Who are the Ê Đê and where do they live?
The Ê Đê are one of the 54 ethnic groups recognised in Vietnam, with self-names including Anăk Ea Đê, Ra Đê (or Rhađê), Ê Đê, Êgar and Đê. They belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language group within the Austronesian family and have long lived in the central Central Highlands. According to the Survey of 53 Ethnic Minorities of 1 April 2019, the Ê Đê population is 398,671; the 2009 Population and Housing Census recorded 331,194.
Their main residence today covers Đắk Lắk province, southern Gia Lai province and western Phú Yên and Khánh Hòa. In the official list of Vietnam's ethnic groups, the Ê Đê homeland is recorded as Đắc Lắc, Phú Yên and Khánh Hòa.
Traces of the Ê Đê's island origins are reflected in their epics and in folk architecture and visual art. They are also one of the communities in Vietnam that still preserve many strong matrilineal traditions.
Local groups
According to the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, the Ê Đê have many local groups such as Kpă, Adham, Krung, Mđhur, Ktul, Dliê, Hruê, Bih, Blô, Kah, Kdrao, Dong Kay, Dong Mak, Ening, Arul, Hwing, Ktlê and Êpan. The list of Vietnamese ethnic groups on the Government Portal also names similar subgroups, including Kpă, Ađham, Krung, Ktul, Dliê, Ruê, Blô, Êpan, Mđhur, Bih, Kđrao, Dong Kay, Dong Măk, Êning, Arul, Hning, Kmun and Ktlê. The spelling of group names differs somewhat between sources, reflecting the diversity of ways local names are transcribed and recorded.
What is distinctive about the Ê Đê language and script?
The Ê Đê language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian group of the Austronesian family. This group is related to many languages in maritime Southeast Asia and to other Central Highlands peoples such as the Gia Rai.
Knowledge was traditionally passed on through demonstration, imitation, memorisation and oral transmission. An Ê Đê script based on the Latin alphabet appeared only in 1923. This marked a shift from purely oral transmission to written records, helping to preserve epics, folk songs and indigenous knowledge.
How does Ê Đê society operate?
Ê Đê families are matrilineal: marriage is uxorilocal, children take the mother's surname and the youngest daughter is the heir. Ê Đê society operates according to the customary law of the matrilineal family organisation. The whole community is divided into two lineages to carry out exchange marriages.
The village is called a buôn, the basic residential unit and the only social organisation. People in one buôn belong to many branches of both lineages, but one branch is the core. Each village is headed by a person called the master of the water landing (Pô pin ca), who acts on behalf of his wife in running all community activities.
Marriage and the custom of lineage replacement
In marriage, women take the initiative, asking for a husband through matchmakers and bringing him to live in her family. When one spouse dies, the family and lineage of the deceased must provide a replacement under the "nối dòng" (chuê nuê) custom, so that the living are never left alone. This custom is tied to the belief in a bond of affection between the two lineages, handed down from ancestors.
Funerals and grave houses
When someone dies, the lineage replacement custom must be carried out. For those who die of old age or illness, the funeral is held at home and the body is then taken to the cemetery for burial. In the past, when people of the same lineage died close together in time, their coffins were buried in a shared grave. Because the afterlife was seen as a reflection of this world, the dead were given a share of property placed at the grave house. When the grave house was built, the grave abandonment ceremony was held elaborately, after which care for the spirit and the grave came to an end.
Daily life and housing
The traditional Ê Đê house is a long stilt house whose architecture mimics a boat, with two basic features: two longitudinal walls built with upper planks overlapping lower ones, and roof ends projecting outwards. The house has only two rows of horizontal columns, structured by column frames rather than by rafters. The interior is divided lengthwise into two parts: the front part called Gah, which is both a reception room and the common living space of the whole matrilineal extended family; and the rear part called ôk, for married couples in separate rooms divided by bamboo screens.
House building involves the whole village. Mutual help with materials such as wood, bamboo, thatch and with labour days takes the form called H'rim zít (organised labour exchange or work swapping in the village). The inauguration ceremony is held after the row of wall-base posts is erected, but moving into the new house may take place long before if conditions for the inauguration are not yet met. Women are the first group to step onto the floor of the new house, carrying water and fire to warm and cool the new dwelling, as a way of blessing the house and its family members. Leading the group of women is a khoa sang, the mistress of the matrilineal family.
Economic life and material culture
The Ê Đê mainly grow rice in swidden fields under a rotational system. After a period of cultivation, the field is left fallow for the forest to regenerate before being cleared and burned again. The cultivation cycle is about 5 to 8 years depending on soil quality and recovery capacity. Swiddens are multi-crop and only one crop is grown each year. Wet rice fields with buffalo are found only to a limited extent in the Bih area around Lắk Lake.
Pigs and buffalo are the most commonly raised livestock, and chickens the most common poultry, but raising animals mainly serves religious rituals. Common household crafts include bamboo and rattan weaving for household items, and cotton growing and weaving on an ancient Indonesian-style loom. Pottery and blacksmithing are not well developed. In the past, buying and selling was done by barter.
Food and clothing
The Ê Đê eat ordinary rice cooked in clay or large bronze pots. Food includes salt and chilli, bamboo shoots, vegetables and tubers gathered from the forest, and fish, meat and game from hunting. Drinks include rượu cần fermented in earthenware jars. Sticky rice is used only for offerings to the gods. Both men and women chew betel and areca.
Traditional clothing: women wear a long wrap skirt reaching the heels, and in summer go bare-chested or wear a short pullover top; men wear a loincloth and a short pullover shirt. In cold weather, both men and women often add a blanket. Jewellery includes bead strings, bronze and nickel rings worn on the neck, arms and legs. Both men and women practise teeth filing, ear stretching and blackening of the teeth. Headwear includes scarves and hats.
Weaving and transport
The traditional Ê Đê weaving craft uses a simple Indonesian-style backstrap loom like other peoples of the Trường Sơn and Central Highlands. It is both the art of making durable clothing (skirts, shirts, loincloths, blankets, bags, baby carriers) and the art of decorating fabric with patterns, colours, shapes, lines and layouts that are distinctly ethnic.
The main means of transport is the back basket carried with two straps over the shoulders. In the Krông Băk area, a tall-legged basket type is common. Elephants were used for overland transport but were not very common.
Worship customs and the system of gods
Ê Đê beliefs commonly hold that all things have spirits. The greatest gods are the creators Aê Điê and Aê Đu, followed by the earth god (yang lăn), the rice god (yang mđiê) and other spirits. Agricultural gods are considered benevolent. Thunder, lightning, storms, floods and ghosts are considered malevolent.
Rituals accompany a person throughout life, including blessings and health celebrations for individuals. Those who can hold many of these rituals, especially large ones with many buffalo, cows and precious jars of rượu cần, gain more respect from villagers. This is a cultural and religious practice tied to social status, not a measure of a person's spiritual worth.
In the gah space of the long Ê Đê stilt house, alongside the drum column, a large drum with a buffalo-hide head and a single-piece body sits on a 12 m long kpan bench, also carved from a single piece of wood and placed lengthwise. These are always highly valued possessions in traditional society, vivid expressions of prosperity and pride in the villages.
When are the festivals and traditional New Year held?
The Ê Đê celebrate Tết in the twelfth lunar month, after the harvest is complete, not on a fixed date but depending on each buôn. After the new rice celebration (hmạ ngắt) comes Tết (mnăm thun) celebrating a bountiful harvest. This is the biggest Tết; wealthy households may slaughter buffalo and cows to offer to the rice god, while others slaughter pigs and chickens.
The traditional Ê Đê agricultural calendar follows the lunar cycle: a year has 12 months and is divided into 9 seasons corresponding to 9 stages of the swidden farming cycle, including the season of clearing, the season of burning the new field, the season of tilling the soil and the season of weeding. Each month has 30 days.
Gongs and cultural life
Ê Đê music is famous for its gong ensemble of 6 flat gongs, 3 bossed gongs, one rhythm-keeping gong and one large drum with a skin head. No community festival or cultural activity can take place without the sound of gongs. Alongside the gongs are bamboo and dried gourd instruments like those of other peoples of the Trường Sơn and Central Highlands, but with some unique techniques of their own.
Khan, folk songs and games
Khan storytelling is very engaging: in literature, khan are ancient epics and long narrative poems; in performance, they are chanted narration with some gestures for expression. Folk songs include antiphonal singing, riddle songs and genealogy songs.
Children often enjoy spinning tops and flying kites with bamboo flutes. Stilt-walking games on the plateau also attract many Ê Đê youths in many places. Blindfolded goat catching and javelin throwing (for distance and for hitting a target) are also popular among Ê Đê children.
Summary table of some basic features
| Feature | Information |
|---|---|
| Self-names | Anăk Ea Đê, Ra Đê (Rhađê), Ê Đê, Êgar, Đê |
| Local groups | Kpă, Adham, Krung, Mđhur, Ktul, Dliê, Hruê, Bih, Blô, Kah, Kdrao, Dong Kay, Dong Mak, Ening, Arul, Hwing, Ktlê, Êpan |
| Population (2019) | 398,671 |
| Language | Malayo-Polynesian group, Austronesian family |
| Residence | Đắk Lắk, southern Gia Lai, western Phú Yên, Khánh Hòa |
| Social organisation | Matrilineal, uxorilocal marriage, youngest daughter inherits |
| Housing | Long stilt house, boat-shaped architecture |
| Main gods | Aê Điê, Aê Đu, earth god (yang lăn), rice god (yang mđiê) |
| Typical instruments | Gong ensemble (6 flat gongs, 3 bossed gongs, 1 rhythm gong, 1 large drum) |
| Script | Ê Đê script in the Latin alphabet, appeared in 1923 |
The Ê Đê within Vietnam's ethnic landscape
According to the Government Portal and documents of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups. On 2 March 1979, the General Statistics Office of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam published this list. The Kinh (Viet) make up more than 85.4% of the national population; the remaining 53 groups are called minorities, accounting for about 14.6%. The Ê Đê are among the minorities living mainly in the Central Highlands, alongside fellow peoples such as the Gia Rai, Ba Na, Mnông, Cơ Ho and Xơ Đăng.
Ethnic minorities now live across all regions of the country but mainly in mountainous, border, remote and far-flung areas. The Central Highlands has about 2 million ethnic minority people. Minorities in mountainous areas often start from a lower socio-economic base, are affected by climate change and natural disasters, and face the risk of erosion of traditional cultural values. This is the common context in which the Ê Đê and their fellow peoples are gradually adapting as they develop.
Points to note when learning about the Ê Đê
When studying the Ê Đê, it is important to distinguish local groups (Kpă, Adham, Krung and others) as groups within one ethnic group, not separate peoples. Terms such as "Mọi" appeared in some old documents, but this is no longer appropriate today; the official name is Ê Đê.
Features such as the matrilineal system, the lineage replacement custom, teeth filing and ear stretching, and the grave abandonment ceremony are cultural practices that exist to varying degrees depending on the buôn, locality and generation. Sources record the common features, but the extent of preservation and change in each place may differ.
Ê Đê cultural values such as khan epics, gongs, long stilt house architecture and brocade weaving are the shared heritage of Vietnam's ethnic communities, recorded in research documents and in the official list of ethnic groups.
