Presentation, origin
With 1 million 500 thousand souls, the Thai are the third largest ethnic group in Vietnam.
They are settled essentially in the North and the Northern Center, since the 11th century.
They speak a language of the “Tay-Thai” branch.
Among the Thai, there are 2 main groups: the blacks and the whites who are divided into several sub-groups.
The black Thai are divided into 2 branches, the Man Thanh and the Tây Muoi.
The whites are also subdivided, in Tay Muong and Tay Do.
White or black, the Thai people live together.
Thai people have many family names and each clan has its own taboos.
The Black Thai accent is more guttural, the White Thai accent more melodious.
The Whites like even numbers, which they consider as the symbol of the couple, the Blacks prefer odd numbers, symbols of expansion…
The White Thai live mainly on the banks of the Red and Black Rivers, in the provinces of Hoa Binh, Son La and Dien Bien Phu.
The Black Thai live mainly in the provinces of Yen Bai and Dien Bien Phu. They are very present in the valley of Muong Lo, in the province of Yen Bai.
Cultures vivrières
Their life is attached to rice growing and they practice flooded rice cultivation.
Established in the fertile valleys, in the basins of the rivers and in edge of brooks, the Thai also plant, corn, manioc, sweet potato, indigo, cucurbits, beans, etc
They master the hydraulic systems of the Réas (water wheels), which is of course extremely profitable for them, they lead a stable and peaceful life.
The houses – the villages
The Thai ethnic group in Vietnam lives in houses on stilts made of bamboo or wood surrounded by racks or boards.
The “Bans” villages of 50 to 100 households are clear and spaced out, the houses are scattered in hamlets around the fields, along the paths, with their backs to the forests.
According to the Thai groups, the architecture of the houses is different.
Among the black Thai, the roof has the shape of a turtle shell, with khau kút (antefixes, pattern placed on the roofs or cornices of a building at the end of a row of tiles or a projecting part of a roof, to decorate or to mask).
Among the white Thai, the houses are rectangular and decorated with a balcony.
La famille
Before the wedding, the bride-to-be has to come and live with her future wife for a period of time before she can take her home. One generally marries in the same social class.
The “bun ritual” which exists only among black Thai: a black Thai bride cannot go out without having combed her hair into a high bun.
Before their marriage, Thai women must spend a lot of time making their trousseau, they start weaving and embroidering at a very young age.
The costumes
To distinguish between them, you need to look at a few clothing features.
Black Thai women wear a blouse with a high collar with lines of butterfly-shaped buttons and a long black skirt. They wear a fichu (piêu).
The white Thai women wear a long black skirt, a sarong, a short jacket closed by silver buttons, a green silk belt and a silver chain at the hip.
The beliefs
The Thai observe the rite of the water intake at the time of the New Year, the festival of the first thunderclap of the new year.
Like the Kinh, they practice the cult of the ancestors, but on the other hand, they are polytheists.
They believe that death is the continuation of life in another world.
The Lò lineage does not eat birds, while for the Quàng, the tiger brings bad luck.
The art
The Xoe dance is an artistic creation inspired by daily activities, to the sounds of traditional musical instruments of the ethnic group such as the Tinh tau zither (with two or three strings), the drums and the gongs… The representations of this dance during the big popular festivals or during the celebration of the new rice are held in front of the communal house.
Beautiful brocades, real works of art, are made at the Thai house, each Thai house will have its own craft.
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