Muong people's house

The flow of urbanization has penetrated into the villages of the Muong people in Tan Son district, pushing the stilt houses far into the past and into the memories of the elderly. The younger generation only knows about the lang houses and the customs that existed from the time of the lang mandarins through the legends of the village elders and chiefs. The history of lang houses, the symbol of power of the Muong people in the past, and the stories surrounding the lang houses are re-enacted through the descendants of the Muong lang lineage.

Mr. Ha Thanh Huy (left) introduces the ancient sword remaining from the time of mandarin Ha Thanh Phuc.

In the past, the Lang house was considered the center of power in the Muong region. The Lang was the leader of the region with the characteristic of "enjoying hereditary power", father to son taking turns governing the Muong region for many centuries. In July, we were led by the cultural officer of Kiet Son commune to one of the rare remaining stilt houses here. The owner of the house is Mr. Ha Thanh Huy - the fifth generation descendant of the Lang family in the Chieng Lon area. In Mr. Huy's memory, Kiet Son commune and Tan Son commune today, were once called Muong Kitt region under the governance of Lang Ha Thanh Phuc (late 19th century - early 20th century).

According to the researcher of folk culture and literature Nguyen Huu Nhan: “The Lang house has the position and role of an apparatus, a public authority headquarters to solve problems or issues arising in the Muong land. The designs and architecture of the Lang house represent the power and influence on the Muong people in the past. One of the characteristics is the lineage passed down from father to son. When wanting to establish a new village or new hamlet, people cannot elect the Lang themselves but must go to the Lang house of another region to ask a son to elect the Lang to govern that land.”

Mr. Ha Thanh Huy recalls: “The old house was very big with seven-room architecture, the main pillars were made of wood from the longevity tree and the sweet potato tree. The house stakes were not placed on stone blocks like in ordinary houses but were buried 1m to 1.2m deep in the ground. The floor was made of bamboo, the roof was covered with palm leaves”. The biggest room, also known as the root room, was where the men often sat to discuss work. Then came the rooms for guests, wives, children and servants in the house. Because of the leadership and headship of the house, the house always did everything first. For example, in the rice-planting ceremony, the female head of the house would go down to plant the first rice seedlings. After the house had finished planting, the people in the house would beat a gong and the villagers would go down to the fields to plant rice. Similar to the new rice celebration and the crop-praying ceremony, the house would harvest the rice, cook rice, burn incense and worship the ancestors before the villagers could eat.

The prosperous period of the Lang family lasted from ancient times until the French colonialists invaded. Along with the policy of ethnic assimilation, they came to the village, burned the stilt houses, ancient Chinese books, etc. The descendants of the Lang family had to bury the remaining objects. Mr. Ha Thanh Huy still kept a sword from the time of Lang mandarin Ha Thanh Phuc. The sword sheath was made of wood, carved with dragon and cloud motifs. The iron blade, although rusted, still clearly showed the winding dragon motifs. The sword is the only remaining family relic, reminding of the prosperous period of the Lang family in Muong Kit.

Mrs. Ha Thi Mien talked about the origin and history of the precious gong from the time of the mandarin.

Mrs. Ha Thi Mien (93 years old, currently living in Chieng Lon area, Kiet Son commune) is the fourth-generation daughter-in-law of the village head in Muong Kit. Mrs. Mien's family still preserves a large communal gong that is decades old. This gong is part of the ups and downs of the village head's past. Legend has it that on every important holiday, the village head beats the gong to invite people to gather and discuss common affairs. Mrs. Mien said toothlessly: "The stilt house was so dilapidated that four years ago it was demolished and replaced with a brick house. Only this precious gong remains."

Currently, Tan Son district has 739 stilt houses distributed in 17 communes. The most are in Thu Ngac commune with 230 houses, Kim Thuong 148 houses, Thu Cuc 91 houses, Xuan Son 82 houses. Along with that, the artifacts include 10 gongs, 239 cymbals, 138 duongs. The number of stilt houses and artifacts is the most vivid evidence of the rich and diverse cultural sediments of the Muong people in Tan Son land. This is a cultural space for art forms of the Muong ethnic group such as Cham Duong, Hat Vi, Hat Rang... to be performed and passed down.

Currently, Tan Son district no longer has any lang houses with the original architecture from ancient times. Over time, the houses have been repaired by descendants with new types of wood or rebuilt with solid houses. However, the legends and stories about the golden period of Muong history in the time of the old lang mandarins will still be passed down forever. This will be the motivation for the Muong ethnic people in particular and the ethnic groups in Tan Son district in general to promote the tradition of their ancestors, contributing to the development of the homeland's economy.

Thuy Trang