Who are the Ro Mam people and where do they live?
The Ro Mam are one of the 54 recognized ethnic groups in Vietnam, according to the official list of Vietnamese ethnic groups. As of the 1 April 2019 survey of 53 ethnic minorities, the Ro Mam population is 639 people, making them one of the smallest ethnic groups in the country.
In terms of residence, the Ro Mam live concentrated in Le village, Mo Rai commune, Sa Thay district, Kon Tum province. According to village elders, they have lived in this area since ancient times. In the early 20th century, their population was larger, spread across 12 villages and living alongside the Gia Rai. Today they live concentrated in a single village.
Administratively, Ro Mam is the official name in the list of 54 ethnic groups. In older documents the name is sometimes written Ro-mam. It should be clearly distinguished: this is the name of an ethnic group in the official list, not a local subgroup or a branch of another ethnic group.
Which language group does the Ro Mam language belong to?
The Ro Mam language belongs to the Mon-Khmer language group of the Austroasiatic family. According to documented sources, Ro Mam has been influenced by many elements of the Khmer language and is close to the speech of some groups within the Xo Dang ethnic group.
The Ro Mam today are fluent in the languages of several ethnic groups, including the common national language. This reflects long-standing cultural and economic exchange between the Ro Mam community and neighbouring peoples, especially the Gia Rai and groups within the Xo Dang.
A very small ethnic group being fluent in multiple languages is common among small communities living intermingled in a multi-ethnic region. At the same time, the mother tongue is still preserved in family and community life.
What livelihoods do the Ro Mam people rely on?
The Ro Mam live mainly by swidden farming, growing glutinous rice as the main crop, with a little ordinary rice, maize and cassava. They use clearing knives and axes to fell trees, and fire to burn the fields. When sowing, they use two dibble sticks and a seed tube. Their hands remain the main tool for threshing rice.
Hunting and gathering still play an important economic role. Catching fish in streams is quite effective using hands, baskets, traps and poisonous leaves. Among household sidelines, cotton growing and weaving receive the most attention. The cloth they wove formerly supplied the family's clothing needs and also served as goods exchanged for fuel oil, salt and iron tools they could not make themselves.
The table below summarizes some features of Ro Mam traditional economy and daily life:
| Domain | Recorded features |
|---|---|
| Cultivation | Swidden farming, mainly glutinous rice, plus ordinary rice, maize, cassava |
| Farming tools | Clearing knife, axe, two dibble sticks, seed tube |
| Hunting and gathering | Plays an important economic role |
| Fishing | Using hands, baskets, traps and poisonous leaves |
| Sideline crafts | Cotton growing and weaving are the most developed |
| Transport | The carrying basket is the main means, woven with patterns using black-dyed strips |
| Food and drink | Glutinous rice roasted in bamboo tubes, eaten with soup and salt with chilli; rice wine drunk from jars at festivals |
| Traditional dress | Men wear loincloths, women wrap skirts, undyed white cloth |
What is notable about village organization and social relations?
The village is headed by a village elder, the oldest man in the village, elected by the people's trust. The traditional village is a neighbouring community. All members relate to one another on the basis of equality in duties and rights.
The Ro Mam relate not only within the village but also with other villages and ethnic groups through the exchange of goods and marriage. Social relations here still retain fairly strong remnants of the matrilineal period at a stage of rapid transition to patrilineal descent.
In traditional settlement, the village is built in a fixed order. Houses are long stilt houses built in succession around the communal house. The main door of every house faces the communal house, and the family houses' area is the playground. A protective fence surrounds the village. Each roof usually has several hearths. Each married couple lives in a partitioned room with its own hearth. The central bay of the house is where guests are received.
In Le village, Mo Rai commune, Sa Thay district, Kon Tum province, each family now lives in a tall, wide, airy house with wooden walls and tiled roof built by the State. Although the old-style houses no longer exist, the festival poles for the buffalo sacrifice are still erected every year, with rows of poles rising above the roof height and the trees. That is the combination of tradition and modernity in Le village of the Ro Mam today.
How are Ro Mam worship customs practised?
The Ro Mam hold an animist worldview. Human souls after death are also powerful and mysterious supernatural forces. These are the entities they worship to pray for a better life.
One of the supernatural forces most worshipped is the rice spirit. They make offerings to the rice spirit on the day of sowing, when the rice forms ears, and before threshing day, to pray for a bountiful swidden season. The worship system is thus closely tied to the swidden farming cycle, reflecting the community's agricultural economy.
In all rituals carried out according to the production cycle or the human life cycle, animals such as chickens, pigs or buffaloes are sacrificed. Sacrifice is an inseparable part of religious practice, expressing communication between people and supernatural forces according to the community's beliefs.
It should be noted that these are traditional religious practices recorded in ethnographic sources, described as part of the community's culture. The sources do not set out to assess the spiritual efficacy of these practices.
What are the main festivals of the Ro Mam people?
The biggest festival is usually held after the swidden harvest. Families in the village hold celebratory ceremonies in turn, possibly one family per day or one household every 4 to 5 days, slaughtering pigs and chickens, or even organizing a buffalo sacrifice to invite villagers. This is an occasion for the community to gather and share the fruits of their labour after a season.
After the new rice festival comes a series of weddings of young men and women and the grave abandonment ceremony for the dead. Thus the rituals of the production cycle and the human life cycle are closely linked, taking place in the period after harvest.
Regarding the grave abandonment ceremony, the Ro Mam often use a drum to announce a death in the house. The body is placed in front of the house, head facing inward, face turned sideways. Burial takes place one or two days later. Graves are arranged in rows so that the face of the dead does not look toward the village. A few graves hold 2 to 3 people together, usually family members.
In the grave abandonment ceremony, two people wearing masks, one male and one female, beat drums and dance. The male mask has two horns on the head, the female mask has two fangs. At the end of the ceremony, the two masks are hung on the grave house. A typical feature of traditional Ro Mam grave house architecture is the image of pairs of elephant tusks, elaborately carved, on top of the four posts erected at the corners of the grave house.
What is special about Ro Mam marriage and childbirth?
Ro Mam marriage usually goes through two main steps, the engagement feast and the wedding. The wedding is simple, just a communal meal for villagers to witness and congratulate the first shared meal of the bride and groom. Their marriage is in a stage of transition to patrilineal descent. After the wedding, the young couple lives at the wife's house for 4 to 5 years then moves to the husband's house, or alternates residence between both sides. Divorce is very rare.
Regarding childbirth, Ro Mam women formerly gave birth in a small house in the forest. The newborn's umbilical cord was cut with bamboo or a sharp leaf. Each village has one or two midwives, older women with much experience in childbirth. Women must avoid certain fatty foods from pregnancy until the child is 3 years old. Recently they give birth at home. On that day strangers may not enter; anyone who violates this is kept in the house until the taboo period ends, and the child is given the stranger's name.
When raising a child, especially when carrying a child far away, Ro Mam women wear on their heads a ring believed to ward off evil spirits. On the ring, besides bunches of coloured thread and small bronze bells, there is a yellow tham hui tuber grown by the family in the field.
What are Ro Mam dress and folk arts like?
In traditional society, Ro Mam men wear loincloths hanging to the calves at the back. Women wrap skirts and go bare-chested, some wearing short-sleeved shirts. Skirts and loincloths are the white colour of undyed cloth. Women like to wear earrings made of ivory, bamboo or wood. Young men and women both cut 4 or 6 upper front teeth on reaching adulthood.
In folk arts, the folk melodies, courtship songs of young men and women, stories told by elders, and the instrument set of gongs, drums and various stringed instruments and flutes made from bamboo in the forest are the main elements forming the folk arts of the people here.
Why should the Ro Mam be clearly distinguished from other ethnic groups?
The Ro Mam are a separate ethnic group in the list of 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups, with an official name and its own place in the list. Clear distinction helps avoid confusion with ethnic groups with similar-sounding names or neighbouring relations, such as the Gia Rai, Xo Dang or other groups in the Central Highlands.
It should also be noted that names such as Flower Hmong, White Hmong and Black Hmong are branches of the Hmong ethnic group, not three separate ethnic groups. Similarly, when speaking of local groups of an ethnic group, the correct term branch or group should be used, not ethnic group, if that group is not in the official list.
For the Ro Mam, available sources describe a concentrated community with its own language in the Mon-Khmer group, and a system of worship and festivals tied to the swidden cycle. These are cultural features that need to be correctly identified in the overall picture of Vietnam's ethnic communities.
What has changed in population and current life?
As of the 1 April 2019 survey of 53 ethnic minorities, the Ro Mam population is 639 people. Previously, according to the 2009 Population and Housing Census, the figure was 436. The change in figures reflects different survey points, not a statement about a trend.
In terms of life, in Le village, Mo Rai commune, Sa Thay district, Kon Tum province, each family now lives in a tall, wide, airy house with wooden walls and tiled roof built by the State. The festival poles for the buffalo sacrifice are still erected every year, showing that traditional rituals are still maintained in community life.
Overall, the Ro Mam are a very small ethnic group, concentrated in residence, with their own language and a system of religious practices and festivals tied to swidden farming. Learning about this ethnic group contributes to a fuller picture of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups, each with its own cultural features that deserve recognition.
