http://www.vietnam-culture.com/cham-ethnic-group.aspx

 

 

 

Other name: Cham, Chiem, Chiem Thanh Cham Pa, Hoi, etc
Local groups: Cham Hroi, Cham Poong, Cha Va Ku and Cham Chau Doc.

Population: 98,971 people

Language: Cham language belongs to the Malyo-Polynesian language family.

History: The Cham, who have lived along the coast of central Vietnam for a long time, possess a rich culture profoundly influenced by Indian culture. Until the 17th century, the Cham had successfully maintained their own nation, known as Cham Pa. The local population is composed of two groups: those living in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan believing in Brahmanism, with a smaller group following Bani (old Islam). Those residing in Chau Doc, Tay Ninh, Dong Nai and House Chi Minh City follow what is referred to as new Islam.

Production activities: The Cham have a tradition of wet rice cultivation. They are experienced in intensive farming and gardening and use irrigation. Apart from wet rice cultivation, the Cham also cultivate an annual crop of rice on dried swidden fields located on the mountainsides. Meanwhile the economy of the Cham living in the South is characterized by fishing, agriculture, textile weaving and small-scale enterprise. Handicrafts are fairly well-developed, especially silkworm textiles and handmade pottery wares that are baked in open kilns. The Cham engaged early on in external trade with other population, as the central coast used to be a busy hub for commercial transactions by famous merchant ships.

Diet: The Cham eat rice cooked in large and small earthen pots. It is often accompanied by fish, meat and bulb vegetables, which are obtained from hunting, gathering, husbandry and agricultural production. Popular drinks are rice and can (pipe) wines. Betel chewing is very important to people’s daily life and traditional rituals.

Clothing: Both men and women wear long one-piece sarongs or cloth wrappers. Men wear shirts fastened down the center with buttons, while women wear long-sleeved pullover blouses. The main color of their daily dress is cotton white. Nowadays, the Cham dress like the Viet in other parts of central Vietnam, with long-sleeved blouses which is only worn by elderly women.

Lifestyle: The majority of Cham live in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. They build their houses on the ground, with the rooms being arranged according to a particular order: the sitting room, rooms for the parents, children, and married women, the kitchen and warehouse (including the granary), and the nuptial room of the youngest daughter.

Transportation: Te chief means of transporting goods and produces is the back-basket. The Cham are also expert boat builders, which serves river and sea fishing. They also make heavy-weight buffalo carts for transporting large quantities of goods by land.

Social organization: The Cham family is traditionally matriarchal, though in the past Cham society was a feudal one. In areas where people follow Islam, the family structure may be somewhat patriarchal, although traces of matriarchal still exist in family relationships and ancestors worship. The local population was originally divided into two major family lineages, including Cau and Dua, such as the Nie and Mlo of Ede then became a working class, while the Dua was the class of aristocracy and priests. Under each lineage were the mother-governed sub-lineages, always headed by an aged woman, of the youngest lineage. The lineages can have numerous family branches. The ancient Cham society also set out ranks for different social classes, including that of the ancient Indian society. The social classes lived in different areas, and there were certain barriers between them that prevented cross-marriage, co-existence in the same village, eating from a shared tray of food.

Marriage:  Cham women take the initiative in marriages. The couple lives with the wife’s family, and children are named after the family name of the mother. Wedding gifts are prepared by the bride’s family. Monogamy is a principle of all marriages.

Funerals: Cham traditions have two forms of sending the deceased to the world beyond: burial and cremation. Brahmanists often cremate the deceased according to their religious principles, while other Cham bury their loves ones. Members of the same family lineage are buried in the same place as their mother.

Building a New House: the Cham living in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan believe that they have to perform certain religious rituals before the building of a new house, particularly praying for the land’s god and asking for his permission to cut down trees in the forest. A ritual is also held to receive the trees when they are transported to the village. A ground-breaking ceremony called phat moc is also held.

Festivals:  Various agricultural rites are performed each year. These include ceremonies for the opening of a canal and embankment, for young rice, for the appearance of paddy ears. The most important event, called Bon Kate, is held by the Cham towers in the tenth moth of the lunar year.

Calendar: The Cham make their agricultural schedule based on the lunar calendar.

Education: The Cham developed their own writing system early. Many literary works written on stelae and ancient manuscripts are still preserved today. The Cham script is based upon Sanskrit, but its use is limited to the upper classes of the aristocracy and priests. Instruction and professional training is essentially transmitted orally and by memorization.

Artistic activities: Among the more striking Cham musical instruments are their drums with leather drum heads, called Paranung, cylindrical drums, and the xaranai clarinet. Cham folk songs and ancient Cham music have influenced considerably the music and folk songs of the Viet people in the central parts of Vietnam, particularly cylindrical drum music, songs relating sad or tragic stories, and traditional songs of Hue. Traditional Cham dances are also found in the important annual event of Ban Kate held by the Cham towers.

Games: Children are font of games such as kite flying, mock combats, flag seizing, hide and seek, etc.

 

 

Memories Of A Cham Bard http://www.vietnamheritage.com.vn/pages/en/9121141240234-Memories-of-a-Cham-bard.html

Muwdon Gru Han Phai, foreground, with a baranung, and fellow Cham musician Photo: Inrasara Vietnam Heritage, June-July 2011 — As a member of a Champa performing arts group, Muwdon Gru Han Phai – ‘Muwdon Gru’ is a priestly title – sang on prestigious platforms in Saigon and performed at thousands of Cham festivals. He trained many Cham artists and was a live specimen for many researchers on the culture of Champa. Muwdon Gru was also in the highest rank of priests of the middle religious sect, which synthesizes Cam Hier (Brahmanic or Hindu Champa) with Cam Awal (also called Cham Bani or Islamic Champa), overcoming conflict between these two religions. A muwdon gru directs rites and festivities and is at the same time an all-round artist, singing, dancing and playing all kinds of traditional instruments from the ginơng, a pair of drums with one face of deerskin and the other of buffalo skin and beaten with sticks, and baranung, a single-faced drum beaten with the hands, to the samarai, a wooden or ivory flute. Mr Han Phai (as he can also be called) came from the village of Mi Nghiep, in the province of Ninh Thuan, in southern Central Vietnam, which is considered the most ancient Cham village, dating back more than a thousand years. He wandered among Cham villages playing a baranung and reciting epics. More than a dozen long, originally oral poems, eventually written down and kept in Cham villages, claim his authorship. When I was a young man, I heard about the wandering bard Han Phai in all villages. During festivals, sometimes a week long, when the work in the fields and dinner were over, he led several disciples to my village in the twilight. Hundreds of people from surrounding villages gathered and waited for his chanting of the folklore of Champa. With only a baranung, he sat on a reed mat in an open court and performed a poem to make us laugh, cry or become quiet. His invention, knowledge of tradition and echoing bass attracted rustic men and women, who could stay still daybreak. I left my village to go to high school in town, at the age of eleven. Three decades later memories of him seemed to vanish in my mind. Only when eventually I became a peasant again could I reach him. He was over seventy. I rode my bicycle to his cultivated land two cigarettes from the village. He welcomed me with the same wrinkled eyes and sad smile. When I asked him about any record there might be of the legend he had chanted during the festivals, he said that nothing had been written down. Again a characteristic of Cham people: to want to live and leave no trace. ‘No need to write down. They are all in here,’ he said, pointing his finger to his left breast. I had to persuade him to recite once more for me to record. He seemed lacking in enthusiasm. He was reluctant and forgot at many points. I understood. The chanted legends must be performed in a festival space, with its atmosphere. The epic is a particular genre of Cham folk performance. Even when they are written down, the chants are always reinvented by different muwdon gru and a muwdon gru sings different versions for different occasions. Numerous versions come into being. ‘Wait for me a little while,’ he said, and he brought a baranung from inside. ‘Now, we are off!’ Then he sang, with the rhythm of the beating of the drum. In the old days the Kalong mountain was cold and silent Today the mountain has Poharim In the old days, the Kalong land was sad and quiet Today the land has the villages . . . So great a talent, but, perhaps a decade after his death, when I found my way to his home, the family had kept nothing of his work. He was a player to the limit, then stopped. The poet wanted to leave the evanescence of his poetry. Such great works are the condensation of the sacred spirit of heaven and earth, the Cham people think, so they are anonymous. Note: Formed at the end of the second century of the common era and occupying the greater part of present Central Vietnam, the kingdom of Champa was gradually restricted southward and completely disappeared at the end of the 18th century. Presently, with a population of over 150,000, the Chams are living sporadically throughout Central and Southern Vietnam, in villages and hamlets. Their main occupations are farming, weaving, husbandry and pottery. Classical Cham architecture and sculpture is among the world’s best. My Son, in Quang Nam Province, is a World Heritage Site. The Chams practiced Hinduism and Buddhism and then Islam. These three great religious traditions blended into a new faith called Sham Bani. The Cham people are matrilineal. *Inrasara is a Cham and well known expert on Cham culture.

By Inrasara *