Custom of Dao people in the Northern West

In Việt Nam, Dao ethnic group has about 450,000 people, ranking 9^th among other ethnic groups in the country. Dao people are honest, good-natured, unsophisticated and hospitable. Dao ethnic group has many strange customs. In marriage, for example, men have to stay at their wife's family from two to three years, even in the long time (if they stay forever at their wife's family, they have to change their family name into their wife's family name).

Dao people in the Northern West of Việt NamPhoto: Linh Nhâm

They also have a habit of using white silver to evaluate bride, literally, buying and marrying off, such silver will belong to the young couple. On the wedding day, the bride makes up very beautifully, wearing red hat with patterns on her head and many silver necklaces and bracelets. The bride entourage is also accompanied by wizard, horn, gong, drum and music players. To the husband's house, the bride must stop at the temporary house before entering the house at proper time. Stepping up onto the house, the bride must "wash her hands", step over fine basket and carry out many other rites in the witness of the two families before stepping through the door. When the first baby is born, the wife must give birth at her own bedroom. In the first three days, doors must be planted with certain leaves to prevent strangers from entering the house. Dao ethnic families exist stably under the patriarchy where the women are not listed in the will and not entitled to inherit the family's assets.

In terms of housing structure, Dao people have three kinds of house: house on stilts, house on ground, house both on stilts and on ground. Houses are structured by strong, simple but skillfully combined wood and bamboo that shows the privacy and tactfulness of the Oriental people. Type of traditional houses of Dao people in white trousers is house on stilts, often comprised of three compartments, components are connected by loose materials. However, they don’t have to use nails during construction. Such type of house has only one staircase with odd number of steps; in the house, there are often two kitchens. Dao Do house is built both on ground and on stilts on halfway down the hills.

Clothes of Dao ethnic group remain unchanged with many traditional features, for example, materials including indigo-dyed cotton fabric in blue, red, black, violet or white. Dao Đỏ people wear red scarves and red flowers on the chest; Dao people with close-fitting trousers wear close-fitting trousers; Dao people with white trousers have quite big brassiere to cover chest and abdomen, on the wedding day, the bride wears white trousers; Dao Làn Tuyển people wear long shirts and small hats.

Dao ethnic group has quite diversified and traditional culture shown in various customs and beautiful dances, good songs, treasures of fairy tales, mythological stories, fables, folksongs, idioms and riddles. Foreign tourists who have chance to visit the Northern West of Việt Nam are quite fond of discovering the life and customs of the local residents.

                                                                     HỒNG HẠNH