Proper name:
Coho
Local groups:
Xre, Nop (or Tu Nop), Co Don, Chil, Lat (or Lach) and To Ring (or Thai’ring).
Population:
92,190 people
Language:
Coho language belongs to Mon-Khmer group (which is part of the Austroasiatic
language family).
History:
The Coho are permanent inhabitants in the Tay Nguyen region.
Production activities:
With the exception of the Xre, who practice wet rice cultivation (the name Xre
means sub-merged fields), other Coho sub groups cultivate rice on swidden
fields which they change periodically, using the slash-and-burn method to
prepare the land for planting. In general, the Coho’s farming methods and tools
are similar to other groups in the Tay Nguyen region. Apart from the using of
digging sticks to make holes in the scorched earth to insert seeds, the Chil
people also use a tool called the p’hal, which has a long wooden handle, a
blade of about 28cm in length and 3-4 cm in width, and is used both for making
the holes and putting the seeds into the earth. Among the Xre, the typical
farming tools are the wooden-made ngal (plough), which has a flat base and
wooden blade (later made of iron) and the rake with wooden tines. Ploughs,
rakes and kor (to even out the field’s surface) are drawn by oxen or buffalo.
Paddy rice is the main crop, but the Coho also grow corn, manioc, gourd,
pumpkin, loofah, and beans, etc. The Coho practice informal animal husbandry.
They raise livestock to draw the ploughs in their fields and as animal
offerings in certain ceremonial scarifies. Basketry and blacksmithing are
practiced in every family, but textile weaving only prevails among the Chil
sub-group. Hunting, fishing, and gathering remain popular ways to supplement
the family diet.
Diet:
The Coho usually eat three meals a day. Formerly, they prepare rice and soup in
a length of bamboo. Later, they use earthen cooking pots, and then bronze and
cast-iron ones. Food is often served dry because the Coho have a tradition of
eating with their hands. Soups are cooked with vegetables, with chili and salt
being added as main seasonings. Meat and fish are cooked in a fish sauce with
water or boiled with the trunk of a young banana tree. The Coho store water in
dried gourds or ghe. Can (pipe) wine, or tornom, which is made from rice, corn
and manioc and fermented from special forest tree leaves, is popular drinks
that the Coho consume at parties and festivals. Many people still enjoy smoking
locally-grown tobacco.
Clothing:
Coho men wear loin cloths and women wear short skirts. The Coho loin cloth is
square piece of fabric, 1.5cm to 2cm in width, with designs on the two vertical
hems. A cloth wrapper or sarong is neatly wound around the body, with one
corner being tucked into the waistband. The cloth wrapper is often dyed black,
with white designs being arranged along the two sides. During cold weather,
people tend to wrap themselves with blankets (ui). The most popular ornaments
are necklaces, wrist chains, bead strings and earrings.
Housing:
The Coho live mainly in Lam Dong. They live in sprawling houses on stilts with
curved, thatched roofs, bamboo-woven walls for resisting the cold, and a
staircase in the front. There is often an altar facing the entrance, together
with a line of pots, baskets and wide-bellied jars is found on the side of the
wall opposite the entrance. All family activities take place around the heart.
Social organization:
The Coho village (or bon) reveals many traces of the earlier matriarchal social
structure. A Coho village is headed by a chief (kuang bon). In popular area, a
volunteer alliance among neighboring villages is established, led by a M’drong,
or head man. The Coho have two kinds of families: extended and nuclear
families. Extended family, however, is disappearing and giving way to smaller
families, particularly along national highways and near the districts or
townships. Matriarchy is popular. The women take the initiative in marriage.
After the wedding, the husband comes to stay with his wife’s family and the
children are named after their mother’s family name. Coho couples marry at a
young age (girls at 16-17 years old, and boys at 18-20 years old). This
accounts for a high reproductive rate among the Coho, and it is not uncommon
for a Coho woman to give birth at least five times in her life.
Beliefs:
The Coho believe that every aspect of life is decided by supernatural forces.
They believe that while people are blessed by their own God (Yang), there are
also devils and ghosts (Cha) causing disasters and mishaps. Therefore, the Coho
pray for success in everything they do, seeking help for good crops, marriages,
funerals, or sicknesses. People believe that the spirits like eating meat and
drinking wine, and it is a function of the importance of the ceremony that one
sacrifices a buffalo, pig, goat, or chicken, together with alcohol.
According
to Coho tradition, rituals are regularly held relating to agriculture, such as
the sowing of seeds, the appearance of new ears of rice, and rice storage. The
altar nao is placed in the most respected and solemn corner of the house. There
is often no longer a sophisticated wooden altar. Some simple altars take the
form of tree branches on the ceiling, opposite the entrance door.
Education:
A written form of the Coho language was invented in early 20th century; it is
primarily based on the Latin system. Although it has been revised over the
years and was taught in some of the local schools, Coho script is not
widespread nowadays.
Artistic activities:
Coho folktale is abundantly rich. The verses of lyrical poems of lyrical poems
evoke romantic sentiments. The Coho also have many traditional dances, which
are performed at festivals and ceremonies. Their traditional musical
instruments include the set of six-pattern gongs, gourd oboes (kombuat),
bamboo-flutes, deer-skin drums, etc, which are used for ensemble or solo
performance.
Festivals:
Each year in December after the harvest, the Coho celebrate their Tet or New
Year holidays. Coho families take turns sacrificing a buffalo for the village
buffalo sacrifice ceremony. The ceremony is held outdoors, either in front of
the house of the host who has offered the buffalo, or in front of the village
chief’s house, or in the a spacious, public area in the village. People sing
and dance around a ceremonial pole, called cay nieu. The meat of the sacrificed
buffalo is divided and allocated to every family in the village, and its blood
is applied to the foreheads or the villagers as blessings. The Tet occasion
usually takes 7-10 days. The villagers circulate among the different village
families to convey their greetings of the New Year. It is only after Tet, when
one has eaten the new rice that one begins to implement important affairs such
as building houses, moving the village to a new location, etc
This
article written by Lanh Nguyen from Travel Agency in Vietnam
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