons, the property goes to the son-in-law who is obliged to change his name and who is now responsible for maintaining his wife’s ancestral altar. There are many taboos that the young bride is supposed to know when she lives under her husband’s family roof. She cannot pass in front of the ancestral altar. She is not allowed to sit in the reception area reserved for visitors. She cannot enter the place where her father-in-law sleeps or stay at the same table with him. In the absence of her husband, it is forbidden for her father-in-law to give her anything or to enter her room. The father-in-law cannot accompany his daughter-in-law. He is not allowed to work together with his daughter-in-law in the same rice field. The same prohibitions are found in the relationship between the son-in-law and his mother-in-law.

Similar to the Mường, the Nùng need to consult the horoscope of the bride and groom to avoid problems of age incompatibility. The decision to start the marriage or not belongs to the parents based on the equality of social and family conditions of the two families. For boys, the selection criteria remain the same as in other ethnic groups: hard work, strength, aptitude for hunting and agriculture. For girls, people are accustomed to seeking their profile through certain well-known Nùng sayings:

Nả hang khàng suổi phịn siêng (con gái mặt vuông chữ điền trông như tiên)

The girl with a square, well-defined face looks like a fairy.

or

Kiêu sải bố thưng tum , mì cua tẻ sè lùm sèo móp
Gót chân không chạm đất khổ suốt đời

The heel not touching the ground is a sign of a hard life.

Sometimes judgment is based on observing the family of the young bride. This is found in the following Nùng saying:

Chiếu khẩu lệ chiếu phàng, Chiếu nàng lẽ chiếu mẻ
Muốn biết được lúa, nhìn vào gốc rạ. Muốn biết nàng dâu, nhìn vào người mẹ.

To know the quality of the rice plant, look at the roots. To know the young bride, observe her mother.

However, before marriage, girls and boys are free to love and understand each other during major festivals where they can participate in folk games or alternate singing slì songs. They can also take the opportunity to give each other certain souvenirs (baskets for cotton balls (hắp lì), baskets for thread balls (cóm lót), turbans for boys (cưn nả), combs (phooc phum), embroidered bags, etc.).

In the Nùng marriage, the matchmaker (male or female) remains an essential figure as they handle all the formal procedures and financial transactions between the two families. In most cases, the brother of the groom’s mother is appointed to this demanding role because he will later become the godfather of the bride along with his wife after the wedding. In financial transactions, the bride’s family tends to ask for more gifts because the bride’s value is considered greater based on the number of these gifts.

The marriage ritual has several stages, the most important of which is leading the bride to her husband’s house. She is required to lightly touch a tray of food placed at the entrance of the main door and then knock it over with her foot. Then, she must quickly cross the threshold of the door. This procedure is known as « Nghi lễ tách nhập ma (Procedure of detachment and union of ghosts). » From that moment on, she becomes a full member of her husband’s family both spiritually and materially. She will permanently join her husband’s house when she becomes pregnant or after six months of marriage.

Death

In the ancestral tradition of the Nùng, when there is a deceased in the family, all close relatives from the maternal side (or păang lăng) must be present before placing the deceased in the coffin. A shaman (thẩy tào) is also required, who is supposed to handle all the ritual procedures related to the funeral from A to Z.

He must begin the first important procedure Khay lò to clear the way and accompany the soul of the deceased to the other world because for the Nùng, the soul that escapes from a dead body continues to live. Married daughters and nieces must bring money trees as their contributions, and the close relatives from the maternal side a horse for their funeral offerings. For the Nùng, even after the burial, the soul continues to wander around the house. That is why an altar must be set up next to the place where the deceased used to sleep when still alive.

After one hundred days of burial, there will be a ceremony accompanied by a large number of delicious dishes (pork, chicken, and sticky rice (xôi)). Then it will be followed by another marking the end of mourning after three years.

Each Nùng group has its own way of celebrating this ending. The Nùng Lôi destroy a bamboo tube that they had previously left on the deceased’s altar by burning it, while the Nùng An make a large number of familiar animals (pigs, chickens, buffaloes, oxen) and farming tools using cut paper and place them in a pot that they bury under the location of the deceased’s grave. The Nùng see death only as the beginning of another life for the deceased. That is why they need these offerings to be able to lead a more pleasant life in the other world.

Birth

Similar to the Mường, there are many taboos surrounding the birth of a child. The child needs to be protected by the goddess of childhood, whose altar will be set up in the house. Besides the celebration of the child’s first month, some Nùng groups also hold a ceremony to give a name to the child when they reach adulthood.

Similar to the Vietnamese, the Nùng have a long history and a millennial culture. It was with them that the Vietnamese were part of the Hundred Yue. In the past, facing formidable northern adversaries, they tried to create their own state but were unable to achieve it. Their undeniable contribution to the foundation of the Âu Lạc kingdom of the Vietnamese cannot be denied. Their hero Nùng Trí Cao continues to hold a place in our history.

There is no reason not to make their history and culture known to young Vietnamese because

The Nùng also have a significant share of responsibility in building the future of our Vietnam along with the other 52 ethnic groups.

[Back to Page « Vietnam, land of 54 etnies]

The Mường (Dân tộc Mường)

j050807 Culture, Ethnies, Histoire, Văn Hóa, Vietnam

 

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Being the third largest minority in today’s Vietnam by number (estimated at 1.4 million people), the Mường have long been established in the provinces of Hoà Bình, Thanh Hoá, Phú Thọ, Sơn La, Ninh Bình, etc.
According to the worthy Vietnamese successor of the French ethnologist Jeanne Cuisinier, Trần Từ (or Nguyễn Đức Từ Chi), the word Mường is used by the Vietnamese (or the Kinh) to designate the region where there are several Mường villages. The Vietnamese take advantage of this usage to name this people. They often refer to themselves by a name related to the region where they live: mol, moan in Hoà Bình, mwanl in Thanh Hoá, or Mol, Monl in Thanh Sơn, and it precisely means « người » (person, individual).

By delving into the narrative of their creation myth (Ngu Kơ and Lương Wong) and that of the Vietnamese (Âu Cơ – Lạc Long Quân), one realizes that they might have originated from the same people whom history and geography divided into two groups around the 9th-10th centuries: the first consisting of the Vietnamese who moved down to the plains and underwent strong Chinese influence, and the other composed of the Mường who remained in the most remote corners of the mountainous regions and received strong influence from the Thai who were massively pushed south of Chinese territory. This is why the Mường continue to be closer to the Vietnamese in terms of language. They belong to the same Việt-Mường group of the Austroasiatic language family (Ngữ hệ Nam Á), which also includes the Mon-Khmer subfamily. This is the origin of the tones in Vietnamese (6 tones) that allowed the French scholar A.G. Haudricourt to affirm in his 1954 work the belonging of Vietnamese to the Austroasiatic languages, an opinion now commonly shared by many foreign researchers and Vietnamese linguists. The French ethnologist Christine Hemmet from the Musée de l’Homme (Paris) reiterated this affiliation during a conference on May 18, 2000, on ethnic plurality, multilingualism, and the development of Vietnam.

Then this Việt-Mường group split into two independent languages: Vietnamese and Mường from the 14th to the 16th century. With Chinese and French borrowings, the former managed to experience at the beginning of the 20th century a remarkable development with its quốc ngữ in the field of Vietnamese literature where it succeeded in expressing all the nuances of thought and feeling in all aspects of life (1). As for the latter, it was isolated from foreign influence and remained in the state that it has today. This Mường language is found, that of the Vietnamese of old (or Proto-Vietnamese). For the Mường, the Vietnamese (or Kinh) descend from common ancestors and share the same blood as them. That is why they are accustomed to saying in one of their popular songs the following two lines:

Though you and I are TWO,
You and I, though ONE, become TWO.
Although you and I are TWO beings, we are but ONE.
Being ONE single being, you and I could always be considered as TWO.

It is also in one of the Muong legends (Đức Thánh Tản Viên) that we find the repeated struggles between the water and mountain spirits mentioned by the Vietnamese in their famous legend « Sơn Tinh Thủy Tinh. » This clearly shows how close the Vietnamese and the Muong are, despite their different destinies, to the point that even their legends are not so distinct. Two famous Vietnamese kings came from the Muong (Lê Đại Hành and Lê Lợi). However, in terms of social and cultural organization, the Muong today are closer to the Thái and the Tày.

The territory inhabited by the Muong is divided into regions (or mường) whose chiefs are lords called « lang cun, » each comprising 20 or 30 hamlets. These are led by « lang đạo, » descendants of the heroic founders of these hamlets, and are named according to their topographical situation: Xóm Ðác (hamlet next to a waterfall), Xóm Ðung (hamlet near the forest), Xóm Ðôn (hamlet on a hill), Xóm Thung (hamlet in a valley), or according to the names of familiar fruit trees: Xóm Trạch (bamboo hamlet), Xóm Mít (jackfruit hamlet), etc., or according to the names of animals: Xóm Hò (Turtle hamlet), Xóm Oong (Bee hamlet), etc., or according to the categories of Muong society: Xóm Chiềng (hamlet where the lang cun (or feudal lord) lives), Xóm Roong (hamlet belonging to farmers).

In traditional Mường society, the establishment of an oligarchy can be seen. This system, called NHÀ LANG in Vietnamese, is essentially based on the right of the first occupant to own the land, forests, and rivers, to cultivate them, and to bequeath them always to the eldest descendants of the male lineage from generation to generation, in accordance with the tradition observed in the worship of Mường ancestors. This allows NHÀ LANG to practically control three-quarters of the land, which is cultivated and maintained through periodic rotations of teams of village laborers, granting them the right to exploit the remaining quarter of the land as compensation. Despite these shortcomings, it cannot be denied that there is a fairly democratic relationship between NHÀ LANG and the Mường.

Compared to the feudal land system of Vietnam at that time, NHÀ LANG of the Mường has undeniable progressive factors because it defends not only its own rights but also those of the Mường. It must help the Mường villagers in cases of drought, famine, or poor harvests. It must be held accountable if its lang cun behaves in a manner unworthy of its rank. This is the case, for example, if the son of the latter commits a dishonorable act such as violating a village woman or getting into a fight in the street.

One can go as far as to depose the lang cun if he does not properly assume his authority and duties. In this case, the villagers can appeal to NHÀ LANG for his replacement. This also applies when the lang cun has no male heirs. It is also the responsibility of NHÀ LANG to organize the festivities related to the harvests and the feasts associated with the worship of the spirits. However, there are rules that the Mường villagers cannot ignore. They cannot marry a daughter of NHÀ LANG because she can only choose people of her rank and from NHÀ LANG. Similarly, a village woman who is randomly chosen as a wife by the lang cun and has children with him cannot claim to play an important role in NHÀ LANG. Her children cannot become lang cun because this position is reserved only for the eldest male descendants whose mother must be a daughter from NHÀ LANG. The members of NHÀ LANG are respected even if they are young. Regardless of the child’s age, a villager must respectfully address him as « Chàng » or « Nàng » when he is a boy or a girl from NHÀ LANG.

The hierarchy is so respected that it is possible to know the affiliation of the person in question. Moreover, this system allows the Lang Cun to have a monopoly on certain names (Ðinh, Hà, etc.). It was abolished in the 1950s by the Vietnamese government during the organization of agricultural cooperatives. Despite this, the system remains one of the original features of traditional Muong society and is one of the traditions that cannot be ignored when talking about the Muong. To refer to this system, the Muong habitually say: Mường có lang, làng có tạo. (Regions have lang just as villages have tạo (or Đạo in Vietnamese)). The term LANG ĐẠO is used to designate this system.

The Muong are accustomed to choosing lowlands and rugged terrain to build their houses. These are generally built against the slopes of hills and mountains to benefit from pure air and to facilitate movement for hunting and gathering. Each of these houses has a four-sided roof resembling a turtle shell. Their houses stand on very low stilts and are built on three levels. This corresponds well to the Muong conception of the creation of the universe: a celestial and terrestrial world (thiên giới và trần giới), a marine world (thủy quốc), and an underground world (âm phủ). The first level is reserved for food storage. It is, in a way, the granary.

The second level corresponds exactly to the place where family activities take place and where visitors are received. As for the last level located below the floor, it is intended for raising livestock and storing agricultural tools. The construction of their house must meet both material and spiritual requirements. For the Mường, the window of the room (voong tong) where the ancestor altar is located is very sacred. No one has the right to lean on this window or pass objects through it because, according to the Mường, the ancestors are not so separated from the living. They continue to participate with them in the major occasions of their existence. Furthermore, the two staircases of the house each have an odd number of steps. The main staircase, located very close to the entrance room (voong toong), is reserved exclusively for men. As for the women, they are obliged to take the second staircase, which is not far from their inner room (voong khua). The Mường improvise ingenious hydraulic systems (wheels, channels, etc.) to channel and raise water in order to irrigate the extraordinary terraced rice fields on the slopes of the hills. They also practice slash-and-burn agriculture, which provides them with benzoin, sugarcane, cassava, corn, etc.

Compared to other ethnic minorities, Mường costumes are quite unique. Men dress very simply. They wear indigo-colored pants. However, the clothing of Mường women is more complicated.

In general, the traditional costume of women includes: a white or blue turban (mu) made from a square piece of fabric measuring 35 cm x 150 cm, tied at the back of the neck; a camisole (yếm or ạo báng); a short shirt (áo cánh or ạo pắn in the Mường language); a long black skirt (váy or kloốc in the Mường language) reaching the ankle; and a wide belt made of silk or fabric.

The short Mường shirt, which is white, pale green, or pink, has four panels, with the two at the back sewn very well and the two at the front each having a long border running from the neck to the hem of the jacket. Similar to Vietnamese women, Mường women wear short shirts with a fairly round neckline measuring about 2.5 cm or 3 cm and two long sleeves. These shirts are open at the front and often unbuttoned; they are intended to cover the camisole, whose lower hem is neatly tucked behind the wide silk or coarse fabric belt of the skirt (cạp váy), vividly illustrating folkloric charm and seduction. This is the main distinctive feature that draws attention in Mường women’s costumes.

In the constitution of this wide belt, there are three rectangular bands with rich ornaments called respectively « dang trên, » « dang cao, » and « dang dưới, » which are sewn firmly together. The « dang dưới » band stands out from the other two by the richness of the motifs representing hieratic animals (dragons, phoenixes, turtles, etc.) or familiar ones (snakes, cranes, fish, etc.). The tunic (ạo chụng) is preferred over the jacket on festive days. The color of the outfit changes according to the status of the Mường woman. For her wedding, she must wear a long green tunic, while the white color is reserved for her maid of honor (dâu phụ). Funeral clothes (đồ tem) are always made inside out with frayed lower hems.

Among these, there is a mourning bonnet, a skirt without the wide multicolored rectangular belt, a short white shirt, and a belt made of rough fabric. In case of mourning for the in-laws, the Mường bride usually wears a black skirt, a camisole, a short shirt, and a red brocade jacket. The Mường have a saying: Diện như nàng dâu đi quạt (1) (Beautify oneself like the bride at the time of funerals). The outfit remains the same except that the short shirt must be white when the bride’s parents are still alive.

To show their differences from the Vietnamese, the Mường have a very well-known proverb:

Cơm đồ, nhà gác, nứớc vác, lợn thui, ngày lùi, tháng tới.

Steamed or simmered rice, stilt houses, water contained in bamboo tubes carried on the shoulder, spit-roasted pork, day behind and month ahead.

These are the characteristic customs of the Mường that are not found among today’s Vietnamese. The Mường prepare most foods and cakes from rice: glutinous rice (lõ kẳm) (2) and ordinary cooked rice (gạo tẻ). There are several types of cakes: rice cake (bánh chưng) during the Tết festivals, bánh bò or bánh trâu cakes in honor of the buffalo spirit (vía trâu), uôi cake for funerals, bắng cake for weddings, ống cake for engagements, etc.

For the calculation of days and months, the Mường rely on the Ðoi calendar, which is different from that of the Vietnamese. Ðoi is a star that moves faster than the moon. Based on the movement of this star, their Ðoi calendar is 4 months ahead of the Vietnamese lunar calendar.

Similar to the Vietnamese, the Mường have a communal house (đình) reserved for the tutelary spirit (or thành hoàng) in each hamlet or village. They believe in the existence of a large number of malevolent spirits that haunt the forests and that they call ma-khũ (or ma qũi in Vietnamese).These are disembodied souls wandering in the world of the dead and the living and can cause troubles for humans.

For the Mường, there are several souls within a human being that they call wại. These are divided into two categories: wại kang (the splendid souls) and wại thặng (the hard souls). The former are superior and immortal, while the latter, attached to the body, are evil. Death is only the consequence of the escape of these souls. Thanks to the funeral rite (ma chay), the superior souls can reside in the sky. They will need to be accompanied by the help and care of the family during their perilous migration. This is reflected in the affection and attachment that the Mường particularly reserve for the deceased through a set of rules regarding clothing, decoration, and accompaniment of the coffin (a split and hollowed-out wooden trunk). By performing the last rite, the souls will rest in peace; otherwise, the hard souls may become harmful and malevolent by turning into floating and dangerous spirits (Ma). This funeral rite (mo tang) can last several days (at least 12 days) and requires the presence of a sorcerer (or mo in the Mường language).


According to the Mường, the deceased possesses a supernatural force that prevents the living from communicating with them and helping them materially or spiritually. Only the thầy mo (or sorcerer) can do this. It is his responsibility to guide, before the burial, the soul of the deceased through all the administrative procedures with the celestial lord (Chạo Hẹ) to obtain a judgment. This will be delivered in a basket of ashes placed at the entrance of the house’s door, at the spot where the deceased is supposed to return home. There is a trial because during his life, the deceased sacrificed many animals for his consumption.

Depending on the verdict of the judgment revealed through the interpretation of signs or traces by the sorcerer, he may be condemned to reincarnate in the body of one of these sacrificed animals or henceforth lead a peaceful life. The sorcerer holds an important place in the Mường funeral rite. He is the one who accompanies the soul of the deceased to go collect money from the paternal grandfather’s house (ta keo heng), then borrow clothes from the house of Thiên mư, register in the ghost register (sổ ma) to facilitate movement, and finally provide essential everyday objects in the world of ghosts. He is also the one who gives the soul of the deceased the last meal and helps move their belongings into the tomb at night. There are a large number of objects: bowls, dishes, water jars, etc., and bronze drums for a lang cung (or feudal lord). Then it is up to the children of the deceased to organize, at the end of the third day of the funeral, a ceremony celebrating the return of his soul home before being able to begin his worship. This allows the deceased to be present from then on at all major occasions and at all feasts enlivening daily life: weddings, New Year celebrations, house inaugurations, etc. Similar to the Vietnamese, the Mường solemnly celebrate the anniversary of the death of the deceased and they wear mourning. The deceased is now part of the ancestors who have been honored on the family altar up to the fifth generation. Ancestor worship is very important in the spiritual life of the Mường.

Ma Chay
Similar to other ethnic minorities in Vietnam, the Mường are animists. They believe that everything has a soul. That is why their worship includes a large number of spirits, gods, and malevolent or benevolent spirits. Even in each Mường family, there is a benevolent spirit (or the ancestor demon (ma tổ tiên)) believed to protect the family. This is why there is a tradition that the Mường must observe after announcing the death of a loved one. The eldest son of the deceased must strike the door of the deceased’s house three times in a row with a knife to blame the family demon for not intervening in time during the father’s death. Before cutting down large trees in the forest, the Mường present an offering to the tree spirit (Thần cây) along with the axe that will be used for the work. Even when killing game during a hunt, they are obliged to pay homage to the predator spirit by offering the head and a shoulder once the animal is skinned. This is somewhat an honorable fine to the protector of predators, a custom frequently found among other hunting peoples. The Mường customarily venerate rocks, red pumpkins at the time of moving into a new house (lễ tân gia), the cây si tree, family totems, water sources, earth and kitchen spirits, etc.

Among the Mường, the resurrection and reincarnation of the soul are taboo subjects. For them, the soul is multiple, indestructible, and immortal, whether good or bad. In this Mường conception, the birth of a child is surrounded by mystery. They have asked many questions about its identity: child, spirit, malevolent spirit, or ancestral ghost?

Furthermore, for the Mường, the birth of the first child marks the beginning of maturity for young parents. They also rely on their children to have a peaceful retirement later on. The following Mường saying shows how much this support is desired:

Trẻ cậy cha, gìa cậy con
The young rely on their father just as the old rely on their children.

BIRTH

That is why the birth of a child holds an important place in the life of the Mường. To prepare for any eventuality, the Mường take a great number of usual and ritual precautions related to pregnancy and birth. When the mother is pregnant, she must follow certain immutable rules that have existed since time immemorial: protect herself against malevolent spirits with a leaf when passing in front of cemeteries and temples, avoid funerals (a harmful effect for the mother and her future child’s health), and weddings (a possible divorce for the parents),

refrain from walking on the bark of the tree used in the making of coffins (a possible miscarriage), do not flee in front of the snake to prevent the newborn from having an elongated tongue outside of its mouth, avoid eating « twin » fruits (a possible multiple birth), facilitate childbirth by waking up early in the morning and opening all the doors of the house, always maintain serenity and joy, avoid anger, etc.

Similarly, the husband must observe many prohibitions. He is forbidden to carry the coffin, to replace the roof of the house, and to renovate the house. As her childbirth approaches, the pregnant Muong woman has no interest in visiting her parents’ house because if the event occurs, she will be forced to give birth under the floor where the livestock are kept. According to the Muong, the pregnant woman is no longer part of their family (Con gái là con của người ta) but is the daughter of her husband’s family. The child born does not share the same blood as the family (khác máu tanh lỏng). This could later bring misfortune to the people of the house. For a girl who becomes pregnant without a husband, her delivery cannot take place in the house. It must be held in the garden. The punishment is the same for the girl who commits the fault of becoming pregnant before marriage.

In general, childbirth takes place at home. The happy event of the birth is announced by the presence of a distinctive sign always placed on the left (if it is a boy) and on the right (if it is a girl) at the entrance of the house. This sign will be removed at the end of the seventh day for a boy and the ninth day for a girl. Sometimes, the intervention of the sorcerer (thầy mo) is desirable in case it is believed that malevolent spirits are involved and held responsible for these difficulties.

There are many restrictions for the woman but also for the husband during the pregnancy. Even after birth, the child continues to be the cause of the greatest troubles for the parents during the first years of life. According to the Mường, the soul attached to its body is so fickle and wandering that it can escape from the body at any time. That is why the child, before leaving the house, needs to be protected by attaching a silver bracelet (pwok wai) to their wrists or ankles, which serves to prevent the soul from leaving. In case the soul leaves the body, this bracelet would allow it to return and take possession of the child. Moreover, to ensure that nothing happens to the child during the first years, the Mường parents organize a ritual ceremony known as cak wai to place the child under the protection of the protective spirits Mẹ Mụ.

These are, in a way, the celestial nurses of the child’s soul. The Mu have the right to have in each Mường house their altar, which is inaugurated after the first birth.

One cannot overlook the relationship between husband and wife among the Mường because it is one of the prominent traits that allows them to acquire commendable qualities and to establish a society that is peaceful, humanistic, hospitable, and altruistic.

Essentially based on fidelity, love, and happiness, this relationship helps to cement Mường society and enables it to better withstand the changes in customs that Vietnam has experienced since its reunification.

Despite the ease of being able to talk, meet, and get to know each other before marriage, young people cannot overstep the principles and demands that Mường tradition has established since time immemorial. A man must be serious, strong, upright, and kind. These are the qualities required of a man to be able to marry; otherwise, it is difficult for him to find a wife in Mường society. « Học ăn, học nói, học gói, học mở » (Learn to behave, to speak, to face, and to untie life’s difficulties) is the motto that one would like to apply in the search for a future husband for a Mường girl.

A man must know how to build the house, weave straw roofing panels, raise livestock, etc… It is also common to say in a Mường proverb: Một đàn ông không dựng nổi nhà (a man is incapable of building the house) to show how deeply they are attached to this preconceived notion. This requirement is easy to understand because in a harsh environment and in a society that is both supportive and hierarchical, a Mường man must demonstrate his ability and live up to this expectation. As for the Mường woman, she is not well off either. She is expected to possess certain qualities: to have good conduct, speak softly, be courteous, know how to make her own clothes, etc…

MARRIAGE

Haunted by the following proverb « Một đàn bà không cắt nổi gianh » (A woman is incapable of cutting the thatch), the Mường are led to have a clearer judgment about their future daughter-in-law and to discern her qualities and faults with lucidity. The motto « Lấy vợ xem tông, lấy chồng xem họ » (Marry a woman after observing her lineage, choose a husband after knowing his family) is also not foreign to their behavior and observation in marriage. To succeed in this, they need the help of a matchmaker (bà mờ) (1), who is in a way the central pivot in this difficult matter. She is not only the privileged interface between two families but also the responsible and committed witness of the transactions arising from these two families. She must be close to the future bride’s family. She must have talent in communication to convince people. The following Mường proverb: « Thiếu gì nước trong giếng, thiếu gì tiếng trong mồm mà không nói ra cho vừa lòng nhau » (There is so much water in the well, so many sounds in the mouth. Why can’t we find words to please each other?) shows the Mường’s strong attachment to communication.

His respect is unquestionable in the village. His profile meets many of the criteria required by Mường tradition: having an irreproachable life within his couple and family. It is obvious for her to have both a son and a daughter according to a Mường proverb: có nếp, có tẻ (there is sticky rice and ordinary rice). Before starting her approach with the woman’s family, she must consult the Đoi calendar (2) because, according to calculations, there are certainly harmful months and hours in the day (tháng thướm, giờ thướm) that must be avoided at all costs for the marriage. This is also the case for the Vietnamese with the « Ngâu » month, which they must prohibit for this event. She is supposed to know the birth date of each of the spouses to later avoid problems of incompatibility and discord in the couple. In case of divorce or failure, all grievances and reproaches from both sides will fall on her. Moreover, she will receive the blame from the local lord (quan lang).

After obtaining all the necessary information and the green light from the husband’s family, the matchmaker can begin to set the first meeting (Thoỏng thiếng or ướm tiếng) with the family of the future bride. She must inform all her relatives of this happy event and sometimes ask for their advice. During this visit, she usually gives the girl’s family a bottle of wine, which is immediately hung inside the house on the main pillar. If this bottle of wine is served after the meeting, the matchmaker will be sure of the success of her mission. Otherwise, she will leave with the bottle of wine. Known in Mường as « Tì kháo thiếng, » this step is followed at least 3 or 4 times by the back-and-forth (or nòm in Mường) of the matchmaker who does not immediately obtain agreement the first time. It is in the interest of the future bride’s family to show the matchmaker that this is an important matter requiring a period of reflection and consultation with the girl. This allows the relationship between the two families to deepen and become more intimate through the matchmaker.

Thanks to the back-and-forth exchanges (or nòm), it is ensured that the husband and wife possess all the required qualities. It is at the end of the last nòm that the date to celebrate the « nòm cả » (main nòm) will be chosen. Known as « ăn hỏi or tì nòm, » this ceremony is celebrated with great pomp. Among the gifts from the future husband, there are many symbolic items including a pig, 20 tubes of rice liquor (rượu cần), 2 pairs of sugarcane boots, betel leaves, plain sticky rice cakes (bánh chưng) without filling (không nhân), moral beauty, and a tacit agreement on the virginity of the future bride. All offered gifts must be in even numbers. It is during this ceremony that the future husband is introduced to the bride’s family. This introduction is known as mường: ti cháu (lễ ra mắt chú rể). At the end of this ceremony, the bride’s family will discuss the dowry with the future husband’s parents. Known in mường as « thách cưới (challenging the marriage), » it is easily accepted by the latter to show that they can meet this financial demand and to avoid losing face. It is the matchmaker’s responsibility to negotiate the dowry cost, reduce it, or outright refuse the marriage. Sometimes, the future husband is assured by the promise from the bride’s family of receiving a share of the inheritance in case she has no male heirs.

Known for her studies on the Mường, the French ethnologist Jeanne Cuisinier saw in this bargaining an act of purchase for the bride and groom. Nothing fully justifies this interpretation because on the daughter’s family’s side, there is indeed an act of commitment, a moral guarantee for this marriage with the participation of her entire lineage and a sincerity to want to perpetuate the couple’s life through this demanding financial requirement. In case of divorce, the wife’s family must return in full all the dowry received at the time of the marriage. This is an additional constraint that helps to avoid separation and to carefully consider before any irreversible act. It is also one of the factors that help explain the family and social cohesion of the Mường compared to other ethnic groups, particularly the Kinh. Moreover, for the future husband, there is a promise to grant him a share of the inheritance and a custom of adopting him into a family without male heirs. This is not really the meaning of the term « purchase » as found in its definition because the future husband will still receive a dowry in compensation.

According to Mường tradition, the official ceremony takes place three years after the main nòm. This is the period during which the future spouses should get to know each other, exchange conversations, and smooth out differences in order to facilitate their married life later on. This time, the ceremony starts very early in the morning because the matchmaker, accompanied by the groom’s relatives, must bring a large number of objects and animals that meet the requirements set at the time of the main nòm (a buffalo, two pigs, 5 or 6 baskets of sticky rice, a bunch of areca nuts, about a hundred betel leaves, 20 tubes of rice liquor, etc.). The number of people in the entourage must be even. Being received by the bride’s family and participating with others in a feast organized in their honor, the matchmaker will ask the bride’s parents for permission to bring their daughter to her husband’s house at a time deemed appropriate and lucky for the couple. Before leaving, the bride must pray in front of the ancestral altar and then perform lạy (a traditional Vietnamese gesture of respect) before her grandparents and parents. On the way back, she wears a conical hat and always carries a knife in her hand to ward off evil spirits and protect her « soul. » She is forbidden to turn her head backward. It takes time because, in most cases, the villages are very far from each other. That is why it is customary to say in Mường:Làm rể vào buổi trưa, làm dâu vào buổi tối. (One becomes the son-in-law in the morning, the daughter-in-law in the evening).

Once she arrives, she is welcomed by the husband’s sister, who asks her to wash her feet and step over a bundle of wood before climbing the house stairs. She is required to pray immediately in front of the kitchen spirit altar before performing the same gesture in front of the ancestors’ altar and the husband’s parents. Then a ritual ceremony (lễ tơ hồng) takes place in the middle of the house in the presence of the newlyweds. This will be followed by a feast in honor of the new couple. A few days later, the husband will return to the bride’s house for his first visit (lễ ra mặt). In the past, there was a period of challenge (bù mà ruộng) before they could truly begin their married life.

For the Vietnamese, the Mường are not only a minority ethnic group but also a people who preserve an original common culture. This is why it is in the interest of the Vietnamese to conduct ethnographic studies on the Mường, as through them, they have succeeded in better understanding the way of life of their ancestors as well as their archaic and millenary culture. The Vietnamese ethnologist Nguyễn Từ Chi had the opportunity to recall the characteristic traits of the Mường in Vietnamese culture in his book « The Mường Cosmology (Vũ trụ quan Mường). » Without the Mường, it is believed that Vietnamese culture is that of the Chinese, a widely false and erroneous opinion over the centuries. They deserve to always be the cousins of the Vietnamese or rather twin brothers, as they have often said in one of their popular songs:

Ta với mình tuy hai mà một
Mình với ta tuy một thành hai.
Mặc dù tôi và bạn là HAI bản thể, nhưng chúng ta là MỘT.
Là  MỘT, tôi và bạn, chúng ta luôn có thể được coi là HAI.

Though you and I are TWO, we are ONE
Though I and you are ONE, we become TWO
Although you and I are TWO beings, we are but ONE.
Being ONE single being, you and I could always be considered as TWO.

The Mường are more than ever the survivors of the ancient culture of the Vietnamese. They are here to bear witness and to remind the Vietnamese that they, like them, have their own culture that allows them to distinguish themselves from the Chinese and that deserves to be known and preserved for future generations in the face of the rapid evolution of today’s Vietnamese society.

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(1) Quạt: this word is used to refer to funerals (quạt ma).
(2) Glutinous rice is a type of rice whose grain is black.
(3) Sometimes it is a matchmaker (ồng mờ).
(4) Đoi calendar: a unique feature of Mường culture. This calendar consists of twelve bamboo pieces carved with lines to facilitate the indication of phenomena and climatic changes.

Bibliography

Người Mường ở Viet Nam. Editeur : Nhà Xuất Bản Thông Tấn. Hànôi.
Mosaïque culturelle du Vietnam. Nguyễn Văn Huy. Maison d’édition de l’éducation. 1997.
Bàn thêm về chế độ Nhà Lang trong xã hội Mường cổ truyền. Dưong Hà Hiếu.
Đám cưới truyền thống Mường. Phạm Lệ Hoa. Trường sư phạm nghệ thuật trung ương. National University of Art Education.
Rituels de naissance et liens de l’âme chez les Mường du Vietnam. Stéfane Boussat, Marcel Rufo.
À la recherche de l’origine de la langue vietnamienne. Nguyễn Văn Nhàn.  Synergies riverains du Mékong. N° pp 35-44
 

 

The Bahnar : Part 3 (English version)

j050807 Culture, Ethnies, Histoire, Religion, Văn Hóa, Vietnam

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Version française

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Part 3

Once the marriage is celebrated, the young spouses live alternately in their parental families for a certain period according to the agreement established between the two families. It is only after the birth of their first child that they begin to build their own house. The Bahnar adopt monogamy. Rape, incest, and adultery are strictly condemned. In the event that adultery is committed by the surviving spouse, regardless of their sex, during the tomb maintenance period, it is said that they « jump over the coffin « ko dang boăng« . The survivor is not immediately released from their obligations towards the deceased. They are required to pay compensation not to the heirs of the deceased but to the deceased themselves, which is settled by a number of animals sacrificed bơthi on their tomb. That is why the surviving spouse has an interest in shortening the maintenance period if they wish to start a new life. Even in death, the harm caused to the deceased by the fault of their spouse is entitled to material compensation by the number of animals sacrificed on their tomb. In Bahnar tradition, everyone is « free » provided they do not harm the person or property of others. In cases where a person has been wronged in their honor or materially in their property, they are entitled to compensation in the form of indemnity or reimbursement of expenses incurred.

Figurines de bois
devant les maisons funéraires

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The Bahnar do not impose the death penalty. Sending someone to the penal colony corresponds to banishment. The Bahnar know how to practice mutual aid in times of scarcity. In their house, rice alcohol is never drunk, and meat is never eaten without inviting other families. The first ripe rice does not belong solely to the owner of the field but to the entire village.

The freedom to choose a spouse, the division of tasks within a couple, the right to material or moral compensation, and respect for others clearly illustrate the equality between men and women in the ancestral tradition of the Bahnar. There is no essential difference between the legal status of men and women. Among the Bahnar, the democratic mode of operation has existed long before democracy was discovered and practiced in the West. According to the late French ethnologist Georges Condominas, the « savages » do not wait for Minkowski or Einstein to have the notion of space-time.

By using an expression related to space, they indicate a date. They roughly give someone’s age in relation to a significant event. They do not completely destroy the forest because they know how to let it regenerate years after they had consumed it ten or twenty years earlier, like the Mnong of Georges Condominas.

They do not kill game for the pleasure of killing but kill it only to eat and to know how to share it with their compatriots. They keep only a tiny portion of their hunt for themselves. The spreading and use of defoliants by the Americans during the Vietnam War, the slaughter of animals for traditional medicine, the destruction of vegetation and deforestation linked to rapid population growth, the sterilization of the land through excessive use of chemical fertilizers are the prerogative of so-called « civilized » people. Solidarity and mutual aid are not empty words.

The Bahnar are above all « rơngơi » (or free). They are accustomed to saying: « I am rongơi or kodră (master) » to mean that they are free to choose their activities or masters of their destiny. Are they « savages » as has long been thought? It is up to each of us to delve deeper into this question and to use their way of life and culture as a source of inspiration and reflection to enable us to live better and be together in respect of others and nature.

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