Traditional festivals among the K'Ho minorities between tradition and modernity
The K'Ho minorities are a matriarchal society (children are named after their mother and the husband lives with his wife's family), located in Lam Dong province near Da Lat in Vietnam. They were renowned for their strength, indeed, large and strong men were often employed by other minorities to help them defend themselves.
Celebrations between tradition and modernity
Guests sit on small blue or red stools around a round table. There is no seating plan, the tables are filled as they are filled! Often men and women do not mix.
In each K'Ho party, we find a similar menu: as a starter, a fresh salad with raw vegetables and herbs in a mysterious but very tasty sauce, sticky rice (often with coconut) accompanied by roast chicken and beef which will be cooked on a small stove on the table, a soup of rice noodles, vegetables and fish which will also be cooked on the table: all the ingredients are brought as well as the broth, and for dessert, fruit!
The head of the family: The eldest woman will serve traditional brown rice wine in a small glass and tilt her head to invite the guest to drink! The honored guests will be invited into the house to drink first before the woman goes around the guests seated at the table.
Today, traditional dances have been replaced by karaoke where everyone will sing in turn and loudly enough the song they want and traditional costumes have often disappeared!! With the schooling of the younger generations, the K'Ho also celebrate the end of their children's studies (as the Vietnamese called the kinh do), we can understand the pride of these parents, who for the most part did not go to school much, to see their children follow the school benches and obtain a diploma!
Each festive occasion has its own specificity
Traditionally, a child's first birthday is a big celebration for the Vietnamese and also for the K'Ho minorities, because often children died in infancy. The celebration is quite calm, there is no karaoke!
The wedding party is quite quick, it is a lunch where families and friends are invited.
A year after the death of a family member, his children organize a death anniversary party with their relatives, this can bring together 200 people! On the menu buffalo, a typical dish of ethnic minorities whose skin and coagulated blood are cooked.
And if you are invited, what to do?
The K'Ho will be honored to invite a foreigner to their table and show him their traditions, so do them honor and do as they do! Apart from drinking when invited and not blowing your nose at the table, there are few faux pas and in any case fewer than in France.
