Discovering the Mong community in Western Nghe An - Lesson 8: Taboos

(Baonghean) - Each Mong clan has its own taboos originating from stories that happened in their clan from ancient times. From there, a unique trait is formed that is passed down from generation to generation to educate descendants not to commit those taboos.

The main column and the staircase

One evening, we were sitting in Mr. Va Xenh Lu's house in Tham Hin village (Nam Can commune), when we suddenly saw a small house pillar lying right in the middle of the house, looking like it was about to break. The pillar was only as big as a fist, but Mr. Xenh Lu had stuck it on a Mong people's worship paper. Curious, I was about to approach the pillar to touch it, but the homeowner stopped me: "Although this pillar is small, it is the main pillar in our Mong people's house. Outside guests are not allowed to touch it. This is the most taboo thing of the Mong people, it is the same for all families." Mr. Xenh Lu's warning startled us, it turned out that such seemingly ordinary objects have such great significance in the spiritual life of the Mong people.

Mr. Va Xenh Lu said: The main pillar is the place where the souls of the Mong ancestors reside, so no one other than the homeowner is allowed to touch it. Even children or women in the family, if they accidentally hit the main pillar, must burn incense, slaughter a pig or chicken to make an offering to their grandparents and ancestors to ask for forgiveness for that disrespectful action. Therefore, regardless of who is an outsider, if they hit the main pillar or the altar, they must be punished according to the rules of the family and clan. Mr. Xenh Lu also added that the pillars or any place in the Mong house can be nailed, but the main pillar must be inviolable. The Mong people have the biggest taboo of insulting their ancestors by hitting the main pillar or the altar.

The main pillar in Mr. Va Lia Nhenh's house in Nam Can commune (Ky Son).

With the little we knew, we went to the house of the Secretary of Nam Can Commune - Va Lia Nenh. Having been the Secretary of the Commune for more than 10 years, he is still a simple Mong with very unique features that only the Va family has. Through the story, Mr. Va Lia Nenh told us that, in addition to the taboo about the main pillar and the altar, his Va family has many other taboos compared to other Mong families in this area.

The story goes that, long ago, in the Va family, there was a family that married a very beautiful daughter-in-law. At first, everything went smoothly, they lived together happily like any other Mong family. But after a while, feelings arose between the father-in-law and the beautiful daughter-in-law. And what had to happen happened. One day, when everyone in the family was out on the farm, only the father-in-law and daughter-in-law were at home. They invited each other to the attic above the house to commit incest, destroying the good morals of the Va family for generations.

The incident happened so many times that the father-in-law's sister became suspicious and discovered it. From then on, the family had a custom of avoiding daughters-in-law in the family. They were never allowed to step foot on the stairs to the attic in the house and were not allowed to enter the parents-in-law's bedroom. The father-in-law was also not allowed to set foot in the daughter-in-law's bedroom. Anyone who violated this rule would be blinded.

Mountain berries and animal hearts

In the series of stories told by Mr. Lia Nhenh, we found an interesting thing about the eating habits of the Va family. Mr. Lia Nhenh said that the Va family can eat anything when hungry to survive, but no matter how hungry they are, they will never eat one thing, which is the sour fruit in the forest. Anyone in the Va family who accidentally eats this fruit will vomit and have to wait several days before they can eat rice again. If they deliberately eat this fruit, they will go blind in both eyes.

I don't know if this taboo is true for all the Mong people of the Va family, but the story that Mr. Lia Nhenh told us is really interesting. The story goes: One year, there was a drought, crop failure and famine occurred everywhere. The Va family also suffered the same fate, so everyone went into the forest to find anything to fight the hunger. There was a father and daughter of the Va family who wandered in the forest for two days without finding anything to eat. While walking, the daughter suddenly cried out: "No chi, no chi" (eat sour fruit, eat sour fruit). But ironically, in the midst of hunger, the father was terrified and thought, is it because my daughter is so hungry that she wants to eat me? (In the Mong language, "chi" means father, and "chi" is a type of sour fruit in the forest, the pronunciation is similar). After thinking, he turned back and took a piece of wood from the roadside and beat his poor daughter to death.

After his daughter died, he looked up to the sky and lamented his unfortunate fate. But he did not expect that above his head was a bunch of ripe, delicious sour fruits. He understood that he had murdered his innocent child. When he returned home, he knelt down before his relatives to ask for punishment. But knowing that he was wrong, and also having suffered too much punishment from the court of conscience, everyone sympathized and forgave him. But from then on, the Va family had a rule during meals that one must never eat sour fruits from the forest.

We entered Na Ngoi, crossed the winding small road to Huoi Xai village, where the Gia family lives. Here, we heard the descendants of the Gia family say that, under any circumstances, the Gia family never eats animal hearts. According to the village chief Gia Ba Bi, the hardest part is when going to feasts in other places. The elderly can taste a little or smell the food to know whether it contains animal hearts or not, so they can avoid it, but it is very difficult for young people to distinguish. If any Gia family member accidentally eats an animal heart, they will vomit and after a few days they will only be able to drink water but not eat rice. Therefore, the Gia family is very afraid of eating and drinking with other families.

To find out the underlying cause of this, we heard the following story from Gia Ba Bi: In the past, when the Gia family was still settled in the land of China, life was prosperous so the people in the family often held worship ceremonies to thank their ancestors. One day, the Gia family held a ceremony, the whole family slaughtered a very large buffalo. Normally, when offering, they took the internal organs (except the intestines and stomach) of the animal and offered them to the altar. However, when they put the buffalo's heart in the pot to cook, they mixed it with the other parts, so when they offered it, they found that a piece was missing. Suspecting that the child standing near the pot took it to eat, the whole family was angry because the child dared to offend the grandparents and ancestors of the Gia family. Everyone discussed killing the child to take the heart to offer, replacing the lost buffalo's heart. But when the child was killed, one of the family members cried out in panic: "The heart is here, the heart is here". It turned out that the piece of buffalo heart was at the bottom of the pot so they couldn't see it, and so the child died unjustly. The whole Gia family was ashamed, no one could say a word. They gathered together and declared that from now on, no one in the Gia family was allowed to eat animal hearts, and anyone who broke the taboo would be blinded in both eyes.

This story is similar to the story we heard about the Ly family in Muong Long. The only difference is that the Ly family avoids eating the spleen of animals. Thus, it can be said that the taboos of the Mong people in today's life all have their own deep roots. This shows a very typical concept of the Mong people, which is to preserve the purity of the family line.

Dao Tho - Huu Vi