La Ha People: Residence, Language, Worship Customs and Main Festivals

Who are the La Ha and what names does this ethnic group have?

The La Ha are one of the 54 officially recognized ethnic groups in Vietnam, per the List of Ethnic Components issued with Decision No. 121-TCTK/PPCD dated 02/3/1979. Their self-names are La Ha, Kla and Phlao. In older documents and folk usage, they are also referred to by many other names such as Xa Cha, Xa Bung, Xa Khao, Xa Tau Nha, Xa Poong, Xa Uong, Bu Ha and Pua.

It should be clear: these are alternative names for the same ethnic group, not separate peoples. In the official list, the La Ha rank 47th, with other names recorded as Xa Khao, Xa Cha and Xa La Nga.

The La Ha have two recognized local subgroups: dry La Ha (Khla Phlao) and water La Ha (La Ha cung). This is an internal division based on residence and livelihood patterns, not two distinct ethnic groups.

Regarding population, the 2009 Population and Housing Census recorded 8,177 people. By the Survey of 53 Ethnic Minorities on 01/4/2019, the figure was 10,157.

Where do the La Ha live and what is their historical origin?

According to the List of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups published by the Government Portal, the La Ha reside in Yen Bai and Son La. These are two provinces in the Northwest region, characterized by high, heavily dissected mountainous terrain.

Historically, the La Ha were present early in Vietnam's Northwest. According to old Thai-script documents, in the 11th and 12th centuries, when the Black Thai migrated to this area, they encountered the ancestors of today's La Ha. For this reason, during Muong worship ceremonies, the Thai still maintain the custom of offering a white buffalo to worship the deity Am Poi, a famous La Ha leader in the early 11th century. This detail shows the long historical relationship and close ties between the La Ha and the Thai cultural space in the Northwest.

It should also be noted that existing sources mainly record residence in Yen Bai and Son La. In reality, due to migration and administrative boundary changes over time, place names in different documents may not fully coincide. This article follows the listing in the Government Portal's List of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups.

Which language group does the La Ha language belong to?

The La Ha language belongs to the Ka Dai language group, Thai-Ka Dai language family. This is consistently recorded in sources about the La Ha.

One notable point is that in cultural life, the La Ha formerly learned Thai script and were quite proficient at singing and composing poetry in Thai. They also used the Thai calendar. This reflects extensive cultural exchange between the La Ha and Thai peoples in the region, and shows that Thai once played an important role in the community's spiritual life.

What livelihoods do the La Ha pursue?

The La Ha have begun wet rice farming, but their main economy remains slash-and-burn swidden cultivation, along with hunting and gathering. Farming methods are still simple, mainly using a digging stick and a clearing knife.

Main crops include glutinous rice, maize, soybeans and cotton. Notably, La Ha women do not know how to weave, so they must exchange cotton for Thai cloth to make clothing. This is a form of goods exchange linked to labor division and ethnic relations in the area.

For transport, the La Ha use carrying baskets, buffalo-drawn carts and pack horses. Traditional fishing is also quite developed, evidenced by basket and trap weaving techniques considered highly skilled.

What is distinctive about La Ha housing and living space arrangement?

The La Ha live in stilt houses with two structural types corresponding to two lifestyles. The first is temporary housing lasting 1 to 3 years for nomadic swidden groups: the two gable ends of the roof curve round in an oval shape, extending on both sides like a pig's jaw. The second is long-term housing for semi-settled, semi-sedentary or fully settled groups: the two gable ends are rounded like a turtle shell, similar to Black Thai houses.

The interior is divided into two parts, with the guest reception area occupying from one-half to two-thirds of the house area. Between the owner's and guest's sections is a pillar to which a jar of ruou can (rice wine) is tied. This arrangement shows that hospitality and community activities play an important role in La Ha living space.

How are La Ha marriage and family organized?

La Ha families are nuclear and patrilineal. Not only do children take the father's surname, but wives must also take their husband's surname. Daughters do not inherit property.

Regarding marriage, the La Ha practice monogamy, but marriage has a transactional nature, reflected in a bride price called nang kha pom (head price) to repay the bride's parents, along with the uxorilocal residence custom. However, young people are free to court, without parental coercion.

The marriage sequence is recorded as follows. After 3 to 10 days of courtship, the young man tells his parents to send matchmakers. The bride's family receives a buffalo and gives the girl's shirt to the groom's family for divination. The bride's family shares betel with relatives to seek opinions; those who disagree return the betel. Within 5 days, if the bride's family does not return the betel to the groom's family, it means agreement, and 10 days later the young man goes to the bride's house to begin uxorilocal residence, working for his parents-in-law. This lasts from 4 to 8 years. Only after this period does the official wedding called thu ma phu (making rice wine) take place. After this wedding, the bride is brought to the groom's house, changes her surname to his, and never returns to live with her birth parents, even if her husband dies.

If a widow remarries, the second husband brings a small wedding gift called thu coi poong (making a chicken to announce the wedding) to the first husband's family, without needing any relationship with the widow's parents. A remarried widow still believes that upon death, her soul will return to her official husband who performed the thu ma phu ceremony. Therefore, in some places, if parents have died without having performed thu ma phu, the children must perform that wedding for them, so they can live together in the afterlife.

What are notable features of La Ha worship customs?

The La Ha worship ancestors in a house section called hong, similar to Thai arrangement. The shaman is called mot lao, responsible for calling souls and driving away evil spirits. Annually or every two to three years, a mot lao performs a ceremony to worship his ancestors and other deities.

Among the worshipped deities, the linga deity and the sword-and-bow deity are considered the most fearsome. Therefore, a mot lao's altar always has a linga effigy, a sword and a shield.

The La Ha have a detailed system of taboos in daily life. Specifically, they avoid bringing green vegetables, green leaves, green objects and raw meat through the family's side door; these must be brought through the guest door. When placing pots and pans on the stove, the two handles must point in the sleeping direction of household members; handles must not point toward the two entrance doors, as that is the direction in which the deceased are placed before burial. When someone in the house dies, all these taboos are lifted and reversed.

Regarding funerals, the La Ha do not cremate like the Black Thai but bury. The body is wrapped in cloth or woven mats, carried to the grave, then placed in a coffin and lowered. If the deceased is the father, the son holds a knife to destroy the old altar to drive away the grandfather-level spirit and begins worshipping the father's spirit. If the deceased is the mother, the son strikes the partition where the mother slept, symbolizing driving away the grandmother-level spirit to begin worshipping the mother's spirit.

The position of the deceased is also clearly regulated: the deceased is placed lengthwise along the crossbeam. If the father, placed under the first crossbeam; if the mother, under the second; if the eldest son, under the third. When carrying the deceased for burial, if the father, carried out through the guest room door (quan); if the mother, the wall is broken and the body carried out; if a child, carried out through the floor door.

At the grave, a small house about 2m high with two roofs is pre-built. The grave roof is thatched with grass taken partly from the house roof. If the deceased is the father, grass is removed from the head side of the sleeping area; if the mother, from the foot side; if a son, from the gable roof on the rice-drying side; if a daughter, from the gable roof on the water-collection side. In the grave house are placed necessities such as a rice basket, clothes, blankets and mats. After returning from the funeral, people often pound rice mortars to drive away spirits that might disturb the family.

What is distinctive about La Ha festivals and performing arts?

The two distinctive La Ha dances are the linga dance and the sword-and-bow dance. These are tied to the worship system mentioned above, specifically the worship of the linga deity and the sword-and-bow deity, the two most fearsome in the La Ha pantheon.

It should be noted that existing sources describe these dances in ritual and worship contexts, not as seasonal folk festivals held periodically. The common understanding is that these are ritual dances tied to the community's sacred space.

Additionally, the La Ha sing and compose poetry in Thai quite proficiently, according to ethnographic records. This shows that La Ha performing arts are closely tied to Thai language and culture in the region.

How are La Ha clothing and cuisine described?

Regarding clothing, La Ha men formerly wore hair in a bun at the nape, but today only a few elderly men and shamans keep this custom. Women dye their teeth black and dress like Black Thai women. In some places, women also wear an apron over the front of the skirt or draped on the back when cold.

La Ha women's hair buns differ by locality and relate to marital status. Unmarried women bun at the nape, married women at the top of the head, like Black Thai. However, in some places, from young girls to elderly women, there is only one bun style: at the top of the head. In other places, influenced by White Thai, women wear hair loose or bun at the nape, regardless of marital status.

Regarding cuisine, the staple is glutinous rice, prepared by steaming into xoi, now shifted to plain rice. Food is often fermented sour, grilled, roasted or dried for storage. La Ha women chew betel.

How is traditional La Ha social relations organized?

The La Ha live in villages headed by a Khun cai. Two assistants to the Khun cai are Khun tang and Khun teng, elected by the people. This is a self-governing community management institution suited to village scale and mountain living conditions.

It should be noted that existing sources describe this institution only in general terms, without detailing election mechanisms, terms or specific authority of each position. A cautious understanding is that the Khun cai leads the village, while Khun tang and Khun teng assist with specific tasks.

Why is the La Ha language classified in the Ka Dai group?

Classifying La Ha in the Ka Dai language group of the Thai-Ka Dai family results from linguistic classification based on phonetic, lexical and grammatical features. This classification is consistently recorded in documents on the La Ha, including those of the state agency managing ethnic affairs.

A distinction must be made between language classification and ethnic classification. La Ha belongs to the Ka Dai language group, but the La Ha are a separate ethnic component in the list of 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups. Linguistic classification does not equate to ethnic identification.

It should also be noted that in practice, the La Ha use Thai in many cultural, religious and inter-ethnic communication activities. This is a common phenomenon of multilingualism and language contact in the Northwest, and does not change the fact that La Ha remains the mother tongue of this ethnic group.

The La Ha in the context of Vietnam's 54 ethnic communities today

According to the 2009 Population and Housing Census and the 2019 Survey of 53 Ethnic Minorities, the La Ha population grew from 8,177 to 10,157 within a decade. This is a significant increase, reflecting demographic changes in the community within the broader context of ethnic minorities in Vietnam.

Ethnic minorities in general, including the La Ha, live in communities interwoven with each other and with the Kinh. Mountainous, border, remote and isolated areas are home to many ethnic minorities. These areas also have lower socioeconomic starting points than the national average and are affected by climate change and natural disasters.

In this context, the traditional cultural values of many ethnic minorities, including the La Ha, face challenges of preservation and transmission. Customs such as long uxorilocal residence, household taboos, ritual dances and hair buns by marital status are cultural features that need objective recognition and study, respecting differences between communities and local subgroups within the same ethnic group.

Existing documents show that some La Ha cultural features resemble those of the Thai in the Northwest, such as ancestor worship in the hong section, women's hair buns, or use of the Thai calendar. These similarities result from long-term cultural exchange in the same ecological and historical space, not from copying or cultural dependence.