The Kho Mu

The Kho Mu have a population of more than 43.000 people inhabiting the provinces of Nghe An, Lai Chau, Son La, Thanh Hoa and Yen Bai. The Kho Mu are also called Xa Cau, Mun Xen, Pu Thenh, Tenh and Tay Hay. The Kho Mu language is of the Mon-Khmer Group.

The Kho Mu live on slash-and-burn cultivation. They mainly grow maize, sweet potatoes and cassava. They use rudimentary tools such as knives, axes and sticks. Hunting and gathering are necessary for daily survival needs, especially in the intervals when the old rice is finished and the new one is not yet harvested. The Kho Mu rear poultry and cattle to provide food for feasts, rites and ceremonies. Basketry has developed to provide food containers. The Kho Mu do not practise cloth weaving, so have to buy cloth and garments from the Thai.

Up to now, many Kho Mu families still lead a nomadic life. Their villages and hamlets are generally distant from one another and quite small. The houses are temporary and rudimentary with little furniture. The Kho Mu’s national identity in dress seems to be on the decline, but women’s ornaments are still notable.

Kho Mu family names are often after an animal, bird, plant, even an inanimate object. Each lineage considers such animal or plant its first ancestors and refrains from killing or eating it. Each lineage has an ancient tale retracing their origin. The people of the same lineage have blood relations. <>In a Kho Mu family, the wife is the equal of her husband. In Kho Mu custom, the husband must live with his wife’s family for one year, then he can take his wife to his home. When living in the wife’s family, the husband must take her family name. Likewise, the child who lives in the mother’s house takes the mother’s family name, and will change it for the father’s lineage name only when its parents live in the father’s house. Marriage between the same lineage is forbidden, while a son of a paternal aunt can marry a daughter of a maternal uncle. The maternal uncle plays an important role in the wedding of his nieces and nephews and is the adviser to them in family matters.

The Kho Mu believe in the existence of genies, in particular the genie of the heaven, assisted by genies of thunder, the earth, the forest, or the spirits of the field, the village, the house and the ancestors, etc. Every year, the Kho Mu people hold rituals worshipping the spirits of the village and the ancestors and praying for bumper harvests and good production.

Though the Kho Mu people’s material life is still hard, they possess a rich heritage of long traditional and valuable culture.