Who are the Gia Rai and where do they live?
The Gia Rai (also called Gio Ray, Cho Ray, Jrai) are one of the 54 ethnic groups recognized in Vietnam. According to the List of Ethnic Groups of Vietnam, this group's official name is Gia-rai, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian language group (Austronesian family). They live mainly in Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Dak Lak provinces in the Central Highlands.
According to the 2019 survey of 53 ethnic minority groups (April 1, 2019), the Gia Rai population is 513,930. Earlier, the 2009 Population and Housing Census recorded 122,245. The difference reflects different survey scopes and times, not actual population change in the same period.
The Gia Rai include several local groups: Chor, Hdrung (including Hbau, Chor), Arap, Mthur, Tobuan. Historically, before the 11th century, the Ede and Gia Rai were collectively called Rang Dey. By the 15th-16th centuries, Vietnamese feudal records mention the titles Thuy Xa (water king) and Hoa Xa (fire king).
Language and writing of the Gia Rai
Gia Rai belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian group of the Austronesian family, one of the major language families of maritime and coastal Southeast Asia. Placing Gia Rai in the Austronesian family shows linguistic links with Austronesian-speaking peoples across a wider region, even though the Gia Rai live deep in the Central Highlands.
The Gia Rai have a writing system based on the Latin alphabet. Today, Gia Rai students learn the standard language and script under the general education program. In addition, their oral literature preserves epics such as Dam San, Xinh Nha, Dam Di, performed as sung poetry with the Tung nung lute.
Traditional social organization: matrilineal system and village
Traditional Gia Rai society is matrilineal, with descent traced entirely through the mother's line. Blood communities form clans called Ko nung or Dgioai. Each clan often splits into branches or divides into other clans. Each clan and branch taboo a specific totem. The small matrilineal family is a distinctive feature of the Gia Rai, unlike the Ede, who have a large matrilineal extended family.
The village (Ploi or Bon) is both a residential unit and a social organization. The village has a council of elders (Phun po but) who choose the village head (Oi po thun, Thap loi or Khoa ploi). Village law is called Kdi. Traditional Gia Rai society also has a regional solidarity form called To ring. The head of To ring is Khoa To ring, with Po phat kdi and Thao kdi assisting in adjudication. To ring is a territorial community that becomes a military alliance in wartime.
In old Gia Rai society there were Po tao ia (water king) and Po tao pui (fire king) who performed rituals to heaven and earth for favorable rain and wind. Only men of the Siu clan could become fire or water kings, and only daughters of the Ro chom clan could become their wives. The word Po tao may be equivalent to Mtao of the Cham, Tao of the Thai and Thao of the Lao, all meaning leader.
Worship customs: Yang polytheism and main spirits
The Gia Rai believe in animism. Spirits (Yang) come in many types, with three prominent ones mentioned in annual or multi-year rituals:
- House spirit (Yang sang): protector of the home, worshipped indoors. When a new house is built, a buffalo sacrifice and a kapok tree planting are performed.
- Village spirit (Yang ala bon) and water spirit (Yang ia): protectors of the village and all members' lives, worshipped at the water dock and mountain foot.
- King spirit (Yang po tao): rituals performed by the fire king, water king, wind king (ptao agin) to pray for favorable weather and good harvests.
In addition, the Gia Rai believe that at death, souls become ghosts. There is a belief in people with harmful magic, called ma lai.
Main festivals and life-cycle rituals
The largest ceremony of the Gia Rai is the grave abandonment ceremony, tied to the custom of carving grave statues. In funerals, all members of the same maternal clan are buried in a common grave. A deceased man must be carried back to be buried in his mother's clan's grave. In the common grave, coffins are placed side by side horizontally, then stacked vertically. When coffins reach the grave mouth, planks are laid on four sides to bury several more layers before the grave abandonment ceremony (Hoa lui, Thi nga or Bo thi). This is a major rite in the funeral process.
The new house ceremony is also important. Building a new house begins with a soil divination ritual: the female household head places 7 grains of rice on the ground and covers them with a bowl to seek the earth spirit's blessing. After 3 days and nights, the bowl is lifted; if the grains remain intact, it is favorable; if any are missing, another site must be divined. After placing the rice, people eat, cheer and dance to gongs for 3 days. After the house is built, a new house celebration lasts 3 more days.
When holding buffalo sacrifice rituals, the Gia Rai often perform gong music. Men wearing loincloths and large patterned cloaks play gongs and dance around the buffalo sacrifice pole.
Regarding festivals, in the past, adult men and women had their upper teeth filed. This was done by the old man Po khoa tkoi using a sickle or a rough stone rubbed on the upper teeth by a stream. Bleeding was stopped with medicinal leaves (Tkoi am). Girls aged 1-2 had their ears pierced, then stretched gradually with plant material until adulthood, when they wore ivory earrings up to 6 cm in diameter. Men did not stretch their ears, only pierced them for earrings.
Marriage and childbirth under customary law
Gia Rai customary law strictly forbids marriage between people of the same clan branch and maternal line. From age 18-19, men and women freely choose partners, with women taking the initiative to choose a husband. The custom is simple, not a purchase, and led by the bride's family. There is a levirate custom: if a husband dies, the wife may marry the husband's younger brother, and vice versa. Once married, the man must move to the wife's house, never the reverse.
Regarding childbirth, mothers are respected. During pregnancy, they avoid heavy work. They greatly fear difficult births and death in childbirth. After giving birth, the mother must abstain from many things, such as not eating boiled rice but only bamboo-tube rice, and not eating meat but only vegetables.
Housing and architecture
The Gia Rai live in stilt houses for each monogamous matrilineal family. There are two architectural types:
| House type | Average size | Main features |
|---|---|---|
| Long stilt house (la-yun-pa style) | 13.5 m long, 3.5 m wide | Divided into two parts: the mang side and the oc side. The oc side door faces only north, reserved for the woman, the matrilineal household head. Two hearths inside. |
| Small house (Hdrung style) | 3 m wide, 9 m long, height from ground to ridge beam no more than 4.50 m | Main door opens to a drying platform, facing only north. Two windows beside the main door. One hearth inside. |
Clothing and cuisine
Gia Rai men wear white striped loincloths (toai). On holidays they wear indigo loincloths 4 m long, 0.30 m wide, with patterned borders and multicolored thread tassels at both ends. They wear black short-sleeved, open-sided shirts with patterned thread borders along both sides, showing strong poncho influence. Po tao or village heads wear indigo shirts covering the buttocks, long-sleeved, pullover, with a red thread patch as button and buttonhole from neck to chest. Below the button strip is a square red cloth sewn on as a marker.
Women wear indigo skirts (1.40 m long, 1 m wide) with patterned borders around the hem. The waistband has white or colored thread tassels. The skirt is not sewn into a tube, so when worn it is wrapped around the body with the seam in front. They wear short, tight-fitting long-sleeved blouses. The sleeves have embroidered patterned thread rings. Because the climate is hot year-round, both men and women prefer to go bare-chested.
Regarding diet, plain rice is the staple, with corn as a secondary staple. Food includes vegetables, salt, chili, vegetable soup, and occasionally meat and fish. Daily meals may have the whole family sitting around the rice pot and chili bowl, or portions divided per person. Feasts center on a jar of rice wine, surrounded by dishes on bowls, plates or banana leaves, eating and drinking together. When slightly drunk, people sing, dance and play gongs. Except for infants, everyone, male or female, smokes tobacco.
Traditional economy and secondary crafts
Cultivation is the foundation of production. Land is divided into two types: uncultivated land (de, tra, lon, ownerless) and cultivated land called Hma, owned by each family. Hma includes fields farmed half-garden half-swidden, slash-and-burn, hoeing and dibbling seeds. Wet fields are hoed, mud stirred, and are transitioning to plowing with two buffalo.
Family livestock includes buffalo, cattle, horses, elephants, pigs, chickens, dogs. Buffalo is a standard of value for exchanging precious items like gongs and jars, and for sacrificial offerings. Family crafts include carpentry, blacksmithing and basketry. Artisans make baskets for storing clothes, jewelry and transport. Weaving with Indonesian-style looms is common, producing wide, beautifully patterned fabric. The common means of transport is a basket with two shoulder straps; horses and elephants are used for carrying and riding, and elephants for pulling.
Sculpture and folk arts
Grave house statues are a unique feature of Central Highlands sculpture. Gia Rai grave house statues include many forms of human and animal figures. A pair of nude male and female statues is placed on the left side of the grave house facing east.
In folk arts, the Gia Rai have many epics such as Dam San, Xinh Nha, Dam Di, performed as sung poetry with the Tung nung lute. Gia Rai folk dances include movements mimicking tribal wars. Instruments such as the To rung lute, Krong put, Tung nung are popular. Young people enjoy tug-of-war on festival days.
Calendar and annual time markers
The first month in the Gia Rai calendar starts from the first rain, equivalent to April in the solar calendar. The 12th Gia Rai month (March solar) is called Blanning, a time of rest from labor and for religious rituals.
Points to note when researching
The Gia Rai are one of the 54 ethnic groups officially recognized in Vietnam according to the List of Ethnic Groups of Vietnam. Local groups such as Chor, Hdrung, Arap, Mthur, Tobuan are branches within the same ethnic group, not separate ethnicities. When studying customs such as tooth filing, ear stretching, and common maternal-line burial, note that these are traditional cultural practices recorded in ethnographic documents and may have changed or no longer be common in some communities today. The descriptions in this article reflect documents from the Digital Transformation Center (formerly the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs) and official sources, and do not represent all Gia Rai groups at all times.
