Lesson 4: Preserving the Mong script and the Pao throwing festival

(Baonghean) - Young people in ethnic minority communities have been deeply influenced by modern culture. However, for young Mong people, it seems that modern life has not yet had much impact on their lifestyle. Mong script, Pao throwing festival and traditional costumes are still present in their daily lives...

Like many other young people in Hop Thanh village (Xa Luong - Tuong Duong), Li Ba Chia (born in 1991) received a relatively basic education. After finishing 12th grade, Ba Chia was sent by his parents to "Vinh village" (Vinh city) to study electricity. Having a practical mind, Mr. Khu, Chia's father, chose the civil electricity profession for his son, because he thought that if he could not find a job, he could still return to serve his family and village. Many parents in this small village, less than 20km from the district center, consider their children's education very important, and the young Mong people in Hop Thanh village today no longer drop out of school as much as before. They have also had more contact with other communities, and when they go out, they are as sophisticated as the Thai and Kinh people. However, while interacting with other communities, they still recognize them through their very unique way of speaking and philosophy of life...

Pao throwing festival of Mong boys and girls.

Since he was able to read and write the national language fluently in high school, Li Ba Chia also began to be taught Mong by his parents and older people in the village. As a Mong, everyone knows that their ancestors have long known how to use the Latin alphabet to record their speech. When he returned to establish Hop Thanh village more than 20 years ago, almost all the beautiful cultural features of his life in Nam Can, Muong Long (Ky Son) were still preserved by the people. Today's young generation is also very conscious of preserving the community's culture. Young parents in the village seem to still teach their children to speak Mong, unlike other communities who let their children speak the common language right from birth. Mong is still present as an indispensable part of the modern life of young people. Li Ba Chia said that in the first days of studying away from home, when he did not have a phone, he still wrote letters to his parents in Mong. Nowadays, when mobile phones have become familiar, young people in the village still use Mong script to communicate by text messages. Mong script is easy to spread because it uses Latin letters to write sounds. Even the tones are symbolized by letters. Not only Li Ba Chia, most of the young Mong people in Tuong Duong, Ky Son, we have had the opportunity to contact can use Mong script.

For young Mong people, not only writing but also pao throwing festivals are very important in their spiritual life. Pao throwing festivals usually only take place once a year, on the occasion of Lunar New Year. In the past, when the traditional New Year of the Mong people had not been abolished, boys and girls in the communities living on the high mountains organized pao throwing around the 11th lunar month. The pao balls were sewn by Mong girls from colored cloth pieces, containing rice husks or cotton seeds inside. Nowadays, durable and beautiful tennis balls are used instead of the cloth bags. Mong boys and girls stand in two rows, boys on one side, girls on the other. The pao balls are tossed up and fly from the girls' hands to the boys' hands, then the boys throw them back. Just like that, the conversations take place animatedly. On normal days, young boys and girls feel shy when passing each other. When joining the pao throwing festival, everyone becomes confident and friendly. At first, the distance between the two rows of people throwing pao was only a few arm spans. When the conversation became more intimate, the boys took the initiative to throw the ball to shorten the distance for the girls to come closer. When the pao throwing group was about to end, the distance between them was only about an arm span and many couples had already shown that they were talking well. After parting, the young couples more or less felt reluctant to end the fun. They made an appointment to meet again the next day at another pao throwing group...

At the Pao Throwing Festival in Huoi Son village (Tam Hop Tuong Duong commune) on the occasion of the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Horse (2014), the little girl Vu Y Dia confided: Thanks to these Pao Throwing Festivals, many people have become husband and wife. Being a hard-working community, besides important holidays, most Mong boys and girls are in the fields, some are studying and working far away, the Pao Throwing Festival is a rare opportunity for boys and girls to meet and get to know each other. Thanks to that, many people have become couples!

Vu Y Dia also said that today’s Mong youth have become more “open” in their lifestyle. Most of the girls in the village have gone to school. Many people have also known about cell phones, although they have to go near the commune center to make calls. The Pao throwing festival is no longer the only way for Mong boys and girls to meet. Young people have become more proactive in contacting and finding partners. After busy days, Mong boys have also “learned” from their Thai friends, going to their girlfriends’ houses to show their sincerity.

In a recent meeting, Y Dia said she was still unmarried even though she was 20 years old and many people wanted to ask her to be their “life partner”. Not many Mong girls in the village get married so late. But for her, starting a career comes first. However, she still looks forward to the Pao throwing festival. It is an indispensable thing during the New Year and Spring.

Coming to the Thai and Khmu communities in many areas in Western Nghe An, most young people have moved away from their traditional costumes. This is also understandable, because the design of these costumes is no longer suitable for modern working life. However, for young girls in the Mong villages in Na Ngoi (Ky Son), Mong costumes still appear when going to the fields. Lau Y Mi is one of the young girls living in Ka Duoi village, who often wears Mong costumes in daily life. In her spare time, Y Mi embroiders baby carriers so that when she returns to her husband's house, she can use them to carry her children or give them as gifts to married people in her family.

As for the young teacher Vu Y Mai (Muong Long - Ky Son) whom we met in a Mong class in Muong Xen Town, a person with a rather modern lifestyle, the Mong skirt is still very necessary. She said that, outside of class or participating in social activities that require dynamism, she still dresses like young people from the lowlands. But when she returns to her village, she still likes to wear the Mong skirt...

Living in a united community and still more or less isolated culturally, the young Mong people in the highlands today still retain the basic cultural features of their people. For them, the issue of preserving their indigenous cultural identity is not as urgent as it is for the young people of other ethnic minority communities in the highlands of Nghe An!

Article and photos:You Wei