>>The customary law of “Mang” ethnos
Ta Thi Tam
Ethnology Institute
The Mang, a Mon-Khmer language group, lives in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau with a population of 3,700.
The Mang, also called Mang U, Xa Mang Nieng O, Xa Ba O, Xa O and Xa Mang, lives mainly on nomadic swidden cultivation in combination with forest product picking and animal breeding. The group has recently used water for rice cultivation in terraced fields.
The Mang residential unit is village, each having around 15-20 houses lying on a flat area on the top or the side of a hill or near a water source. A village is led by ta muy, an apparatus managing the village’s social, religious and customs-related affairs, and P’la muy (old villager) council.
In the old days, a Mang community was headed by Pogia (headman) and Mon Dam (family line head) council, which governed all social and religious affairs of the community. This social organization was later broken up under the Thai’s domination.
The Mang has five main family lines, each of which has its own totem. They are namely To o or Pan, which worships dotted dove; To giuang or Chinh with phalarope as its totem; To lot or Nung with snake; Van Nenh or Eng with tiger; and Van No with crow. Mang clans strictly follow exogamy. Mon Dam, the oldest person conversant with customs, is the spiritual leader of the clan.
Mang patriarchal families have 10-30 members of three or four generations living together. In a Mang family, a daughter-in-law is supposed to neither enter her father- or brother-in-law’s room nor give something directly to him but through a third person.
A Mang traditional stilt house is characterized by two big rectangular roofs and two entrance doors at the two gables.
Mang women wear a costume with two main parts. The upper part is a long-sleeve close-fitting blouse halfway of the back decorated with silver or brass buttons and colorful stitches, which is worn together with a thin undershirt. The lower part is a black ankle-length skirt (sa hin) wound around the body in two or three layers. They wear this costume together with a white scarf with colorful patterns, which is put around their body from the chest to the knees. Young girls often roll their hair high with pang xe nang (ribbon) decorated with threads attached with colorful beads. Their jewelry includes ma toong (bracelet), ma toong lo (necklace) and ma leo (ring).
Mang men and women are free to choose their partners. Before a wedding is ha chu po cha (engagement ceremony) in which the groom’s family comes to the bride’s with three matchmakers (two men and one woman), bringing offerings to ask for permission for the marriage. Ha chu po cha is held in September or October after a harvest. The groom’s family has to carefully select the date for ha chu po cha, which must be a good day and not fall on the date of death of the groom’s parents or his date of birth. On the way to the bride’s, if the groom’s family meets a snake or hears the howl of a muntjac, they must return and ask a sorcerer to select another time. Before entering the bride’s house, the groom’s family has to ask if her family has any taboo. If not, the two male matchmakers will enter the main door to talk with the bride’s father while the female matchmaker enters the other door to meet the bride’s mother.
A Mang wedding, held in three days, is covered by the groom’s family, which also has to give the bride’s family a sum called lo cha or chang ha as recompense. After having meal, the two families pretend to fight with each other over the bride.
After the wedding, the groom may live with the bride’s family permanently or for three years. After three years, the groom’s family must hold a ceremony, asking for permission from on hi (the bride’s parents) to take their chang man (daughter-in-law) home. Twelve days after this ceremony, the groom has to offer a chicken and rice to his parents-in-law to show his gratitude.
A Mang funeral undergoes complicated formalities. Sacrificed animals for the funeral must be killed by beating them to death with a stick, which should be placed by the coffin in the belief that the dead will bring it to the other world.
Mang people do not eat food offered to the dead. When worshiping the dead, family members are not allowed to have meal with chopsticks but their hands because such act, implying that the living shows contempt for the dead, will hurt the dead, who will return home and take away other family members.
The Mang has the custom to build a tomb for the dead who is buried with such articles as knife, lighter, hoe and clothes put in a basket. The dead is also given a silver coin cut into five pieces as fares for him to cross a river before he can meet his ancestors in heaven.
After a funeral, all attendants must take a bath and wash their clothes. After that, a sorcerer is invited to conduct a ceremony to see off the dead’s soul to heaven. The Mang does not have the exhumation ritual. The day after the funeral, family members bring firewood, water and food for the dead. The group has the taboo to rebuild a tomb because such building is believed to make other family members die. They do not set up an altar to worship the dead either. Only when the family has an affair, members will visit the tomb, bringing offerings to the dead.
The Mang retains some primitive beliefs such as growing ginger and citronella on terraced fields, worshiping the rice spirit and mother and conducting pre-crop and post-harvest rituals.