Little-Known Facts About the Nung Ethnic Group in Vietnam

The Nung people in Vietnam are the 7th largest ethnic group, with over 1 million members, scattered across 63 provinces and cities. The Nung are concentrated mostly in the Northern and Northeast mountainous provinces such as Ha Giang, Lang Son, and Cao Bang. The Nung ethnic group has a long historical tradition of development and has maintained many unique cultural customs and practices, further enriching the cultural identity of Vietnamese ethnicities.

The Nung people are divided into different branches, including Nung Xuong, Nung Giang, Nung An, Nung Loi, Nung Phan Sinh, Nung Chao, Nung Inh, Nung Quy Rin, and Nung Din. The Nung typically live in villages and hamlets with 30-70 households.

The Nung used to use Chinese characters or the Nung Nom script (developed around the 17th century) to record their poetry and folk tales. In the past, most Nung people were illiterate, with only the wealthy able to attend school, learning either Chinese or French, to become priests or interpreters. Nowadays, the majority of Nung people do not know how to write in their own script, and they all learn the Vietnamese national language.

In 1924, the Nung language was first recorded using the Latin alphabet, thanks to the French priest François M. Savina. The Summer Institute of Linguistics also had a writing system for the Phan Slình Nung people in southern Vietnam before 1975. In northern Vietnam, there is an additional Tay-Nung script based on the Vietnamese national alphabet from 1961.

Like many other ethnic groups in Vietnam, the Nung people mainly live in traditional stilt houses and earthen houses, as well as a type of house that is half-stilt, half-earthen. Nung houses are usually quite large and spacious, with tiled roofs. The houses are divided into two parts by a wooden partition wall. The inner part contains the kitchen and is where the women of the household carry out their activities, while the outer part is for the men and houses the ancestral altar.

Unlike some other ethnic groups, the Nung people’s attire is quite simple. Their clothes are usually made from coarse, indigo-dyed fabric with little to no embroidery or decoration. Men wear stand-collar shirts with a front opening and buttons, often with four or two pockets. Women wear five-piece blouses that fasten on the side, with contrasting fabric accents on the cuffs and chest area.

In terms of economic activities, the Nung people rely primarily on rice cultivation as their main source of livelihood. However, the natural economy of gathering and foraging still has a strong presence in the Nung community. Women often go to the forests and uplands carrying small baskets to collect wild vegetables, mushrooms, wood ear fungus, and other forest products to supplement their daily meals.

In addition to agricultural production, the Nung people engage in a variety of handicrafts that mainly serve their daily needs. Women grow cotton, spin thread, weave cloth, and dye indigo. Men work as blacksmiths, casters, weavers, woodworkers, and makers of do paper and yin-yang tiles. The Nung people are known for their diligence, filial piety towards elderly parents, and abundant human kindness, which are cherished traditions in their family relationships.

The Nung ethnic community has many unique festivals, customs, and cultural practices. One of the most famous is the “Lung Tung” festival (also known as the “Going to the Fields” festival), which is held annually in the first lunar month. The Nung people also place great importance on the Tomb Sweeping Festival (Qingming Festival), known as the “Han Thuc” festival, which is celebrated on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month to honor their ancestors. The Nung people have a rich folk culture, including a variety of traditional folk songs that deeply reflect their ethnic identity.