Visiting Truong Son village in the border commune of Nam Can, where 305 households of 8 large Mong ethnic groups live, asking the village elder - a prestigious person Lau Ga Long - about the changes in implementing the new cultural lifestyle according to the conventions and village rules of the village, he frankly answered "most clearly in the weddings and funerals of our Mong people". Having said that, the "big tree" of Truong Son village gave an example: In the past, for example, if the parents died and the family had many sons, they had to slaughter that many cows, which was very expensive. Now, according to the conventions and village rules, we are frugal and only slaughter one cow. Or for weddings, the village rules clearly state "no dowry, no son-in-law living with the wife... no playing loudspeakers, music tapes or CDs after 10pm and before 6am".
The same goes for celebrating Tet, just a few years ago, there were two Tets. “Early Tet is about a month before Lunar New Year, lasting about 10 days, also includes slaughtering cows, pigs, and having fun, but this time coincides with the year-end rice harvest, so people have a hard time. Now, the Mong people only celebrate the traditional Tet of their people” – Secretary of the Party Cell of Truong Son village Lau Ba Tu happily said.
In fact, in the customs of the Mong people in Ky Son, there are still some backward customs, especially in weddings and funerals such as: Shooting a gun to announce when someone dies; the dead are not put into the coffin immediately but left lying on a stretcher symbolizing the horse that takes the dead back to their ancestors; killing many livestock and poultry is also costly and wasteful. The custom of leaving the dead in the house for a long time (from 3 days or more). Because the Mong people's concept is not to bury the deceased on the same day (overlapping funeral) with someone who died before in the family; leaving it for a long time to wait for children who work far away, get married far away to come back to pay their respects before burying. The burial place is chosen by the family and the clan, because from ancient times until now, many villages still do not have a centralized cemetery or have one but do not implement it. In reality, in marriage, there are still phenomena of early marriage and incestuous marriage; in some places, the rituals before, during and after the wedding are still cumbersome and backward. Therefore, in some clans in villages, there have been innovations to shorten some steps in weddings and funerals, gradually eliminating unnecessary backward customs to build a civilized and cultural lifestyle.
Typically, the Tho clan in Huoi Vieng village, Dooc May commune has agreed to draft its own convention with specific regulations on the responsibilities of households in the clan. For example, regarding weddings, the Tho clan convention has agreed to: Eliminate the practice of "kneeling" to pay respect to parents and siblings towards the groom's family members who come to inform them when the young people get married. Abolish procedures such as: Singing wedding customs; rounds of wine after the masters of ceremonies (matchmakers representing both sides) have discussed and agreed on initial views on everything. The naming ceremony for the son-in-law, instead of making 3 large pigs, now only needs to make 1 pig weighing no more than 50 kg. In particular, the Tho clan convention strictly prohibits early marriage, incestuous marriage, forced marriage, or taking a wife without the consent of the other party.
Regarding funerals, the Tho clan convention stipulates the abolition of the custom of firing a gun to announce a death; the custom of leaving the deceased in the house for a long time (3 days or more) because it is not suitable with the new cultural lifestyle regulations, affecting environmental hygiene and the health of relatives in the house and clan. The funeral time is shortened to no more than 24 hours. The custom of organizing a lavish meal at the family where the deceased has died is also abolished, because according to the explanation of the Tho Chong Long clan leader: "The mentality of descendants is that the more livestock and poultry they slaughter, the more they show their filial piety to the deceased, but most families are poor, so the cost of the funeral is always a burden for poor households that unfortunately have a death". Now each funeral is only allowed to slaughter 1 cow (even for families with good economic conditions). In addition, some other inappropriate and costly customs were also eliminated, such as the custom of the dead blessing their descendants, the custom of inviting all heads of relevant departments to sit together to perform some rituals for 5-7 hours, or the custom of performing widespread flute and drum songs was also shortened, removing unnecessary songs...
According to Mr. Tho Ba Re - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ky Son district, the initiator and leader in eliminating backward customs in weddings and funerals of the Tho family in Huoi Vieng commune, it took 5-6 months of persistent persuasion, starting from the head of the family to prestigious people in the family, to get their consent to change some things that were no longer appropriate. “The difficulty is that our family is inter-related with other families, so there are many procedures in weddings and funerals that we want to reduce, but the other side may not agree. That is why there is a regulation that the customs and practices of the family must be unified, comply with the unified organization and implementation, and manage according to the hierarchy left by our ancestors. Family members and family members are responsible for propagating and disseminating the content of this Convention to all relatives in the family (paternal and maternal sides) to clearly understand the nature of the problem so that they can gradually agree to implement it effectively. Cadres, party members, and family leaders must be exemplary pioneers in implementing this Convention in order to build a cultural lifestyle, a cultural family, and contribute to building a cultural and civilized village in weddings and funerals,” said Mr. Tho Ba Re.
In many Mong villages in the highlands of Ky Son, village rules and regulations not only help eliminate backwardness, but also push back evil, push back social evils, resolve disputes or minor violations among the people, manage and protect forests... bringing people to a new life of warmth and happiness. A typical example is in Xam Xum village - one of the particularly difficult villages of Muong Long commune, which was previously considered a painful "hot spot" for drug trafficking and use, causing people's lives to fall into a vicious cycle of poverty.
Faced with that situation, the People's Committee of Muong Long commune issued a decision to promulgate a village convention with its own convention, including 13 contents with strict regulations; at the same time, it required the Party Cell, the Management Board and the organizations in the village, together with the Police, the Cultural Board, the Fatherland Front and the political organizations at the commune level to mobilize people to unite and unify the implementation of the set regulations. Since then, Xam Xum has begun to change, in each house, the slogans on drug prevention and control have been hung up by the people and seriously implemented. Or in Mong Phu Kha 1 village, Na Ngoi commune, recently, some gullible people, who were lured and incited by bad people, participated in illegal religious activities, causing resentment in the clan, disrupting the security situation in the village. Along with the An Dan model, the Ky Son District Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Committee coordinated with the District Military Command, Na Ngoi Border Guard Station, and Na Ngoi Commune Party Committee, Pu Kha 1 village also built its own village covenant and internal regulations with 12 specific provisions. In particular, promoting the spirit of neighborhood solidarity, mobilizing family members to comply with the law and village covenant, not participating in social evils, not listening to bad propaganda, not following other religions but only following the long-standing beliefs and customs of the Mong people. It is strictly forbidden to introduce other customs and religions to the people, affecting the fine traditions of the nation; causing disunity, disorder, and insecurity in the village.
According to the Secretary of Phu Kha 1 Village Party Cell, Vu Ba Tong: The village's convention with specific, concise, easy-to-remember, and easy-to-understand provisions is posted on the door of each family so that everyone can remember and not violate it. Now, individuals and households have voluntarily pledged to give up participating in illegal activities and proselytizing, return to traditional customs, worship ancestors, and unite with the villagers to build a new life.
In general, ethnic minorities in Ky Son in general, and Mong people in particular, have long formed village conventions for each village, and all members voluntarily implement them. Those who violate village conventions and regulations when punished by the village or commune must comply, and there are few cases of resistance. Village conventions and regulations have a comprehensive effect, but most clearly in protecting national border security, shown in the following aspects: Regulations on border crossings to visit relatives must ask permission from the authorities and Border Guard Station; respect the laws of neighboring countries; do not buy, sell or exchange prohibited goods such as weapons, drugs, human trafficking; do not harbor strangers in the house, in the village...
According to Dr. Hoang Xuan Luong - Former Deputy Minister, Vice Chairman of the Ethnic Committee, "The social management model based on clan and family relationships, the prestige of clan leaders and village elders demonstrates the ability to manage and operate society of the Mong people. The Mong people's customary law system is quite comprehensive with many reasonable points, especially in the fields of forest protection, water resources, security conventions, and building village relationships". Therefore, if we know how to "filter out the muddy and bring out the clear", it will be effective in building self-governing institutions, effectively supporting the law in regulating social relations in residential communities.
It is known that currently, Ky Son district is also directing the development of a project to propagate and mobilize the implementation of reform and simplification of customs and practices in weddings and funerals of Mong ethnic people in Ky Son district until 2030 and the following years in 75 villages in related communes. From there, it will gradually be expanded to other ethnic communities in the district.