>>Customs, practices and folk laws of “Chut” ethnos
Ta Thi Tam
Ethnology Institute
The Chut, a Viet-Muong language group, lives in Quang Binh and Ha Tinh
The Chut, which means rock cave-the shelter of the group, is divided into seven local subgroups, namely May, Ruc, Sach, A Rem, Ma Lieng, U Mo and Xo Lang. The group was also called Xa La Vang during the French rule, a contemptuous way of calling nomadic tribes.
The Chut lives mainly on nomadic farming and hunting. They also gather forest products such as arenga palm (nhuc), yam, fragrant mushroom, ear fungus and bryony.
Living on hunting, the Chut has different hunting tools, including crossbow, arrow (ordinary and poisoned), and different kinds of traps to catch monkeys, civets, foxes, porcupines, birds and mice. The group retains the collective hunting habit with the help of dogs. When catching a big animal, its meat is divided on the equality principle: the person catching or killing the animal gets the back and the remaining is equally divided to all hunters. The Chut also catches fish, using fishing rods, fishing nets and poisonous leaves.
The Chut grows rice, maize, bean and tobacco in the dry season and rice and maize in the rainy season. They sow seeds by pricking holes in the ground with a stick. They also raise buffalos and cows for plowing. The Chut community maintains mutual help in farming.
The Chut does not know how to grow cotton and weave cloth. They barter farming tools for cloth with Viet and Lao people. In the past, Chut men wear loin-cloths and women wear skirts in summer and both wear clothing made of tree bark in winter. Now they dress the same as the Viet.
Chut people live in stilt-houses. The most remarkable trait of a Chut house is its khau cut which is placed on the two ends of the roof. Khau cut is made from two bars of lo o (a kind of bamboo scientifically named bambusa procera) tied in right-angle X-letter shape. The upper half of khau cut is sharp pointed while the lower half is tied to the rafters. Khau cut is used for keeping the roof from upturning, but more importantly, it is a sign of the group.
The Chut’s residential unit is caven (village) in which lives a clan, but sometimes, members of a clan may live in different villages. A caven often places boundary markers for its farming area which is restricted to strangers. An outsider must get consent of the village head to do farming on such area.
A Chut village is headed by pucaven (village father), a prestigious old man who is experienced in farming and conversant with village customs and habits. Pucaven and old villagers as his assistants discuss and settle village affairs such as worshiping rites, harvesting ceremonies and permission for outsiders’ farming in the village area.
The Chut lives in a patriarchal family in which married sons live separately while daughters live in their husbands’ homes. The clan head takes charge of worshipping ancestors and his brother succeeds him after he dies. When the first generation of a clan all dies, the worshiping duty is passed to the second generation.
The Chut follows monogamy. Young people are free in love which is symbolized by a bundle of firewood. A bundle of firewood given to a woman implies a man’s declaration of his love to her. A man who loves a woman will keep his love secret and silently place a bundle of firewood in front of her home at night. If accepting his love, the woman’s family will use that firewood. If not, they will throw it away, but without being seen by the man. A bundle of firewood is also used as a proposal made by the groom’s family to the bride’s. Before the wedding, the groom’s family must choose a male matchmaker who has to go to the bride’s family for several times before getting their consent for the marriage. The most important wedding offering is dried monkey meat. The wedding is held at the bride’s home before she is taken to the groom’s home.
Under Chut custom, the groom does not have to live with the bride’s family. After the wedding, the couple stays in the bride’s family for five days only and then returns to the groom’s, staying there for three days. After that, the couple kowtows the groom’s parents, asking for their permission to live separately. Before moving to their own home, the couple must celebrate their kitchen in the new home, inviting all family members to this celebration. A family member absent at this ceremony is believed to get sick later. A couple with financial difficulties may live together with the husband’s family.
A Chut woman gives birth herself. Before a woman’s confinement, her husband sets up a hut in the forest for her and sometimes visits her to supply food and drinks. The woman is delivered of her child on her own. After giving birth to the child, the mother makes a fire to burn a stone and then pours water onto that stone to take a sauna. Seven days later, the husband takes his wife and baby home.
The Chut believes there are different gods, including gods of forest, stream, air and earth, of whom the god of forest is the most supreme. In a house, there stay a king and a queen of kitchen.
Community activities of the Chut include agricultural rites such as seed sowing, harvesting and god of rice worshipping ceremonies.
The Chut has a rich spiritual life, possessing original musical instruments such as dan tro bon (the most popular musical instrument of the Chut, which is a single-stringed instrument made of a big bamboo joint with a hole in the middle), jew’s harp and flute. Singing and story telling are popular community activities. The most well-known tale of the group is Mu Gia pass which tells about the creation of the world and humankind.-