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Hongnam: Vietnam's Ethnic Minorities
The Bo Y
The Bo Y are also known as the Chung Cha, Trong Gia, Tu Di, Tu Din and Pu Na. They have a population of about 1,500 concentrated in the provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang. The Bo Y language belongs to the Tay-Thai Group. Ancestor worship is the basis of their religion. Three josstick containers are placed on the altar, the middle one for the heaven, one for the god of the kitchen and the other for the ancestors.
The Bo Y live mainly by slash-and-burn agriculture. They rear cattle and poultry and are experienced in fish-farming. Every year, when the rainy season comes, the Bo Y go to the rivers to catch spawn and fishfry to put them in their ponds and submerged fields.
Generally, the Bo Y live in houses built on the ground in the interior, there is always an extra room made from wooden boards resting on the main beams, serving as a granary and a bedroom for unmarried boys. Each family lineage adopts a series of 5-9 words between the family name and proper name. Each word indicates a generation and determines the bearer's place in the family hierarchy.
In times past, it was the habit of Bo Y women to give birth in a sitting position. The placenta is buried under the bed of the mother. When parents die, the children must follow strict rules during 90 days of mourning for their mother and 120 days for their father. The Bo Y possess a rich treasury of folk arts and culture including ancient tales, proverbs and folksongs. |
Some decades ago, the Bo Y practised carpentry, blacksmithing, pottery, stone carving and silver engraving as additional occupations. The women know how to grow cotton, spin thread, weave cloth, sew and do embroidery. Women wear a full skirt, a five-panelled shirt and a bra. Recently, some of them have adopted the Nung or Han way of dressing. The women prefer silver ornaments. They wear their hair wound in a chignon at the top of the head. Their headgear is an indigo turban two metres long and 0.3 metres wide. It is arranged in a crow-bill shape above the forehead.
The Bo Y have a very complicated wedding ceremony. In the ceremony held to bring the bride to her husband's home, the family of the man sends 8-10 people to meet the bride. Among them are 1-2 unmarried couples and 2 married couples. A unique characteristic is that the groom is not present in this ceremony. He sends his younger sister there leading a pink horse. The bride's family also sends a similar accompanying group. On her way to the groom's family, the bride takes scissors and a small hen with her, then releases these things in the Middle of the road.