In the pace of modern life, cultural values are easily forgotten. The traditional community house of the Dao people in Ba Che contributes to preserving the long-standing cultural features of the Dao people in this mountainous district of Quang Ninh.
Unique traditional community house of the Dao people in Ba Che, Quang Ninh
Ba Che is a mountainous locality where many ethnic minorities live together, of which more than 40% of the population belongs to the Dao ethnic group with two branches, Dao Thanh Y and Dao Thanh Phan, who through generations have continued to enrich its cultural colors.
Traditional community house of the Dao people. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
The traditional community house of the Dao people in Nam Hai village, Nam Son commune was inaugurated to continue the journey of rediscovering traditional cultural values in the northeastern region of Quang Ninh, and to serve and meet the worshipping needs of the indigenous Dao community.
Recreation at the traditional house. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
The structure was built in the traditional half-stilt, half-earthen house style with a total area of over 1,600 square meters. This cultural space was conceived by Dao elders who have strived to preserve their ethnic identity amidst the rapid and strong changes of modern society.
Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
The traditional community house of the Dao people consists of 2 floors, with the 1st floor dividing the exhibition space into 2 distinct areas: Dao Thanh Y and Dao Thanh Phan. Each area features hundreds of artifacts that richly recreate customs, tools, and implements used in labor, production, and daily life.
Reenactment of the Cap Sac ritual. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
The artifacts are all restored intact from real life or even brought directly from Dao communities across Ba Che district. They include traditional Dao costumes that are like vibrant, exquisite works of art conveying concepts of the cosmos and human life through embroidered and printed patterns.
Reenactment of the fire dancing ritual. Photo: Dan Toc Newspaper.
Each Dao person has their own attire, intricately woven and embroidered. Grandmothers and mothers teach their children embroidery from childhood. Dao young women make the most beautiful outfits themselves to wear on their wedding day and during festive seasons, because clothing is an important element shaping the unique identity of the Dao people.
Ban Vuong Festival. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
The components of the Dao Thanh Y women's attire include an undershirt, tunic, trousers, headscarf, belt, leggings, pink tassels, and bead clusters. In Ba Che, the costume has been preserved quite intact with all of its constituent elements.
In another area are images and artifacts of the Cap Sac ritual, the most important ceremony in Dao culture, marking the coming of age of Dao men.
Ban Vuong Festival at the Dao community traditional house. Photo: VOV.
During the Cap Sac ritual, the initiate is given a religious name; after undergoing this ceremony, the man is recognized as a descendant of Ban Vuong (King Pan), granted the right to become a ritual master, assigned spirit soldiers, and permitted to worship ancestors.
The Cap Sac ceremony is a very distinctive ritual in Dao culture, containing profound educational values and life philosophy, guiding descendants toward truth, goodness, and beauty.
Thanh Y Dao traditional attire. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper.
Not only through costumes and rituals, Dao culture in Ba Che is also clearly reflected in daily life, especially through tools inherited across generations. Like many other ethnic minorities, the hearth is not only for cooking food but also plays an important role in spiritual culture.
The Cap Sac ritual of the Dao people in Quang Ninh. Photo: Quang Ninh Newspaper
Each artifact on display at the Dao community traditional house carries its own story, embodying the distinctive characteristics of the Dao people blended into the cultural flow of fraternal ethnic groups living harmoniously in the northeastern land of the fatherland.
These cultural materials partly reflect the formation and development of the Dao community in Ba Che, offering many valuable historical lessons and inspiring patriotism and ethnic pride among generations of Dao people.
