Mythologies of the Mnông Tribes

The Mnong or Munong people (Vietnamese: người Mơ-nông) are an ethnic group mainly living in Central Highlands and Southeast regions of Vietnam, and Eastern region of Cambodia. They are made up of many smaller groups: Mnong Gar, Mnong Nông, Mnong Chil, Mnong Kuênh, Mnong Rlâm, Mnong Preh, Mnong Prâng, Mnong Ðíp, Mnong Bhiêt, Mnong Sitô, Mnong Bu Ðâng, Mnong Bu Nor, Mnong Bu Ðêh. Every group speaks a variant of the Mnong language, which along with Koho language, is in the South Bhanaric group of the Mon–Khmer family. The M’Nong have a rich cultural heritage that includes many epics, legends, proverbs, and songs. Gongs, buffalo horn flutes, jew’s harp, the monochord, and lithophone are their popular traditional musical instruments. Epics (Mnong language: Ot N'rong - Ot: telling by singing, N'rong: old story) take an important part in Mnong people's life. Many of these epics, such as Con đỉa nuốt bon Tiăng (Mnong language: Ghu sok bon Tiăng, English: The leech swallows Tiăng village), or Mùa rẫy bon Tiăng (English: The farming season of Tiăng village) are quite long.

The Shamanistic-Anamanistic Mnong tribe have been famed elephant catchers for hundreds of years and although elephant populations are declining they still use them for their traditional role of dragging logs in the forest. The Mnong culture is closely linked to elephants. For instance they believe that drinking elephant urine has medicinal properties and so not a drop is wasted! The Mnong live in houses built on stilts and like to drink alcohol from communal jars using pipes. Matriarchy is observed and the children take the family name of the mother. They believe in the existence of many spirits which are related to their life. One such spirit is mother rice which holds a special role. The Mnong file their teeth before marriage.

The Mnong comprise around 67,000 people in Vietnam's Central Highlands and around 20,000 in Cambodia's Mondolkiri Province (with a handful of families living in its northern provincial neighbor, Ratanakiri). Although these two populations belong in the same ethnolinguistic classification, each of their dialects is not understood by the other. Nor would it be if it were written: literacy is just beginning to reach the Mnong in Cambodia — a fascinating story by itself and told further down this page. Mnong literacy in Vietnam is also relatively recent. The Mnong language was studied extensively by the linguist Richard Phillips in the early 1970s. Once a part of the mighty Kingdom of Champa, which ruled this part of the world between the second and fifteenth centuries, the Mnong today are the ruled instead of the ruler. This change has had psychological effects, since the ownership and ruling of land plays a strong role in Mnong cultural heritage. Their rulers, in various forms, have included French colonialists (in both Vietnam and Cambodia), the US military (in Vietnam) and, most recently, the Khmer (in Cambodia) and the Viet (in Vietnam). Many Mnong villages have been displaced over the years by this turn in fortune, resulting in loss of land, livestock and other wealth. The Mnong are one of the groups recently (June, 2002) repatriated to the USA as political asylum seekers following protests at their treatment by their Viet rulers. They live a subsistence, agrarian life in which they are self-sufficient in food, growing mainly dry rice, corn, sweet potatoes, watermelon and cassava, yet they sell little produce. Recently the Mnong in Vietnam have cultivated coffee also, mainly as a cash crop. Traditionally semi-nomadic, slash-and-burn farmers, Vietnamese policy has made the Mnong sedentary in that country while, in Cambodia, UN- and NGO-funded programs are teaching them more sustainable approaches to agriculture.

The Mnông village is generally established at the foot of a mountain, by a river, a stream, or a lake which supplies water for daily use. Many Mnông groups live in houses built level with the ground (the Nông, Gar, Prâng, Preh and Si-to) and retain a great many traditional characteristics. Meanwhile, the houses-on-stilts of the Rlâm and the Chil are more or less faithful reproductions of those of the Ê-đê, theừ closest neighbours. The interior arrangement is also the same. In general, the Mnông house is mostly 20 to 30m (sometimes, 40m) long. Houses built level with the ground are wider, with the entrance door in the longest side. Houses-on-stilts are longer; the entrance and exit doors opening to the front. Even in houses built level with the ground, the rice store is situated just above the hearth — place for family gatherings. The houses of the Mnông Gar have thatched roofs reaching almost to the ground, and vaulted doorways. Until recently, the Mnông in remote regions still ate with hands, the food contained in bamboo tubes. Nowadays plates and bowls are widely used. At noon, the Muông Gar eat rice cooked in earthen pots, generally with sour soup. When they are working on milpas, this soup is carried with them in gourds. Their ordinary diet includes salt, dried fish, small game and all kinds of wild vegetables. They rear certain animals (buffaloes, pigs, chickens and ducks) but mainly, the sacrifice-making purpose. Alcohol is a drink of primary necessity. Tobacco is also smoked widely.

M’nong ethnic minority people live mostly in the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong, some in Binh Phuoc and Quang Nam provinces. Like other residents in the Central Highlands, the M'nông ethnic people live a subsistence, agrarian life in which they are self-sufficient in food, growing mainly dry rice, corn. Recently the M'nong in Vietnam develop industrial crops such as pepper, coffee, tourism service. The M’nong people raise cattle and poultry, even elephants. The local women are engaged in handicrafts weaving fabrics from cotton fibre while men make bamboo and rattan products like baskets and dossers. The M'nong language belongs to the Mon–Khmer language branch, Austroasiatic language family. M'nong people has many local groups such as: Mnông Gar, Mnông Nông, Mnông Chil, Mnông Kuênh, Mnông Rlâm, Mnông Preh, Mnông Prâng, Mnông Ðíp, Mnông Bhiêt, Mnông Sitô, Mnông Bu Ðâng, Mnông Bu Nor, Mnông Bu Ðêh. M'Nong people live according to Buon (Village). Each Buon has many families with close neighboring and blood relations. The village chief is the most influential person. The daily life of local people is greatly influenced by their experiences and traditional customs.

The Mnong are an ethnic minority of the Central Highlands concentrated in Dak Nong, Dak Lak, and Lam Dong provinces. In their long residence in these regions and with continuous creativity, the Mnong have created cultural characteristics shown in their customs, beliefs, and festivals. Life cycle rituals are one of them. From a comparative perspective, this article delves into the spiritual beliefs in two areas where many Mnong live, Dam Rong District (Lam Dong) and Dak Song District (Dak Nong), to find similarities and differences in the beliefs and expressions of their life cycle rituals. On that basis, some solutions are proposed to help preserve their ethnic identities through the life cycle rituals with the purpose of preserving the cultural diversity of the Mnong residents in the Central Highlands.