Legend of the turtle and the Thai stilt house

(Baonghean.vn) - The Thai people believe that the turtle taught them how to build stilt houses. Activities such as going into the forest to choose pillars, building and roofing the stilt house are all carefully chosen on the date and time.

Stilt houses of the Thai people in Xop Tu village, My Ly commune (Ky Son). Photo: Huu Vi

Many other ethnic groups such as Tay, Nung, Cao Lan, Kho Mu, Tho… also live in stilt houses. However, stilt houses are considered a specialty of the Thai people.with them, the stilt house is not only a place to live but also a spiritual and cultural space, associated with spiritual activities.

The Thai people in Nghe An often live in villages of different sizes along rivers and streams. The stilt houses leaning against the mountains, next to the clear streams are easy to see when coming to Thai villages.

Since ancient times, stilt houses have been a living space and a place for spiritual activities and beliefs of the Thai people. Photo: Ho Phuong

The Thai people have a legend about stilt houses that says: In the past, people were always afraid of wild animals. They had to eat in caves, live in hollows and always run away from tigers and leopards. During one such escape, a person accidentally saved a turtle in distress. To repay the person, the turtle immediately said: "To avoid wild animals, look at my body and build a house."

The man went back to discuss with the village how to imitate the shape of a turtle to build a house. They discussed cutting wood to make pillars to imitate the turtle's feet. The bamboo floor was the turtle's belly. The turtle's shell was the roof. Since having a house, people were no longer afraid of tigers and leopards.

Stilt houses are communal structures. An individual or a family cannot build a stilt house. First, family members and clans gather together and decide where to build the house. The house is usually not too far from other houses in the village. This is a way of living together to protect against wild animals.

Whether it is a modern architectural style or a renovation, a stilt house is a communal structure. A single family or individual cannot build a stilt house. Photo: Ho Phuong (TL)

Next, a shaman, or at least someone who knows how to read the time in the family, will decide the day to go into the forest to cut trees to make house pillars. According to the experience of the Thai people in Con Cuong district, that day is usually a “light” and “thin” day. These days are called “Kim xa” or “Kim coong”. These are days with different names in the Thai calendar. According to this calendar, each week has 8 days. Currently, this calendar is only used to know good and bad days according to the concept of the Thai community.

The pillars for the house must be made of good wood, durable over time, sun and rain, and not susceptible to termites. Precious woods such as sen, trai, lim, tau used to be precious woods that were both durable and strong and were often used to make pillars. In addition, cho and da huong wood are also good choices, although they are soft woods but are durable over time.

People build stilt houses in Xieng Tam village, My Ly commune (Ky Son). Photo: Huu Vi

Small stilt houses of newly-wed families usually only take a few days to gather wood, bamboo, and palm leaves to have enough materials. However, large stilt houses often require a large amount of wood, so many families spend years just to have enough wood to build a house.

The first day to go out and pull wood to build a house is also chosen the same as the day to start choosing pillars to build a house. After gathering enough wood, people start clearing wood to start building the stilt house. The day to clear wood is usually chosen on the first or second day in a cycle of 12 days. Every 12 days are counted again, so the 13th and 26th of the lunar month become the first day according to this calculation.

Roofing a stilt house in Western Nghe An. Photo: Ho Phuong (TL)

The date and time for building and roofing the house are also chosen quite carefully. In addition to being an auspicious day, it must not coincide with the death anniversary of the homeowner's father or mother. Thai people do not have the custom of celebrating death anniversaries, but they never build a house or plant crops on the death anniversary of their parents. The roofing day is also often the day to celebrate the new house. Nowadays, Thai people also call it the house inauguration like the Kinh people.

Traditional Thai villages are often located on the side of a mountain, so they are often not arranged in rows. Nowadays, many villages are planned like rows of streets. However, when building a house, she still tries to avoid having her house's upper floor aligned with another house. They also do not orient their houses towards the mountain like the O Du people do.

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