Identifying the only remaining Dan Lai ethnic group in Nghe An
(Baonghean.vn) - Living in the border area of the core zone of Pu Mat National Park, nearly 1,000 people of the Dan Lai ethnic group have been facing many risks. Poverty, backwardness, and illiteracy surround the lives of this ethnic group with indigenous features.
Faced with that situation, on December 19, 2006, the Prime Minister issued Decision 280/2006/QD-TTg approving the Project “Conservation and sustainable development of the Dan Lai ethnic minority currently living in the core zone of Pu Mat National Park, Con Cuong District, Nghe An Province”. The objective of the Project is to improve living conditions, develop socio-economics, ensure sustainable development of this ethnic group while protecting and preserving Pu Mat National Park and border security. And after more than 10 years of implementing the project, many goals remain unfinished.
Identifying the Dan Lai community
Ban Bung one early summer morning. We met Le Van Chin when this 27-year-old man was carrying a knife into the forest to cut trees.
- "I went to cut down some trees to build a new house for my brother. The house can accommodate many people but it is not very spacious" - the young man, who is currently the Deputy of Con village, happily announced. I would also like to add that Con village is a small residential area belonging to Bung village - the Dan Lai community living at the headwaters of Khe Khang, in the core area of Pu Mat National Park (Con Cuong).
Like many other Dan Lai people, Le Van Chin has a medium build and dark skin. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of this young man is his white teeth and friendly smile.
“How long have you been a village cadre?” I asked Chin. He smiled again: “Not long, since last year.”
We stood in the middle of Bung village chatting, surrounded by thatched houses built on stilts, with pillars, floors, and walls mostly made of bamboo. It was rare to see a house with walls made of thin wooden planks. The bumpy dirt road ran along 112 thatched roofs growing close together, giving the impression of being extremely cramped. It was indeed cramped. 500 people were crowded together on a slightly flat mountain slope, and the early-season sun both reflected the red and yellow colors of the dust and thatched roofs and stirred up heavy-smelling exhaust fumes, making the space even more stuffy. The shabbiness, simplicity, and even wildness and makeshiftness were the first impressions of anyone who first set foot in this community.
Le Van Chin did not invite guests to his house or to anyone else's house. It seemed that the Dan Lai people did not have this habit. Looking around Bung village, I saw many people at home, especially women and children, and a few groups of men gathered to drink wine with some freshly picked fruits. "Don't you all go to work?" - I asked Chin. "What are you doing? It's the end of the season" - Chin replied. "So no one is picking bamboo shoots?" - I hesitated. At this point, Chin spoke more thoroughly: "Now the oong season has begun. After the oong season, it's the bamboo shoot season." I asked again: "Are the villagers hungry?". Still speaking with the word "duong" in the sentence, Chin adjusted the knife on his waist and looked at me with a sincere smile: "If you say you're hungry, you can be hungry, if you say you're full, you can't be full. When there's rice and bamboo shoots in the harvest season, you can't be hungry, when the harvest season ends, you can't be full."
I also asked the village chief, who was not yet 30 years old but had 5 children, whether anyone in the village had to sleep sitting up like the legend of the Dan Lai people. “That was a story from the past, but maybe it’s true” - Suddenly Chin became thoughtful when mentioning his origin.
If you ask any Dan Lai people who know the common language in the two villages: Bung and Co Phat, Mon Son commune (Con Cuong district), they will tell you about their Kinh ethnic origin. They used to be residents of the ancient Thanh Chuong land.
According to legend, in ancient times in the land of Hoa Quan, Thanh Chuong, there was a La (or Le) family that was kind and gentle. The descendants of the family were known to be hard-working and diligent people. One day, the greedy and evil lord of Hoa Quan called the head of the La family to demand that within 1 month, he must pay tribute to him a boat with oars and 100 golden bamboo trees. If these items were not paid, the lord would kill the entire family.
Faced with the demands of the tyrant of the Hoa Quan region, the La family's descendants divided themselves up to search for him but failed. After many days of searching in vain, the La family came to a decision: They had to leave their homeland and disappear. Only then could they hope to escape this disaster.
In the dark of night, young and old, men and women, husbands and wives, fathers and children, held hands and ran towards the West. Their cries reached the heavens. From Hoa Quan land, they went up the Giang River to escape the disaster of their own destruction. They traveled at night and slept during the day, they did not dare to go near places where people lived to avoid being discovered. When they stopped, they did not build huts but only hid under bushes, cutting banana leaves to make a roof, and when the leaves withered, they continued moving. To keep watch and avoid wild animals, the La people slept sitting right next to the fire. They used a small stick, kept a piece of the branch, and leaned it down next to the fire. When sitting down to sleep, they would rest their chin on the branch, not only to avoid falling into the fire but also to be flexible in guarding against predators and strangers.
One day, when they felt safe enough, everyone stopped. That was a place with high mountains and deep passes, a place of desolate mountains and rivers. The place where the La family decided to settle permanently was the upper reaches of the Giang River, also known as Khe Khang. This place was also the source of Khe Bung River, which flowed from Laos before pouring into Khe Khang.
Another hypothesis. The Dan Lai people belong to the Tho ethnic group. Living in the western region of Nghe An, the local people still call the Dan Lai community the Tay Poong people. And if this hypothesis is correct, the Tay Poong people are not only found in Con Cuong district but also in Tuong Duong, Ky Son districts, and even in Laos. The reason why some ethnologists believe that the Dan Lai and Tay Poong people are one is because these two communities have many similarities such as: 60% of the language is borrowed from the Thai people; house architecture, personality, and customs are also quite similar. And this group of people also does not have a clear identity, so it is not recognized as a separate ethnic group.
If based on documents that have been widely circulated for a long time, the Dan Lai people only live in Con Cuong district (Nghe An). With about 3,000 people, they live scattered in the communes: Mon Son, Chau Khe and Lang Khe. Of which, in Mon Son commune, there are currently nearly 1,000 people living in Bung and Co Phat villages, in the core area of Pu Mat National Park. This is also the area with the Vietnam - Laos border.
Only about 40 kilometers from Con Cuong district and half that from Mon Son commune center, Bung and Co Phat villages are almost in a separate world. Before 2017, the only way to get to these two villages of the Dan Lai ethnic group was to go by boat through the rapids of Khe Khang. And a few decades ago, the Dan Lai people in Khe Khang were even considered an indigenous group in the deep forest. In the core area of Pu Mat National Park, their way of life was hunting and gathering, their lives completely dependent on nature. No electricity, roads, schools, stations... the Dan Lai people in Khe Khang in the past knew absolutely nothing other than the forest canopy. And this, when people talk about the Dan Lai ethnic group, they talk about early marriage and incestuous marriage. The older brother's son married the younger brother's son, the younger uncle's son married the younger uncle's son, the older aunt's son married the older sister... this reality caused the Dan Lai ethnic group to increasingly decline, the race was at risk of being eliminated.
With the goal of sustainably preserving the Dan Lai ethnic group in conjunction with ensuring border security, protecting Pu Mat National Forest..., on December 19, 2006, the Prime Minister issued Decision 280/2006/QD-TTg approving the Project "Conservation and sustainable development of the Dan Lai ethnic minority currently living in the core zone of Pu Mat National Park, Con Cuong district, Nghe An province". The project can be considered a "salvation" for the ethnic group "sleeping sitting" on the upper reaches of the Giang River. However, after more than 10 years, the results achieved are still modest compared to reality.