Who are the Hre and what is special about their name?
The Hre are one of the 54 ethnic groups recognized in Vietnam, long settled in the Truong Son and Central Highlands region. Their self-designation is Hre, and according to records from the Digital Transformation Center of the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs, this name was formerly tied to the river where they lived: the Kre along the Kre river in Son Ha, the Hre along the Hre river in Ba To, and the Dinh people along the Dinh river in An Lao.
The group is also known by many other names such as Cham Re, Chom, Thuong Ba To, Moi Luy, Moi Son Phong, Moi Da Vach, Cham Quang Ngai, Moi Chom, Re, and Man Thach Bich. In the official list of Vietnam's ethnic groups published by the Government Portal, the Hre rank 17th, with alternative names listed as Moi Da Vach, Cham-re, Moi Luy, Thach Bych, and Moi Son Phong, and their main residence area being Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh.
On population, according to the Survey of 53 Ethnic Minorities of April 1, 2019, the Hre number 149,460. Earlier, per the 2009 Population and Housing Census, the figure was 127,420. The difference reflects both natural population growth and differences in methodology and scope between the two censuses.
Where do the Hre live?
According to source materials, the Hre live mainly in western Quang Ngai province, concentrated in Son Ha, Ba To and Minh Long districts, along with An Lao district in Binh Dinh province. A small number live in Kon Plong district, Kon Tum province. This is a region of hills, mountains and river valleys, suited to both wet-rice farming and swidden cultivation.
Hre villages are usually built close together on the slopes at the foot of hills and mountains, beside fields. In the village and around houses, people grow areca, banana, jackfruit and mango. Each village forms a compact area, or consists of a few hamlets close together. Houses are built across the slope, and it is taboo for the roof ridge to point across the flow of a river or stream.
The language and script of the Hre
Hre belongs to the Mon-Khmer language group, Austroasiatic family. This is a language group found in many mainland Southeast Asian countries, and Hre sits in that network alongside Ba Na, Xo Dang, Co Ho, Mnong and many other Central Highlands languages.
As for writing, sources record that before 1975 a Hre script was created using Latin characters for transliteration. This script was once widely used but has since fallen into disuse. This is notable because it shows the Hre once had their own tool for recording language, unlike many groups that relied entirely on oral transmission.
Production activities and material life
Most Hre practice wet-rice farming as their main activity, with only a portion living mainly by swidden fields. Their rice farming resembles that of Vietnamese people in the southern Central region: using plows and harrows drawn by a pair of buffalo, sowing and transplanting seedlings, and using sickles and harvest knives. Traces of swidden rice cultivation remain, with slash-and-burn and dibble-stick methods and a simple tool set of axes, machetes, dibble sticks and weed scrapers; at harvest, rice is stripped by hand.
Each family usually raises buffalo, pigs, dogs and chickens. Handicrafts consist only of basketry and weaving, but these are no longer developed today, especially weaving, which survives in only a few places. The Hre weave cloth in the traditional Southeast Asian manner: the tool set consists of separate sticks, bars and tubes all made of wood and bamboo, joined into one system only when the warp is stretched for weaving, and patterns are woven together with the cloth.
Goods exchange usually takes the form of direct barter. Gathering, hunting and fishing provide an important food source for each family. As for transport, the Hre are used to carrying a back basket with each strap over one shoulder: densely woven baskets for carrying rice, loosely woven ones for firewood and cassava, and men going to the forest use a bag-like basket or a three-compartment basket. They also carry rice on a shoulder pole at harvest and balance objects on their heads.
Traditional housing and clothing
Hre stilt houses have doors at each end and on one side, with two rows of columns forming two column sets, a pair of animal horns on the gable top, and walls slanting outward at the top. The floor surface is usually slightly higher on the side without the cooking fire, to create a comfortable lying position with feet lower than the head.
By old custom, Hre men wear loincloths and head scarves, and wear shirts for festivals or long trips; women have two-layer tube skirts, blouses and head coverings. Jewelry includes rings made of silver, aluminum and bead strings; men do not wear ear ornaments. Today, most Hre dress in the Vietnamese style, though many women still wear skirts, but not the self-made cotton fabric with patterned bands at both ends, and when worn they no longer form two layers as before.
How do Hre worship customs take place?
The Hre have many taboos and religious rituals, stemming from the belief that all things have souls or spirits and that people are governed by supernatural forces. This is a multi-deity belief system closely tied to agricultural life and the events of the human life cycle.
Occasions for worship recorded include: illness, misfortune, house building, pregnancy, difficult childbirth, death, sowing and harvesting, dibbling and rice stripping, bringing rice into the granary and the first taking of rice to eat. This ritual system covers almost all key milestones of both the farming cycle and the human life cycle.
One point to distinguish clearly: the village community only organizes worship for peace and epidemic avoidance, while the rest are family rituals. In the rituals, food and drink are always offered to the deities, especially the blood, liver and meat of the sacrificed animal. Each swidden farming season has many religious rituals, hoping for good crops, abundant rice and warmth and plenty.
Funerals and beliefs about the dead
Hre coffins are dugout coffins shaped somewhat like a boat. The dead are laid in state at home for one to three days then buried in the village cemetery. The grave is built into a long mound, with a grave house on top whose roof is made like a dwelling.
The bereaved family practices the custom of "dividing belongings", as if for the dead to live separately: from food and drink to household items, from clothing to work tools, all are placed at the grave. This custom reflects a belief in a life after death parallel to the life of the living.
Main festivals and community rituals
The buffalo sacrifice festival is the largest in the Hre festival system, whether it is a village or a household festival, it is crowded and festive. This is a large-scale sacrificial rite mobilizing the whole community.
Every year, the Hre celebrate Tet around October, after the rice harvest, but now many villages follow the Lunar New Year. During Tet there are rituals for buffalo and pigs to pray for fertility, offerings to ancestors and prayers for the health of everyone in the house; offerings include cakes wrapped in glutinous rice, wine and meat. At Tet, the village holds a collective ritual praying for favorable rain and enough water.
As for calendar reckoning, the Hre use a method similar to the Vietnamese lunar calendar. Within the month, they distinguish good days and bad days, choosing which days to do certain tasks and not others.
Marriage, childbirth and social relations
Regarding marriage, residence with the husband's or wife's side depends on agreement between the two families, and most build their own house after the first child is born. Weddings have a ritual where bride and groom are bound together by exchanging a bowl of wine, a betel quid, or sharing a loop of string. A widow may marry her late husband's younger brother, and a husband may marry his late wife's younger sister. Marriages between a paternal aunt's child and a maternal uncle's child, between children of the same clan, or between those sharing a mother or father are not allowed.
Regarding childbirth, delivery takes place beside the household fire, with a midwife assisting, the umbilical cord cut with a knife, and the placenta wrapped in areca sheath then discarded in the forest or buried beside the house. The mother rests for several dozen days and avoids nieng fish, eggs, bananas and white chicken meat. The baby is named at the full-month ceremony.
Regarding social relations, the village elder has prestige and great influence. In the past, social stratification was quite deep, the servant system, especially debt bondage, was somewhat harsher than in many other groups in the region, and land grabbing and concentration along with the establishment of power by some individuals had developed relatively. Nevertheless, relations within the village still express a communal, cooperative spirit.
Spiritual culture: musical instruments, folk songs and the treasure of folk tales
Common Hre musical instruments include a set of three gongs, a set of three bronze drums, drums, various zithers made from bamboo tubes or with gourd resonators, flutes, fiddles and jaw harps; women play a set of two clappers. The most popular folk songs are the Kate and Ka choi tunes.
Folk tales, called Hmon, are passed down as a treasure in the ethnic culture, covering many themes. Geometric pattern motifs woven on cloth and shown on basketry also carry long-standing tradition.
Summary table of basic information about the Hre
| Criterion | Information |
|---|---|
| Self-designation | Hre (tied to river names: Kre, Hre, Dinh) |
| Other names | Cham Re, Chom, Thuong Ba To, Moi Luy, Moi Son Phong, Moi Da Vach, Cham Quang Ngai, Moi Chom, Re, Man Thach Bich |
| Population | 149,460 (Survey of 53 Ethnic Minorities, April 1, 2019); 127,420 (2009 Census) |
| Language | Mon-Khmer group, Austroasiatic family |
| Script | Latin-based transliteration script created before 1975, now fallen into disuse |
| Residence area | Western Quang Ngai (Son Ha, Ba To, Minh Long); An Lao, Binh Dinh; a few in Kon Plong, Kon Tum |
| Housing | Stilt house, doors at each end and one side, two rows of columns, a pair of animal horns on the gable top |
| Main production | Mainly wet-rice farming, a portion practice swidden cultivation |
| Largest festival | Buffalo sacrifice festival |
| Traditional Tet time | Around October after the rice harvest, now many villages follow Lunar New Year |
| Typical instruments | Three gongs, three bronze drums, drums, bamboo-tube zither, flute, fiddle, jaw harp, clappers |
What should be noted when learning about the Hre?
Sources on the Hre differ on population figures, depending on the time and method of survey. The figure of 127,420 per the 2009 Population and Housing Census and 149,460 per the 2019 Survey of 53 Ethnic Minorities are not contradictory but reflect two different points in time. When citing, the source and year should be stated to avoid confusion.
Some descriptions of Hre customs may have changed considerably from today, such as wearing traditional clothing or maintaining weaving. The descriptions in this article are mainly based on materials from the Digital Transformation Center of the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs, reflecting the situation recorded at the time of compilation. Readers seeking the contemporary situation should consult recent ethnographic research.
Finally, a distinction should be made between religious practices described as part of ethnic culture and any assessment of their spiritual efficacy. Hre rituals and taboos are objects of cultural study, not a basis for affirming or denying anything about spiritual life.
