|
The Xtieng have a
population of more than 50.000 inhabitants
living in four northern districts of Song Be
province and a part of them lives in Dong
Nai and Tay Ninh provinces. They divide into
two groups: Bu Dec and Bu Lo. The people of
Bu Dec group live in lowland. They cultivate
rice in submerged fields and used oxen and
buffaloes as draught animals for a long
time. The Bu Lo group lives in up-land. They
mainly practice cultivation on burnt-over
land and settle near the M'Nong and the Ma.
The Xtieng are also called Xa-dieng. Xtieng
language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group.
Nowadays, the Xtieng mostly live in a
sedentary lifestyle. Each family has built
its own house. The Dieu is a popular family
name. Autonomy is a tradition of every
Xtieng village. Each village is led by an
elderly man who must be experienced in the
affairs of the community, dynamic, enjoys
the trust of the villagers and of course is
a man of property of the village. The
property consists of heads of buffaloes,
oxens, gongs, jars, necklaces. bracelets and
ornaments. The Xtieng can marry men or women
of other lineages. Ordinarily, the boys
of19-20 years-old and the girls, 15-17,
begin to choose their partners, After the
wedding, the bride comes to live in her
husband's house.
The Xtieng's costumes are generally simple.
Xtieng women wear skins and men loincloths.
In winter they cover with blankets. They
wear their hair long tied in a chignon back
their heads and insert wood or ivory
earrings into their earlobes or tattoo their
face and body with simple motifs. The Xtieng
young and old alike, like to wear necklaces
and bracelets. Even the children wear small
bells around their ankles.
The Xtieng believe in animism and mystical
power of the thunder, thunderbolt, heaven,
earth, moon and sun. The white offerings
such as white cocks, white piqs and white
buffaloes manifest the sacredness and power
of genies. The Xtieng calculate their age
according to every harvest gathered from
burnt-over land.
The Xtieng like
music, Their popular musical instrument is
the six-pattern gong sets. They retrain from
beating gongs outside of the houses, except
in the buffalo-stabbing rite. Gongs are
beaten at the rites and ceremonies and used
to show someone's feelings or solve
conflicts between the families. The Xtieng
also like to play bamboo pan-pipes. At the
end of the dry season, they use to release
kites.
|