CULTURE

WEDDING OF KHO ETHNIC MINORITY PEOPLE IN LAM DONG

By Thanh Hong Main ethnic minority groups in Lam Dong Province are K Ho, Ma and Churu. According to current statistics, K Ho is the largest group (112,737 people); Ma group is the next (25,237 people) and Churu (14,579 people) is the third. In Lam Dong, minority groups in general, the K Ho people in particular, still keep their traditional culture in their daily lifestyle as well as their rituals in marriage. * Cultural interference among communities Because 42 minority groups live close together (in 10 districts and two cities in Lam Dong), they can maintain their culture in daily life. As traditional customs become outdated, they are replaced by new and modern ones. The K Ho groups including Sre, Cill, Lach, Nop, String and Kdon mainly settled in Di Linh, Duc Trong, Lac Duong, Lam Ha, Dam Rong districts. Thanks to interest and investment of the Governments Resolution 30A to reduce poverty as well as to promote living standards for ethnic minority groups, a new wing of modern life has made a big change in their lifestyle. Besides external influence, cultural exchanging of Kinh people also makes spiritual life of minority groups in Lam Dong become active. However, a new lifestyle also makes youth forget their traditional culture. Local cultural department has tried their best to preserve as well as restore traditional festivals of minority communities, such as opening courses for playing gong, traditional instruments; organizing The cultural day of minority groups, The provincial gong festival every year, etc. In addition, ethnic minority people themselves, including K Ho, need to preserve their traditional lifestyle in the trend of modern life. Lets learn about a traditional wedding of K Ho people. * Past and present wedding of K Ho people A traditional wedding of K Ho people includes three main ceremonies: Dam hoi (asking for permission)): K Ho is a matriarchal ethnic group, so their wedding celebration is against Kinh people; it means that the girls family comes to the mans house asking for a husband for their daughter. There are two cases that will happen in dam hoi ceremony: First of all, if the man and girl fall in love, they will ask permission to get married; if the family of the man does not agree, they will ask for a lot of valuable gifts (for both of them can not get married). If man and girl have not met yet, but the two families both agree for to have a wedding the girls family has to persuade the groom many times. But if at last, the man still does not agree, girls parents have to apologize and compensate the mans family with gifts or a pig. If the couple can not have a wedding, the girls family has to reward reputation for mans family, may be rewarded gift is a buffalo. Dam hoi (pre-wedding ceremony): After the two families and couple agree for on a wedding, the mans family will ask for gifts (in the past, gifts were buffaloes, goats, clothing, bracelets, etc. At present, gifts are always gold, money, etc). Girls family can

present all gifts at once, if they are wealthy. If not, they can present several times over several years. Girls family may also ask to reduce the number of gifts. For a poor family, wedding gifts sometimes are a big loan for the couple to handle after the wedding. Therefore, after dam hoi ceremony, some K Ho couple have not celebrated wedding ceremony for themselves until their children grow up. Wedding ceremony: There are two ceremonies in a wedding day. One is celebrated at the grooms house. The other is celebrated at the brides house (dua re or groom taking ceremony). They will play gong and sing traditional songs during the wedding party. Happy money will be shared to all members of the grooms family (sum of money based on position of family) and his parents. In K Ho wedding, grooms family will be the receiver (receiving money and taking part in party); brides family is the giver (presenting money and contributing rice, chicken, pig, goat, etc.). In K Ho family, the woman is the most important person. In K Ho concept, daughter is grain, son is just rice. Children in the family will be named by their mothers surname (matriarchy); having a daughter is better than son because a girl has the right to catch a husband when growing up and deciding her future. Currently, with the impact of modern life, awareness of ethnic minority groups has positively changed so that most outdated wedding ceremonies of K Ho have been reduced and eliminated. However, the preservation and promotion of the traditional value of weddings as well as other ceremonies of minority communities is always necessary to preserve their beautiful cultures in Lam Dong Province. Hopefully, the Youth will give a hand to preserve the beauty of traditional culture of their homeland Dalat - Lam Dong. T.H