Changes of the O Du people - the smallest ethnic minority community in Vietnam

Preserving cultural identity

The first impression when arriving at Vang Mon village now is the peace with clean, airy concrete roads, houses nestled under the shade of green trees. Following Ms. Luong Thi Ngoc - President of the Women's Union of Nga My commune, we visited the house of Ms. Vi Thi Dung (born in 1947), a 56-year Party member.

Seeing a visitor, the woman with rosy skin and bright eyes who was diligently weaving on a shiny brown loom placed right in front of the house quickly stopped and smiled warmly: "I'm just worried that my children and grandchildren will not be aware of the value and importance of the national cultural identity, and will no longer know the customs and practices of the O Du people. Therefore, while I'm still healthy, I take advantage of weaving and embroidering dresses, both to support my children's income and to contribute to preserving the traditional culture of the O Du people."

It is known that on average, Ms. Dung makes 1 set of O Du dress (shirt, skirt and belt) every week, depending on the fabric, it will be sold for 100 thousand to 1 million VND. According to her: "O Du dress patterns are simple, not as elaborate as Thai dress, usually just geometric shapes and rarely embroidered with flowers and leaves".

Currently, in Vang Mon village, in addition to Ms. Vi Thi Dung, there are also some people who can make O Du skirts such as Ms. Lo Thi Nga, Ms. Luong Thi Hong... Worried that the ethnic identity is gradually fading away, Ms. Dung often reminds the Women's Association of the village to pass on the craft to the younger generation. In addition to sewing O Du skirts, Vang Mon women also embroider Thai skirts to order to increase their income.

Ms. Oc Thi Thi, Mrs. Dung's neighbor, said: "Embroidering skirts for Thai people is faster and brings in higher income, but Mrs. Dung often reminds women in the village to preserve the O Du ethnic identity, so we often teach our children to wear O Du costumes on important occasions and to know how to embroider ethnic costumes."

In the story we learned, Ms. Vi Thi Dung's mother was O Du, her father was Thai, her husband was Mr. Lo Hong Phong - a former leader of Kim Da commune, so he had progressive thoughts and always created conditions for his wife to participate in social activities. Therefore, Ms. Dung was admitted to the Party when she was 20 years old, at the time she was the Head of the Women's Association of Kim Hoa village, Kim Da commune.

Joining the Party early and being enlightened about the role and responsibility of a Party member, Mrs. Dung not only tried to fulfill her work in the village but also became a solid support for her husband to successfully complete his social tasks.

“In the past, the O Du people were also called Tay Hat (in Thai, Hat means ragged) and lived a nomadic life of hardship. Thanks to the attention of the Party and the State, the O Du people have a new name that they still have today (in Thai, O Du or O Du, ỵ Du means love, pity, and pity),” Ms. Dung recalled.

Previously, the O Du people lived along the banks of the Nam Non and Nam Mo rivers, scattered in Kim Hoa and Kim Tien villages (Kim Da commune), Ta Xieng village (Kim Tien commune), Xieng Huong village (Xa Luong commune). In 2006, implementing the policy of relocating people to serve the Ban Ve Hydropower Project, the O Du people had a historic migration, giving up their old hometown for the project of building the Hydropower Plant to live concentratedly in Vang Mon village, Nga My commune. She also followed her husband's family to the new land, at that time her husband, Mr. Lo Hong Phong, was trusted to be the Secretary of the Party Cell of the new Vang Mon village.

Through many difficulties and ups and downs, with the help of the Party, State, Party committees and authorities at all levels and the pioneering and exemplary role of Party members, the people of O Du have gradually risen up to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and stabilize their lives.

When moving to their new home, the O Du people in Vang Mon village also pay special attention to preserving the traditional culture of their people. The elders in the village often try to "separate the turbid and bring out the clear", passing on to their descendants the customs and practices of their people in daily life, in weddings and funerals; women teach their children to weave and sew O Du costumes, men teach their children to preserve and conserve musical instruments, utensils, and traditional items of the people...

Although today, in Vang Mon village, there are only a few people who can speak the O Du language fluently, some customs are still maintained, such as the festival to welcome the first thunder of the new year (the O Du people often count the time of the year starting from the day of the first thunder), held around the second to third lunar months.

According to Mr. Lo Van Tinh - Secretary of the Vang Mon village Party Cell: "Previously, the ceremony to welcome the first thunder of the year was mainly organized by households, but now the village organizes it to preserve the cultural identity of the O Du people. After the worship in the O Du language by shaman Lo Van Cuong - a prestigious person in the village, comes the part of cultural exchange, performing arts, and enjoying cuisine.

In the New Year's prayer, the O Du people often pray to their ancestors, heaven and earth, mountain gods, and forest gods for favorable rain and wind for a good harvest in their rice and corn fields, good health for everyone, and many children. The New Year's offering tray of the O Du people often includes mountain and forest products such as rat meat, squirrel meat, bamboo-tube rice or sticky rice in three colors: black, purple, and white, sticky rice wine, grilled fish, etc. to offer to the sacred beings who have fed the O Du ancestors for generations. In the past, to get these products, O Du men and women had to go into the forest to hunt, catch, chop, and pick them to offer to their ancestors. Nowadays, the offering tray has changed a lot to suit the new life.

According to the sharing of the elderly O Du people in Vang Mon village: In recent years, the policies and guidelines issued and implemented by the Party and the State have made an important contribution to preserving and promoting the identity of ethnic minorities, including the O Du community. Currently, the O Du people in Vang Mon village have invested in looms to develop the traditional weaving profession; opened O Du language courses; built a spacious and beautiful community cultural house with loudspeaker equipment, supporting the village's art troupe to operate enthusiastically.

Change thinking and way of doing

Taking us to visit some economic models, Village Chief Luong Thi Lan - a Thai bride who married into Vang Mon village happily said: The whole village currently has 107 households, 455 people, with the favor of support programs and policies of the Party and State, the attention of local authorities, the people of Vang Mon village have gradually felt secure in working, producing and joining hands to build the village, the village is changing day by day.

Initially, when they moved to their new place, the O Du people still maintained their old farming and production methods, but through the propaganda work of "slow and steady wins the race" and the "hand-holding and guidance" of departments, branches and organizations at all levels, the O Du people have had many changes in their thinking and working habits.

Instead of grazing cattle in the forest, people have kept them in concentrated cages and grown elephant grass and milkweed as animal feed. Some households have built economic models for stable income such as: Mr. Lo Van Tien's household with a scale of 30 buffaloes and cows, planting forests, growing crops, growing cassava, combined with opening a sawmill to serve the needs of people in the area; the black pig raising model of Ms. Lo Thi Nga and her husband (raising about 50 pigs a year), selling them once every 3-5 months, deducting expenses for an average income of about 60-70 million VND/year. "In addition to raising pigs, my family also grows 1 hectare of acacia, raises buffaloes and cows, at the most there are 15 pigs" - Ms. Lo Thi Nga said.

To encourage and motivate people to gradually overcome the mindset of waiting and relying on others, and strive to overcome hunger and reduce poverty, many party members and village and hamlet cadres have set an example in production and livestock farming. For example, the family of party member Lo Van Tuan - a village health officer with a model of growing and raising livestock (pigs, cows, goats); the family of Village Chief Luong Thi Lan, whose husband is the Head of the Commune Health Station, still raises 8 buffaloes, grows 1 hectare of acacia, and grows fruit trees to increase income. According to Village Chief Luong Thi Lan, to support O Du people in developing livestock farming, in 2022, the Nga My Commune Farmers' Association launched the Vang Mon Village Cattle Breeding Professional Association with 10 members.

The purpose of establishing this association is to change the mindset in animal husbandry, increase production value, increase income; create conditions for connecting members to support and help each other, share experiences and good practices in production activities, contributing to sustainable hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

It is known that this is the first professional association for breeding cows in Nga My commune. At the same time, the Nga My commune Party Committee assigned Party members who are agricultural cadres of the commune to participate in Party activities at the Vang Mon village Party Cell to support the Party Cell in leading villages and hamlets to promote the development of cultivation and livestock farming. In addition to implementing solutions to promote socio-economic development, the Nga My commune Party Committee also pays attention to the work of consolidating and improving the quality of activities of the political system, especially the Party Cell - the core of leadership of the O Du people in Vang Mon village.

According to Ms. Luong Thi Ngoc - Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Nga My Commune, assigned by the Party Executive Committee of the Commune to participate in activities at the Vang Mon Village Party Cell, the Party Cell has 22 members, including 2 commune officials and civil servants participating in activities. Not only are they exemplary in preserving cultural and spiritual values, but the Party members in the cell also take care of economic development, raise their children to be successful in their studies, and build a happy and sustainable family.

A typical example is party member Lo Van Cuong (born in 1964), a prestigious person in the village. Whenever there is a wedding, funeral or work related to the customs of the O Du people in the village, Mr. Cuong is the one who directly guides and instructs his children to follow the customs correctly. He also actively encourages people in the village to comply with the Party's policies, the State's policies and laws, and strives to escape poverty sustainably. Mr. Cuong's family is also a studious O Du family, both children have stable jobs (the eldest daughter Lo Thi Dan, born in 1990, is currently the Deputy Head of the Nga My Commune Health Station, the second son Lo Van Hang, born in 1993, is currently a police officer in Tam Thai Commune).

Or the family of Party Cell Secretary Lo Van Tinh (62 years old), whose son graduated from Hai Phong Medical University and is currently the Head of Yen Tinh Commune Health Station; his daughter-in-law is working at Tuong Duong District Health Center, both of whom are party members. Although Mr. Tinh and his wife are old, they still raise 7 buffaloes, cows, pigs, chickens and open a small grocery store to stabilize their economy. In general, since moving to resettle in Vang Mon village, the O Du people have paid more attention to their children's education. Currently, the school attendance rate of O Du children has reached 100%.

According to local leaders, in Vang Mon village, many O Du people have graduated from university, college, and intermediate school, and 13 people have been assigned stable jobs in state agencies such as doctors, police, and commune officials...

In the story interspersed with memories of the past and present, Party Cell Secretary (also former Head of Vang Mon village) Lo Van Tinh expressed: There are still many difficulties and hardships; the whole village still has 56 poor households, without fields, so many of their children go far away to work.

However, compared to before, the life of the O Du people has changed a lot. Hopefully, with the attention and investment of the Party and the State, of the Party committees and authorities at all levels and the efforts of each person... the O Du community in Vang Mon village will increasingly develop, contributing to the diversity and rich identity of the culture of the Vietnamese ethnic groups.