Nestled between the eastern and western Trường Sơn mountain ranges are villages and hamlets inhabited mostly by the Pa Kô and Tà Ôi people, renowned for generations for their revolutionary traditions. Their soul is embodied in the longhouse – a sacred symbol of mutual support, protection, and the bond between descendants and clans in their struggle for survival alongside the nation.
The longhouse tells stories...
Ho Miet, a young man from Ka Ku village, A Luoi 1 commune, led us to spend the night in the village's longhouse. Miet recounted many stories related to the origins of his people. In fact, the Pa Ko and Ta Oi people are the same ethnic minority, living mostly along the border between Vietnam and Laos. Therefore, since ancient times, the Ta Oi people have held citizenship in whichever country they resided and worked in.
In the A Lưới region in general, there are many ethnic groups such as the Pa Kô, Tà Ôi, Pa Hy, and Cơ Tu living together in scattered villages. They share similar farming practices, clothing, jewelry, and some other characteristics, but each ethnic group has its own independent language. The language reflects the distinct differences between each ethnic group.
Miết is a younger generation, but he has heard many stories from his elders about the customs, traditions, and beliefs of his people that have existed for generations. According to Miết, the villages of the Pa Kô people in the past were different from now. They usually consisted of only 5 to 10 long houses built of wood, bamboo, and reeds, roofed with palm leaves or thatch. These were families belonging to relatives on both sides of the family, with no outsiders present. However, over time, this changed, and households not belonging to the same lineage were allowed to live together.
From the outside, the longhouses are very similar in design, as they are built in a rectangular shape, in the style of stilt houses, with a width of 4-6 meters and a length of 30-50 meters or even more depending on the number of families.
Poor families built simple houses using materials gathered from the forest, while wealthier families built elaborate, stylish houses entirely of rare and precious wood, with intricate carvings in some parts. Most longhouses were divided into two main sections: the central section, which housed the largest fireplace for cooking, worship, and traditional rituals, and served as the living space for all members of the extended family.
Next are the living quarters of each small family, starting with the grandparents' quarters, then the parents', children's, grandchildren's, and so on, according to their seniority. Each living quarters has a separate fireplace and separate furnishings, so it's obvious that the people in each quarter eat separately. However, this way of living has changed considerably today.
The houses are about 5-6 meters high from the floor to the roof, making them very airy and cool all year round. Many long houses weren't originally built to be very long, but over time, as the children grew up and got married, they had to be extended to provide enough living space.
The Pa Kô villages are mostly located at the foot of the mountains, near streams, because in the past they used to raise elephants to transport forest products. Now, elephants are rarely seen, and occasionally, longhouses built from cement, reinforced steel, and tile or corrugated iron roofs appear, somewhat diminishing the image of the ancient longhouse.
Preserve the sacred fire and the spirit of the mountain.
The spiritual and religious culture of the Pa Kô people is also reflected in their rich and diverse festivals. The Aza worship ceremony is a prayer for divine blessings to ensure peace for the villagers, that the hearths in each longhouse always burn brightly, and that the rice and potatoes in the fields yield abundant harvests. This is considered the biggest festival of the Pa Kô people, also known as the New Rice Festival.
To prepare for this most important ceremony, the villagers gathered to pound sticky rice, cook the finest dishes, and the women and girls dressed in vibrant skirts and sarongs to show their devotion to the sacred spirits. To achieve this wish, they absolutely had to perform the Pul Boh ceremony, also known as the ceremony to protect the fields, praying for the spirits to guard and ward off evil animals that might destroy the crops.
The Pa Kô people have a very distinctive custom called "xây piêng" (building pieng). When a family member dies, they are buried normally, but after 3 to 5 years, the graves are exhumed, the remains are placed in earthenware sarcophagi and moved to a suitable location to be left exposed, rather than being reburied.
The wedding customs of the Pa Kô people also have their own unique characteristics. When children reach marriageable age and fall in love, the groom's family must prepare money, gold, cattle, pigs, and wine; while the bride's family must provide zèng (brocade fabric) and Alơơ mats for the wedding...
As the sun slanted in the west, casting a pale golden carpet of light over the orchards and patches of grass, we left A Lưới. After two and a half hours, the once small town of Prao, now Đông Giang commune in Da Nang , appeared before our eyes. My friend sitting next to me laughed and exclaimed, "We're home!" but everyone understood that we still had over 80 kilometers to go before reaching… the Han River.
Source: https://baodanang.vn/nguoi-pa-ko-duoi-bong-nha-dai-3308947.html
