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Pa Then people
The Pà Thẻn (or Pá Hưng; Vietnamese: người Pà Thẻn) are Pa-Hng-speaking people classified as an ethnic group of Vietnam. Most Pà Thẻn live in Hà Giang and Tuyên Quang provinces, located in Vietnam's Northeast region. Their Pa-Hng language belongs to the Hmong–Mien language family. In 2019, there are 8,248 Pà Thẻn living in Vietnam. SubsistenceBefore 1970, the Pà Thẻn practiced slash-and-burn (swidden) cultivation (Vu 2013:70-71). The Pà Thẻn began to switch to wet-rice cultivation starting in 1970, and from 1993 onwards, most Pà Thẻn had given up slash-and-burn cultivation. Currently the Pà Thẻn grow various kinds of rice, including large-grained glutinous rice, long-grained glutinous rice, red glutinous rice, and non-glutinous rice varieties. Traditionally, the Pà Thẻn grew rice, maize, cassava, sesame, cassava, taro, lettuce, calabash, luffa, colocynth, sweet gourd, beans, and Chinese peas as food crops. The Pà Thẻn also planted various spices such as basil, shallot, spring onion, garlic, ginger, crocus, red pepper, lesser galangal, citronella, eryngium, perilla, and marjoram. Sugarcane was also planted as well as fruit trees such as tangerine, guava, banana, grapefruit, lychee, longan, jackfruit, orange, and papaya. In traditional Pà Thẻn slash-and-burn cultivation, crops that are to be harvested earlier are planted on the outside of the field, while later crops are planted in the middle. Seeds are sowed in the second lunar month, and harvests take place in the seventh lunar month or the late tenth lunar month. When rice ripens, pincers are used to cut each ear of rice. The Pà Thẻn raise various animals such as water buffaloes, pigs, cattle, chickens, ducks, goats, and dogs (Vu 2013:86). ReligionCosmologyThe Pà Thẻn believe that the universe was created by the god Quơ Vo and the goddess Me Quơ O (Vu 2013:122-127). Pà Thẻn cosmology divides the universe into four parts.
Benevolent spirits include the ancestral ghosts, the stove god, the room god, the door god, the soil god, Quơ Vo, and Me Quơ O. However, these spirits can also cause disease and crop failures when upset. Malevolent spirits include ghosts of people who die sudden deaths, the Forest spirit, the Cliff spirit, and plant spirits. Each god is worshiped using different rituals (Vu 2013:122-127).
Ancestral worshipMost Pà Thẻn families have two altars dedicated to ancestral worship, namely a primary altar and a minor (subordinate) altar. Ancestral worship is carried out on the following occasions (Vu 2013:122-127).
Fire Dancing FestivalThe Pà Thẻn for celebrate the Fire Dancing (or Fire Jumping) Festival from the late 10th lunar month to the mid-1st lunar month (Vu 2013:130-131). A priest (sorcerer) plays the tầy nhậy, a wooden plank about 30 centimeters (1 ft) wide and 1 meter (3 ft) long that is played using a small bamboo stick and balanced by an iron ring (Vu 2013:169). Five to seven dancers usually participate. The priest calls out the following gods to induce the dancers into trances.
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