The Xtieng

The Xtieng have a population of more than 50,000 living in four northern districts of Song Be province and a part in Dong Nai and Tay Ninh provinces. They divide into two groups: Bu Dec and Bu Lo. The people of Bu Dec group live in the lowlands. They cultivate rice in submerged fields and have used oxen and buffaloes as draught animals for a long time. The Bu Lo group lives in the uplands. They mainly practice cultivation on burnt-over land and settle near the M'Nong and the Ma. The Xtieng are also called Xa-dieng. The Xtieng language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group.

Nowadays, the Xtieng mostly live a sedentary lifestyle. Each family builds its own house. The Dieu is a popular family name. Autonomy is a tradition of every Xtieng village. Each village is led by an elderly man who must be experienced in the affairs of the community, dynamic, enjoys the trust of the villagers and is a man owning property in the village. The property consists of heads of buffaloes, oxen, gongs, jars, necklaces, bracelets and ornaments. The Xtieng can marry men or women of other lineages. Ordinarily, the boys of 19-20 years old and the girls, 15-17, begin to choose their partners. After the wedding, the bride comes to live in her husband's house.

The Xtieng's costumes are generally simple. Xtieng women wear skirts and men loincloths. In winter they cover with blankets. They wear their hair long, tied in a chignon behind their heads and insert wood or ivory earrings into their earlobes or tattoo their face and body with simple motifs. The Xtieng, young and old alike, like to wear necklaces and bracelets. Even the children wear small bells around their ankles.

The Xtieng believe in animism and the mystical power of the thunder, thunderbolts, heaven, earth, the moon and the sun. White offerings such as white cocks, white pigs and white buffaloes manifest the sacredness and power of genies. The Xtieng calculate their age according to every harvest gathered from burnt-over land.

The Xtieng like music. Popular musical instruments are the six-pattern gong sets. They refrain from beating gongs outside of the houses, except in the buffalo-stabbing rite. Gongs are beaten at the rites and ceremonies and used to show someone's feelings or solve conflicts between the families. The Xtieng also like to play bamboo panpipes. At the end of the dry season, they usually fly kites.