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The Brao ethnic people's traditional culture is at serious threat of dying out in the near future due to generational changes.
A Brao community holds a festival to celebrate getting their crops in the ground. --Photo Attapeu Provincial Tourism Office.
Attapeu provincial Information and Culture Department Deputy Director Mr Sisouphanh Sihalath said on Thursday that the original culture of the Brao community has already transformed in many ways.
He said Brao traditions could end with the present older generation because youngsters aren't showing an interest in preserving them.
The largest Brao community in Laos is in Phouvong district of Attapeu province, with 90 percent of the more than 20,000 locals identifying as Brao.
Mr Sisouphanh explained some of the long-held traditions of the Brao people, saying men typically wear a katiew, or loincloth. They tie up their hair, pierce large holes in their ears to wear large earrings of ivory or wood, and tattoo their chest, back and cheeks.
He added that Brao men and women have a tradition of cutting their teeth. “However, this practice is dying out as young Brao people won't cut their teeth or wear ivory earrings.”
“The Brao culture shares some similarities with various other ethnic groups in many ways, but is really quite unique.”
Mr Sisouphanh said women wear kado sinh (long striped skirts) with black and striped blouses. Their hair is worn in a short fringe, then rolled up and tied with red and white strings, using a wooden or ivory comb. Women tattoo their forehead, jaw and their bodies, and also wear large ivory or wooden earrings.
He said the younger generation doesn't wear large earrings like their parents do, with young women preferring modern-style earrings as is the trend nationwide. “But the large ivory earrings are still valuable assets that are traded and sold as ornaments.”
The earrings are expensive and older people in Phouvong district only wear them, along with brass bracelets, on special occasions such as festivals.
“If a woman wears many brass bracelets, it indicates the wealth of her family. Women wear brass bracelets of many shapes and sizes to match the contours of their arms.”
Mr Sisouphanh said most Brao people are animists, believing that all things are sacred and contain spirits that create and control the sky, land, rain, water, wind, life and death.
The Brao also have their own language and stage various festivals during almost every month of the year. For instance, before they start growing rice, they hold a festival to offer food and offerings to the rice field, household and village spirits to ask for their protection of the crops.
“They have a festival every time they finish and begin their farming activities to pass on information and build solidarity by drinking and eating together,” Mr Sisouphanh said.
When it comes to weddings, young Brao have freedom in choosing their spouse. The groom is responsible for asking a woman to marry. If a young couple desires to be married they first inform their parents and other relatives of their intentions. But a Brao wedding is quite different from others in Laos.
According to Mr Sisouphanh, a Brao man does not have to pay a dowry for his wife, but if he later separates from her, he has to give two large water buffalos, two fat pigs, chickens and locally brewed rice wine (lauw hai) to the woman's family. If the wife instigates the separation, she will have to pay a fine as the guilty party.
The wedding ceremony takes place over two days and is held at the bride's house. Afterwards, the husband must live in his wife's house for three years before he can return to his parent's house accompanied by his wife and children, or build his own house.
Once back at the husband's family home, the husband, wife and children may stay there indefinitely, if no one falls seriously ill. However, if there is a serious illness in the household, and it is believed the household spirits are not happy, the husband and his family will return to the wife's family home.
The Brao people bury their dead in a coffin made from a hollowed log. A funeral party is held where relatives and friends pay their respects by dancing and singing around the coffin. After a few days the body is buried and a small house is built atop the grave.
Mr Sisouphanh explained that Brao people like to entertain themselves with interesting songs, rhythmic stories, various dances, musical instruments and folktales such as the Yakeundeuy, Yakoong and Yadauwmarm stories. The most popular instrument is the gong.
“The gongs will disappear, however, because more and more people are selling their instruments. The provincial Information, Culture and Tourism Department is worried about the trend and has advised district authorities to do everything they can to preserve the instruments. The intangible Brao culture will come to an end if we don't take serious steps to conserve the tangible part of it,” he sai d.
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