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The
Ro mam have about 230 people inhabiting in
Le village, Mo Rai commune. Sa Thay district
of Kon Tum province. Ro mam language belongs
to the Mon-Khmer Group.
The Ro mam live mainly from cultivation on
burnt-over land. Sticky rice is their staple
food. Cultivation techniques are
traditionally done, men dig holes by two
sticks and women go behind them to put seeds
into the holes and cover them with soil.
Hunting and gathering play a fairly
important role in their economic life. Among
extra occupations, weaving was most
developed but it has declined now, because
the Ro-mam used to buy industrial goods sold
in the market.
Ro
mam women used to wear jupes and shins with
short sleeves. The jupes are made from
coarse cloth without decoration and fall
down below their knees. Men wear loincloths,
front lap hang over their knees and back lap
fall down to their shins. According to old
custom, young people have tour to six of
their upper teeth filed for aesthetic
reasons. Nowadays, they do not follow this
practice. Women like to wear earrings,
bracelets and necklaces made from glass
beads.
The village of the
Ro-mam is called a de headed by an old chief
who enjoys the trust of all the villagers.
The Le village now comprises only about 10
houses and a rong (communal house). Each
family comprises 10-20 persons of various
generations who have blood ties. The couples
live under the same roof, but each nuclear
family forms its own economic unit.
Each house has a corridor running the length
of the house. The central part of the house
serves as a reception area for guests and a
place for common entertainments of all
nuclear families.
The Ro mam's matrimonial rites are performed
in two steps: engagement and wedding.
Several days after the wedding, the young
couple may divorce, but when they have lived
together for a long time they do not want to
divorce. When a person dies, his or her body
is placed in the house for one or two days
before burial. The cemetery is located in
the west of the village and the tombs are
arranged in a certain order. At the burial,
the face of the deceased is turned in the
direction away from the village. The
cemetery never be located to the east for
fear that the deceased will go through the
village like the sun does. The Ro mam's
beliefs are related to agriculture. Rituals
and ceremonies are held in the production
cycle from starting slash and fire land to
carrying rice to the houses. These are
communal activities of the villagers which
are preserved up to now |