Phu la Ethnic Group
http://www.vietnametravel.com/phula-ethnic-group-i228.html
Proper name: Lao Va Xo, Bo Kho Pa, Fu La.
Other names: Xa Pho, Can Thin.
Local groups: Phu La Lao – Bo Kho Pa, Phu La Den, Phu La Han.
Population: 6,500 people (1999 census).
Language: Phula language belongs to the Tibeto-Burmese language group (of the Sino- Tibetan language family), very close to Burmese language.
History: The Phu La Lao – Bo Kho Pha groups are early residents in south-western Vietnam. Other groups came in later, about 200-300 years ago. The integration period of Phula Han group continued until the 1940s.
Production activities: The Phula live mainly on slash- and-burn cultivation of land plots and terraced fields. Their basketry is well-known for beautifully-decorated bam-boo and rattan products, especially the colorful baskets for storing clothes or food. For hunting, they use the crossbow and poisoned arrows. They cultivate cotton, weave cloth, and spin their own thread.
Diet: The Phula pound rice by hand each day using a mortar and pestle. They eat rice for their two main meals (in the morning and evening), a practice suitable with slash- and-burn cultivation. Sticky rice is used in rituals or for making cakes. Sticky rice and fish dishes, fried meat and pounded fried rice with spices, chili, mint, and vegetables are favorite dishes of the Phula.
Clothing: Women’s clothing varies from group to group. Women of the Phu La Lao – Bo Kho Pa group wear dresses and short blouses with a U-shape collar, embroidered with decorative motifs and glass bead attachments. The belt is adorned with the shells of mountain snails. In other groups, Phula women wear trousers, longer vests or short blouses buttoned under the arms. Phula men wear clothing with some unique characteristics, often with the back adorned with many glass bead attachments. Both Phula men and women carry cloth handbags.
Housing: The Phula live mainly in the provinces of Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Lai Chau. Their villages are far from their swidden or slash-and-burn fields. The inhabitants of Phu La Lao are divided into small hamlets. Other Phula groups live in larger clusters. In some places they live in stilt houses, while others live in houses built directly on the ground. The Phula rice granary is constructed far from the houses in order to avoid the danger of fires.
Transportation: The groups of Phu La Lao and Bo Kho Pa use baskets with head straps to transport a wide variety of items. In contrast, the groups of Phula Han and Phula Den use baskets with shoulder straps or the horse to transport their goods.
Social organization: Neighbors play an important role in Phula villages. They give mutual help at harvest time and will only have dinner with families they have helped. When one household has an important event (such as a wedding, funeral or building a house, etc.) they are sup- ported by other inhabitants in the village. There are many different lineages in the village and each lineage is divided into smaller lineage branches. In addition to names from Han, Han-Viet, Viet and Thai languages, the Phula also have names from their own ethnic language. Vestiges of totemic cults and ancestor veneration are particularly clear among the Phu La Lao group. The relationships between lineages are not very close.
Marriage: Phula young people are at liberty to have relations before marriage. Unmarried girls and boys usually gather at the house of the girlfriend or boyfriend and then sleep in the sitting room, the place reserved for unmarried people. When they fall in love the boy can sleep with his girlfriend. After several nights spent together harmoniously, the boy or the girl will return home to sleep. Then they will hold the engagement ceremony and wedding as usual. There is a custom of drinking wine at the wedding party and sing alternating verse songs. The groom can enter the bride’s house and then take the bride to the groom’s house. There are a number of Phula wedding customs: pulling and pushing the bride between the families of groom and bride; splashing dirty water and blackening to the face of the groom’s delegation before they return home; and returning to the bride’s house 12 days after the wedding day.
Funerals: The deceased is placed in the middle of the house, with the head in the direction of the altar. There is a large altar or chai in the front, and the top of chai is connected to the roof of the house. The water that was used to wash the face of the deceased is not poured away, but is left to evaporate on its own. When rice is worshipped, there must be a bowl of rice with a pair of chopsticks and a chicken (roasted or barbecued, but prepared without washing it or killing it by cutting its neck). During the funeral, the children of the deceased must spread straw around the coffin to use while sleeping. The coffin is made out of a wooden tree trunk and does not have a lid, but is just covered by the vau board or a wooden board. In a funeral, trumpets and drums are played. They bring the coffin to the cemetery where a grave had been dug. In some areas, the Phula also build a tomb for the deceased. During the burial, the Phula go to great lengths to ensure that the soul and vital force of those who attend the funeral rites and follow the funeral procession do not remain at the tomb or the cemetery.
Festivals: The Phula hold traditional Tet festivals, a May festival, a July festival and a new rice rituals ceremony.
Beliefs :The Phula pray to male ancestors for health and to female ancestors for bumper crops. The new rice worshipping ceremony takes place mainly in the sacred place of the female ancestors, and, during the course of the ritual, women are allowed eat rice before the others. Phula people have many rituals and beliefs relating. to the slash-and-burn practice of cultivating swidden fields. A new altar or chai must have a ritual before being put to use. Ritual specialists play an important role in Phula society. A ritual specialist provides his services on the January Tet Festival or July Tet Festival of the lunar calendar.
Education: Those Phula who live in the districts of Muong Khuong, Bac Ha, and Xin Man traditionally use Han characters and, in the northern area, use the Han language for daily communication.
Artistic activities: The Phula enjoy a rich heritage of folk literature, and many tales are close to those of the Viet people. The Phula play drums and trumpets. Youngsters like singing lyrical songs. The Phu La Lao group also dance to Thai folksongs and lyrics.
Entertainment: Children like playing swings, shuttle cock kicking, hide-and-seek, spinning top, etc. On the occasion of Tet festivals or ceremonies, adults also take part enthusiastically in these forms of entertainment.
| The Phù Lá | ||
| http://discoveryindochina.com/vietnam/ethnic_group/phula/
The Phu la have nearly 6,500 inhabitants living in the provinces of Lai Chau, Son La, Lao Cai and Ha Giang. The largest part settles in Lao Cai. The Phu la are also called Xa Pho, Bo Kho Pa, Mu Di Pa Pho and Va Xo. Phu la language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman Group. The Phu la worship their ancestors and believe in animism.
The Phu la live in separate villages, alternating with other ethnic groups such as the Mong, Dao and Tay. Each village contains about 10-15 households. The house is built in a simple way with three bays and two lean-tos and thatched roof.
The Phu la economic life mainly depends on farming in slash-and-burn plots and terraced fields. They rear buffaloes for draught power, horses for goods transport and pigs and poultry for meat. Basketry is well-known with beautiful decorated bamboo and rattan articles. These articles are much liked by the users and they often sell or barter them for commodity goods from other ethnic groups. Phu la men wear garments with some unique characters such as shirt open at the front with many glass bead figures in cross shape attached on its parts and stripes. Women dress is embroidered with many colorful motifs. In addition, they often cover a square-naked apron embroidered with motifs and attached with glass beads shaped in parallel lines or eight-wing stars.
The oldest men, village chiefs and lineage heads play a it great significant role in managing public affairs. The young people are not under the force of marriage. When they fall in love, the couple informs their parents to prepare feast to invite the two families’ relatives and at this feast the couple is given family approval for engagement. The wedding may be held one or two years later. According to custom, after marriage, the bride comes to live with her husband’s family. |