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Proper name: Mang.
Other names: Mang U,
Xa Mang, Nieng O, Xa Ba O.
Local groups: Mang
Gung, Mang Le.
Population: 2,247
people.
Language: The Mang
language belongs to the Mon-Khmer language group (Austroasiatic
language family). Many of the Mang know how to speak Thai.
History: Up to now,
the area of Nam Ban (Dum Bai) in the Nam Ban village, of
Sin Ho district, Lai Chau province is considered as the
motherland of the Mang. Many legends and stories have
suggested that the Mang are one of the first inhabitants
in the northwest of the country.
Production activities:
The Mang are agriculturists. As wandering nomadic peoples,
they tend to practice slash and burn farming. After the
Lunar New Year, people will choose and mark their own
fields. In March and April, they clean up the fields and
let them dry; in June and July, the Mang burn the trees on
the field, and then they plant seeds. Working tools
include axe, knife, and a pointed digging stick. However,
the productivity rate is often low because the land is
impoverished, and the forest is too young. As a result,
the Mang lifestyle is unstable, and there is always a
threat of food shortages. Lately, the Mang have learnt how
to work in a permanent fields or on step terraces, which
have tended to improve and stabilize agricultural
production.
Raising cattle and making handicrafts are not well-
developed. Gathering fruit and hunting in all four seasons
are important additions to the Mang economy. The Mang
raise water buffaloes, cows, goats, chickens, and pigs.
Many of the Mang's plaited products, such as bamboo mats
and carrying baskets, are highly valued and used by other
ethnic groups.
Diet: The Mang
generally eat two meals a day (lunch and dinner). Corn is
the main food. It is usually mixed with cassava, or rice,
and then steamed. The steamed young leaves of the cassava
plant are mixed with salt and form an important year-round
food for the Mang. The Mang like to smoke tobacco in
pipes, and drink locally-made alcohol.
Clothing: Mang
traditional dress is still in evidence, though many Mang
have adopted clothing styles popular among other
Vietnamese today. The unique feature in the dress of Mang
women is a throw to wrap around the body. It is made of
white rough cloth, and in the middle are two rows of red
thread. Mang women generally do not wear head coverings;
their hair is pulled up to the top by colorful string.
Mang women do wear leggings.
Housing: The Mang
live in stilt houses that are simply made using many
different varieties of wood.
Transportation: The
carrying basket is popular, and of the type that has a
tumpline placed on the forehead and a handle behind the
head.
Social organization:
The head of the old traditional society was a man called
Pogia. Together, he and all the heads of family lines
directed all the social, cultural, and religious
activities in a village. Later, this social structure was
destroyed, and the Mang became influenced by the Thai's
social structure. However, the village still keeps its
traditional social structure. The head of the village
looks after its taxes and services. There is usually a big
family line in a village. Heads of different family clans,
together with all the village's elders, direct all the
social and religious activities according to traditional
custom. The Mang have five main family lines, and each
chose one. animal as its family symbol.
