Minorities People

Nung Ethnic Group

Culture and Customs - Traditions of the Nung Ethnic Group

Key Features: Housing: The typical traditional house of the Nung people is a stilt house, tiled with tiles, with three functional floors. The first floor is for livestock, farming tools, and equipment; the second floor is for living and household items; the third floor is a loft used for storing grains and other dry goods. In front of the house, there is often a drying platform. In some areas, Nung people build wall houses. In Nung households, the kitchen serves not only for cooking but also for heating, especially during the cold winter months.

Clothing: Traditional attire of the Nung people is quite simple, often made of coarse self-woven fabric, dyed with indigo, and usually devoid of elaborate embroidery. Men wear stand-up collar shirts with a button row. Women wear five-piece shirts, buttoned under the right armpit, typically extending beyond the hips. Nung women wear square headscarves, folded in a pointed shape. Nung men wear hats, especially during spiritual ceremonies.

Cuisine: The Nung people consume plain rice, sticky rice, and prepare various dishes from plain rice and glutinous rice. From plain rice, they make cakes like cao quy?n and cao x?ng, while from glutinous rice, they prepare colored sticky rice (purple, black, red, yellow), black sesame sticky rice, and ant egg sticky rice, which are used in various types of cakes. Apart from regular dishes, the Nung people have specialty dishes associated with festive occasions. During Lunar New Year, they slaughter a rooster for offerings and make square cakes (long cakes). On the last day of the first lunar month, they make ngai cakes (thick cakes wrapped in wormwood leaves). At weddings and birthdays, roasted pig stuffed with mac mat leaves is a must.

Religion and Beliefs: The Nung people adhere to a polytheistic belief system. They typically worship three generations (parents, grandparents, ancestors). Ancestor worship is carried out through festive rituals and seasonal prayers. In their religious practices and behavioral norms, the influence of the Triple Religion (Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism) is evident. Notably, the role of ritual masters (Tào, Mo, P?t, Then) is prominent in Nung ethnic religious rituals.

Arts: The most distinctive feature of Nung folk art is "then" singing. This is a performance ritual that combines artistic and spiritual elements. The "then" master creates both lyrics and melodies. The traditional musical instrument, without frets, allows the "then" master to improvise melodies. While closely associated with ceremonial prayers, "then" also has a festive aspect, marking various life events or celebrating the New Year. Another characteristic folk music genre of the Nung people is "sli." Sli is a duet singing performance of young men and women, typically in pairs, engaging in call-and-response singing and performed in two choirs.