Ra-glai
Denomination: Ra-glai.
Other names: Orăng-glai, Rô-glai, Ra-dlai, Mọi
Small local groups: Ra-crây (Rai), Noong (La-oang)
Population: Approx. 97,000
Language: Malayo-Polynesian
Area of habitation: Ninh Thuận, Bình Thuận, Khánh Hòa and Lâm Đồng provinces. The ancestors of the Ra-glai were probably the native speakers of the Malayo-Polynesian language group.
Material life
The Ra-glai live in houses on stilts set apart from each other. The floor is one metre above the
ground and the roof made of thatch. Those living in the vicinity of Việt seítlements for example, in
the districts of An Sơn (Bình Thuận) and Khánh Sơn (Khánh Hòa) have adopted houses level with
the ground and assembly techniques using tenon and mortise joints.
Traditional Ra-glai attire has almost entirely disappeared. Women now
wear pagnes and vests in the Chăm íashion.
According to oral tradition, the Ra-glai leamed early about cultivation in
submerged fields by means of irrigation. Later, having begun to settle in
mountainous regions, they undertook the method of slash-and-burn cultiva-
tion with rice as the staple food crop and com as secondary. Hovvever, rice
is often grown alternately with other food crops. Theứ íarming techniques
are the same as those of the Chăm.
Basketry, iron-work, carpentry, weaving, hat making and sugar produc-
tion are sidelines taken up only in certain regions during the farm-slacks in
the agricultural calendar.
Gardening has come into being, with many different plants. Animals and
poultry are reared for meat and sacrifices.
Food gathering occupies an important place in the livelihood of the Ra-glai. The gamut of musical instruments is large. Particularly remarkable are
the sets of nine bronze gongs, the sounds of which animate all traditional
íestivals taking place betvveen the 12th moon and the third moon following.
Different sets of lithophones have already discovered.
Social and tamily relationships
For the Ra-glai, the matrilineal family is the rule. The right to inheri-
tance and veneration of ancestors belongs to the youngest daughter. The
Ra-glai community is made up of many family lineages in the maternal
bloodline, designated by a very ancient term, patek (sack). Each patek
(there are eight of them) has a specific name and is divided into several
branches with different names. Also, each patek is identiíied with a “his-
tory” in which traces of totemism c#n be sensed. It has its “house of ori-
gin” where the ancestral property is kept (copper gongs, jars and so on).
Called “objects in memory of the ancestors”, they are generally entrusted
to a woman from the youngest branch. Once every three or five years, the
members of the same patek must make offerings to the ancestors in the
“house of origin”. If the last woman of the lineage dies without a íemale
descendant, these objects passed on from generation to generation must be
buried with her. In this case, the lineage is regarded as extinguished.
Hovvever, this phenomenon is rarely seen as the woman vvould adopt some
cross cousin or niece as her heir
Marriage between the members of the same patek is prohibited. As an
exception, the members of two diííerent pateks (collateral) are allovved to get
maưied on condition that the rite of puriíication should be períormed first to
“wash them off incestuous sin”. Endogamous marriage between remote mem-
bers of the same lineage among the Ra-glai has thus begun to disappear.
Beíbre maưiage, the young man can live temporarily at his would-be
wife’s house to get to know her better, to demonstrate his talent and virtue,
and work for the family of his future parents-in-law. After the wedding, the
couple should settle permanently at the wife’s. If she dies young, One of her
cousins will take her place.
The dead are buried at the village cemetery. The body is dressed in new
garments, wrapped in a shroud, and placed in a coffin made of a tree trunk
on which a shaman has dravvn the moon, the sun, birds, animals, flowers and
leaves. Beíore the start of the funeral procession, the rite of rice offerings is
performed. It is customary to bury a dead person with part of his property;
but the funeral objects should be damaged beíorehand. After the burial, the
grave is piled with earth to form a mound. Then comes the moment of
“recovery of the tomb” when various rites are períormed to present offerings
to the soul of the deceased. And the ceremony of “abandoning the tomb” is
held to mark the definitive separation. This ceremony, the most important
and costliest of all the íuneral rites, takes place as soon as the íarnily can
afford it. Then a minutely decorated íuneral house is built over the tomb,
and the ritual of making sacrifices is conducted right in the cemetery. The
event is accompanied by dances and songs períormed to the sounds of
bronze gongs. It lasts for many days, attended by all the villagers.
Spiritual life
The Ra-glai have a system of popular belieís and agricultural rites very
similar to those of their neighbouring ethnic groups. They also praetise wor-
ship of ancestors. The gamut of musical instruments is large. Particularly remarkable are
the sets of nine bronze gongs, the sounds of which animate all traditional
íestivals taking place betvveen the 12th moon and the third moon following.
Different sets of lithophones have already discovered.
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