Coming from a country of not even 6 million people, 62.000 people feels like quite a large number. However, here in Vietnam the ethnic group of the Ka Tu (or Cơ Tu) people is just a drop in the ocean of 54 minorities. This week we got the chance to meet and interview some of them, along with staying overnight in a traditional meeting house in one of the two villages we visited. In the second village, unlike the first, no one spoke English and not everyone spoke Vietnamese. This made it pretty tricky to interview the village “mentor”, with everything being said having to go through two other people first!:)
The Cơ Tu people, like most other Vietnamese, don’t consider themselves religious. They do, however, all pray to their ancestors, along with “Uncle Ho” (Ho Chi Minh). Every ancestral alter is the focal point of every home, and is most often accompanied by a generic picture of Ho Chi Minh. A large number of their traditions are no longer being practised, mainly because of the government (meaning the Communist Party of Vietnam). The girls, for example, are no longer considered to be marriage-ripe when they are 10 years old. Instead, they now have to be 18, which is the standard in mainstream Vietnam. However, there are still some minorities where girls and boys are considered ready when they are 13 and 15.
Other traditions have been kept intact, like the art of weaving, along with the Cơ Tu way of dancing: groups of men and women, boys and girls – spanning several generations – gather around a bonfire at night. The women with raised egyptian-like arms, and the men with swords and drums, sing and dance in a chanting and coordinated way. Even the youngest boys were equipped with swords, although I’m fairly sure theirs at least were made of plastic, seeing as no one lost an eye despite the fly-swatting way they swung them!:)
All in all, meeting these captivating people, who only treated us with kindness and laughter, and seeing the beautiful mountainous nature that surrounded them, was a great honor and privilege.
Till next week!
Dana
