Among Vietnam’s ethnic groups, the Tay is the second largest grou. According to statistic in 2009, there are 1.7 million Tay people are living in Viet Nam. Most Tay people are living in the north of Viet Nam, in particular in: Cao Bang, Lang Son, Bac Kan, Thai Nguyen, and Quang Ninh province.They always live along the valeys or lower slopes of mountains an they ussually grow water rice and sweet potato.
The villages of Ta people are ussually set at the mountains’ feet and named after the mountains, rivers, and fields. Normally, the village is not very large, it concludes about 15- 20 households.
Costume:
Tay people ussually wear skirts or sarongs which go down to the knee, and are split up the right side with five buttons along the armpit and narrow sleeves. In fact, nowadays, due to the cutural exchange, in many place, they do not wear traditional custom and wear cassual clothes like Kinh people instead,
Language
The Tay people speak the Tày language, among other Tai dialects. Literacy in their own language is quite low among Tày people, probably around 5% or less. Dialects include Central Tày, Eastern Tày, Southern Tày, Northern Tày, Tày Trung Khanh, Thu Lao, and Tày Bao Lac. There is a continuum of dialects to southern Zhuang in China.
Festival:
Like other ethnic groups, Tay people ussually has many festivals in a year but the bigest and most significant are:
- Lồng tồng (literally: “Going down the rice paddy”) celebrated after New Lunar Year Festival to pray for yield.
- Tăm khảu mảu (literally: “Braying the young rice”) celebrated as the rice is going to become ripe.