Mythologies of the Alak/Hrlak Tribe

January 02, 2024

The Alak or Hrlak are an Austroasiatic ethnic group of southern Laos, living mainly in Salavan Province. They speak the Alak language. a lot is known of their history, though as an Austroasiatic-speaking group, their origin is presumably in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Nowadays, most Alak live in scattered villages of between ten and sixty houses, traditionally built in a circular pattern around a communal house. Houses are normally built on stilts about a metre high. The main diet and trading staple is rice, farmed with the slash-and-burn method, although small game, fish, and various plants and mushrooms provide additional food. Religious beliefs involve a range of supernatural beings, including spirits of mountains, forests and other natural features. Most villages have a shaman who helps cure the sick and predict the future for the village. The dead are typically buried in graveyards in the forest.

Alak is another ethnic group coming from the Laos Seung Group. The special feature which makes it different from other minorities in the same group is housing. House of Alak people is often built on stilts which is one meter higher above the ground. The communal house will be the center of a village and other normal houses are built around it in a circular pattern. Moreover, the facial taboo is their very traditional custom for women in the past and right now is discouraged by the Laotian government.

The Alak ethnic group lives in southern Laos. The highest concentration of Alak is found in Xekong Province. Others are found in Saravan and Attapu provinces. Many communities in the area are difficult to visit because of lack of roads, although in one location, foreign tourists can visit an Alak village by riding elephants from Tadlo Resort. In some places the Alak have integrated with the Katu and it is difficult to tell the two groups apart. The Alak like to arrange their palm and thatch houses in a circle around a communal house. Many work on coffee plantations that were planted by the French in the early 1900s. Others work on rubber and banana plantations. The Alak have retained most of their customs and many women wear traditional dress. In the past, Alak women tattooed their faces, but this custom is now dying out. Alak society is traditionally matriarchal. The women lead the family, keep control of finances, and make all major decisions that affect the community. There are several clans among the Alak, named after certain types of animals such as pigs, buffalos and chickens. These animals are considered sacred by the members of each clan, who are not allowed to eat them.

There are about 17,000 Alak in southern Laos..They are a matriarchal society and women lead the family in terms of finances and other areas. The Alak are also into animism and chickens, buffalo and other animals will be sacrificed to placate offending spirits. Strangely, pigs may be considered sacred to certain members of an Alak clan and they won’t be eaten – ever. So in effect these animals can either be sacrificed or they are not allowed to be touched at all, depending on the clan, the person and the agenda at hand. The most distinctive feature of the Alak are their houses. Each village might have between a dozen and sixty houses. A communal house will be in the center and the other houses will be in a circular pattern around it. Their houses are about four feet off the ground and are built on stilts. We met a friendly Alak woman who was holding a huge bamboo pipe, while carrying her baby. The Alak are known for their weaving and they also sacrifice buffalos during their annual festival. Usually each village has a shaman and they are called upon to heal the sick.

The Alak are a central upland group of southern Laos. In 1981 their population was estimated at about 3,000, representing a near doubling of the population since the early 1960s. The Alak speak Alak (Krlak), a Mon-Khmer, Austroasiatic language. Another small group in southern Laos also speaks a language called Alak and calls itself "Alak," although the two groups and their languages are distinct. They are primarily swidden rice horticulturalists who derive some additional income from wage labor. Their religion continues to be basically animist; animal sacrifices and predictions by village sorcerers are important elements.

Alak is a language spoken by some 4,000 people in southern Laos, especially in the Provinces of Salavan and Sekong (where the Alak people make up over a fifth of the population). It is closely related to the language spoken by the Bahnars of Vietnam. It includes two dialects, Alak proper and Harak.