Name of ethnic group: Mong (H'Mong): (Mong Do, White Mong, Mong Lenh (Variety Mong), Mong Si (Red Mong), Mong Du (Black Mong) and Mong Sua (Man Mong).
Population: 787,604 people (Year 1999).
The Mong are concentrated in Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Lai Chau, Son La, Cao Bang and Nghe An provinces.
Each
lineage lives within a group setting. The head of the village assumes
the common affairs for the lineage. Young Mong men and women are free
to choose their partners. Marriages are absolutely forbidden between
men and women of the same lineage. Matrimonial life of the Mong is very
harmonious and divorce is very rare.
Mong language belongs to
the Mong-Dao Group. The Traditional Tet (New Year's Day) of the Mong is
organized every December. They refrain from eating green vegetables
during the three days of the Tet Holiday. The musical instruments of
the Mong include various kinds of "
khen"
(pan-pipes) and lip organs. After a hard working day and to celebrate
spring, the young men and women often play "khen" and lip organs to
express their feelings for their partners.
The Mong live mainly
on slash-and-burn cultivation. They also grow rice and corn on terraced
fields. Their principal food plants are corn,
rice, and rye. Apart from these crops, they also grow medicinal plants and linen plants to supply the fibers for cloth weaving.
