Mnông
Denomination: Mnông or M'Nông
Small local groups: Gar, Nông, Chil,Kuênh, Dip, Biêt, Prâng, Preh, Rlâm, Si-tô,Bu-đâng, Bu-Đêh
Population: 93,000
Language: Môn-Khmer
Area of habitation:
Đắc Nông, Đắc Lắc and Lâm Đồng provinces. The Mnông settled very early in the Tây Nguyên Highland. Their congeners also live in Cambodia.
Material life
The Mnông village is generally established at the foot of a mountain, by a river, a stream, or a lake which supplies water for daily use.
Many Mnông groups live in houses built level with the ground (the Nông, Gar, Prâng, Preh and Si-to) and retain a great many traditional character-
istics. Meanwhile, the houses-on-stilts of the Rlâm and the Chil are more or less faithful reproductions of those of the Ê-đê, theừ closest neighbours. The
interior arrangement is also the same.
In general, the Mnông house is mostly 20 to 30m (sometimes, 40m) long. Houses built level with the ground are wider, with the entrance door in the longest side. Houses-on-stilts are longer; the entrance and exit doors opening to the front.
Even in houses built level with the ground, the rice store is situated just above the hearth — place for family gatherings. The houses of the Mnông Gar have thatched roofs reaching almost to the ground, and vaulted doorways.
Until recently, the Mnông in remote regions still ate with hands, the food contained in bamboo tubes. Nowadays plates and bowls are widely used. At noon, the Muông Gar eat rice cooked in earthen pots, generally with sour soup. When they are working on milpas, this soup is carried with them in gourds. Their ordinary diet includes salt, dried fish, small game and all kinds of wild vegetables. They rear certain animals (buffaloes, pigs, chickens and ducks) but mainly, the sacrifice-making purpose.
Alcohol is a drink of primary necessity. Tobacco is also smoked widely.
The Mnông have their incisors filed and their earlobes stretched for wearing ornaments, (mortar-shaped objects made of ivory; short pieces of shiny yellow bamboo, pieces of valuable wood, and so on). They also have their teeth painted black for chewing betel.
Mnông men generally wear loincloths and leave their upper torso naked; women wear capes which reach down to their ankles. For both men and women, vests are slipped on like pullovers, but those worn by men fall to mid-thighs while those worn by women are short and well-fitting. Loincloths and vests are made of bands all embroidered or woven in traditional patterns on a dark indigo background.
The Mnông are fond of jewellery: necklaces, earrings and bracelets made of copper, tin or silver. Women particularly like necklaces of glass beads. The copper bracelets seen on the wrists of almost all Mnông are reminders of the ritual of sacrifice or swear-bound friendship. Sometimes, they symbolize a prayer to a genie or a promise between lovers. The back-basket carried everywhere by the Mnông, whether going to work or visiting friends, contains everything they need. Buffaloes are used as draught-animals; in some richer families, elephants and horses are employed instead. Pirogues constitute to be the only means of transport on rivers and streams which are often abundant in rapids.
The Mnông are also those high-landers who use hoes for agricultural production. The slash-and-burn method is predominant in their farming. Submerged fields are cultivated only by people living near rivers, streams, and lakes. Sticky rice is rarely grown whereas the staple food is ordinary rice. Corn, sweet potatoes and cassava are grown as subsidiary crops.
Living in a region of basaltic soil, the Mnông create milpas on hills-lopes or at the foot of mountains. These “sloping” clearings require less prepara¬tion for cultivation than those on level terrain.
Each year, the choice of land for cultivation is decided by the village chief and also by the heads of family.
After turning up the soil and burning off the grass, the Mnông put seeds into the holes and pray for propitious weather. Since there is plenty of land and the population is small, the Mnông are in the main self-sufficient in food.
Agricultural implements are few, including the viêlì (long curved knife) for cutting grass, the axe for felling trees, the hoe with a convex edge for turning up the soil, the iron-tipped stick for digging holes, the rake for uprooting weeds, and the sickle for harvesting. Seeds are kept in large bamboo tubes. The ears of paddy are picked by hands and the grain stored in the house, the yard, or on milpas. The Mììông make maximum use of buffaloes not as draught-animals but to tread the soil in submerged fields before transplanting. Seed beds are prepared one month before transplanting; the pruning of rice plants to stimulate growth is still an unfamiliar technique.
On milpas, paddy is grown in rotation with corn, sweet potatoes, gourds, and watermelons.
Each village works certain areas of land within its boundaries. Handicrafts are not well-developed, intended chiefly for family needs. The Muông are real artists in weaving, embroidery, the printing of decorative patterns on cloth, basketry and some others. Iron-work serves to produce agricultural implements.
The hunting and domestication of elephants is well-developed among the Mnòng, especially in Easúp and Bản Đôn, for ivory transportation and trade.
Until very recently, the principal mode of trade of the Mnông in the areas far away from communication routes had been barter.
Social and family relationships
Mnông society is still matrilineal in many aspects. After marriage, the married couple can live with the husband’s or wife’s family, however, matrilocality is preferable. The side which receives the couple after their wedding must incur the greater part of the cost of the marriage. Children take the family name of the mother. Vestiges of levirate and sororate can still be seen. The nucleus of society is the family or the matrilineal family commune. Its members belong to two or three (rarely more than three) clans and form what is known as a “community of neighbours”. The village chief is called Rm'it who handles all community affairs. The village has its water source, cemetery, arable land and residential area.
The process of differentiation between the rich and the poor has begun. But no sign of exploitation has as yet been recorded.
The dead are buried. The coffin has the approximate shape of a buffalo. The Mnông do not organize funerals and they abandon the graves one year after the burial. They build a funeral house on the mound and decorate it with carved wooden figures or varied patterns painted in black, red or white.
Spiritual life
The Muông believe in deities which are generally associated with agriculture. They also worship the elephant genie, but the “Mother of Rice” remains the most often invoked deity.
The life and sentiments of the Mnông are vividly reflected in the rich treasure of tales, proverbs, folk songs and traditional music. The musical instruments are mostly made of bamboo with varied designs showing great artistic skill. Other instruments include sets of gongs, and large skin drums. The famous lithophone discovered in 1949 on the Đắc Lắc plateau in a Mnông village is considered as a valued property.
The Muông are characterized by their desire for independence which is clearly demonstrated in the resistant wars against foreign invasion
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Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam
- Thai People in Vietnam
- Chut People in Vietnam
- Hmong People in Vietnam
- Lao People in Vietnam
- Co-Tu People in Vietnam
- Khmer People in Vietnam
- Tay People in Vietnam
- Mnong People in Vietnam
- Bru-Van Kieu in Vietnam
- Tho People in Vietnam
- Ta-Oi People in Vietnam
- Dao People in Vietnam
- Kho-Mu People in Vietnam
- Gia-rai People in Vietnam
- Giay People in Vietnam
- Muong People in Vietnam
- Co Lao People in Vietnam
- Xo-Dang People in Vietnam
- Ba-Na People in Vietnam
- Xtieng People in Vietnam
- Hre People in Vietnam
- O-Du People in Vietnam
- Gie-Trieng People in Vietnam
- Mang People in Vietnam
- Ro-Mam People in Vietnam
- Nung People in Vietnam
- Co-Ho People in Vietnam
- Ngai People in Vietnam
- San Chay People in Vietnam
- Pa Then People in Vietnam
- Cho-Ro People in Vietnam
- Ma People in Vietnam
- Brau People in Vietnam
- Ha Nhi People in Vietnam
- Pu Peo People in Vietnam
- Bo Y People in Vietnam
- Cham People in Vietnam
- La Ha People in Vietnam
- Xinh Mun People in Vietnam
- Khang People in Vietnam
- San Diu People in Vietnam
- Phu La People in Vietnam
- Lu People in Vietnam
- La Chi People in Vietnam
- Hoa People in Vietnam
- Si La People in Vietnam
- La Hu People in Vietnam
- Co People in Vietnam
- Chu-Du People in Vietnam
- E-De People in Vietnam
- Lo Lo People in Vietnam
- Ra Glai People in Vietnam
- Cong People in Vietnam
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