TRAVELLIVE 04-2017

110
TRAVELLIVE
The Untold Heritage Of
Aboriginal Villages
If you have more time, I strongly
recommend a longer trip with one or
two nights staying with locals in Sin
Chai village, Ta Van village, Ta Phin
village, or Ho village to experience the
unique herbal bath remedy of the Red
Dao people, to contemplate ethnic
embroidery or live a day as a farmer
riding buffaloes and tilling terraced
rice fields together with mountainous
ethnicities. The sickness-curing
herbal bath is certainly a "must".
It is such a pleasant bath rich with
wood fragrance and burgundy color.
Generally, as a tourist, you will have a
common one made of around 10 - 20
kinds of herbs to relax your muscles,
reduce arthritis pain and alleviate skin
ailments. Believe me, nowhere else in
Vietnam can you have a bath made of
dozens to hundreds of herbs, leaves,
roots and buds. Even the elderly Red
Dao people who can still read their
The spirits from Mother
Nature has protected their
villages since their origins,
giving their peoples
knowledge of the trees
and rivers
ancient language have no idea where
this knowledge of nature came from.
Somehow through their words, I
feel as if they had this sophisticated
knowledge inherited not through
records, but rather through genetics.
In addition to the ancestral mysterious
of the local people, Sapa is also
a filled with hundreds of ancient
stones with unexplained sketches and
symbols created by early ancestry.
Over the endless years local tribes
have built their houses, planted rice
terraces, grown cotton, and made
their clothes all while keeping their
customs. These people have as well of
course established their own villages.
One might notice as well every
aboriginal village here has their own
"forbidden wood", where they worship
supernatural spirits under a tree or on
a big piece of rock. The spirits from
Mother Nature has protected their
villages since their origins, giving
their peoples knowledge of the trees
http://issuu.com/Travellive
Further information:
As you visit aboriginal villages,
you should listen to your
guide carefully. Note down
that each ethnic people
has their own customs that
should be well respected.
ñ Do not whistle in the house
or on the bus, especially
when the bus is moving on
the mountain. Most people
here believe whistles could
bring ghosts, storms and
bad luck.
ñ Do not touch or pat a
child's head. Aboriginal
people believe that could
scare the child's soul away
from their head.
ñ Always look at the gate
and the staircases carefully
when you're in front of a
house. If you see a green or
horned tree branch in front
of the door, or a bamboo
wattle with rhombus pattern
hanging on some buffalos' or
cows' jaws, it's the warning
signs for strangers to not
walk in.
ñ The altar is the most sacred
place in the house. Don't
touch the altar. Never ever
put your personal belongings
there, turn your back against
it or sleep with your feet
facing to the altar.
ñ Notice how to put your
shoes, and where to take a
seat. Every ethnic group has
their own underlying rules
on the seating. For example:
The seat closest to the altar
is for the respected elderly
or honorable guests to Giay
or Dao people, meanwhile
H'Mong reserve those
seats for the spirits of their
deceased family members.
Thai, Tay, and Muong leave
two small cups at the seat
next to the windows for
their ancestors' souls coming
back to greet the guest with
them. Those seats should not
be taken as well.
ñ Beware if you want to help
fuel the stove. Aboriginal
people such as H'Mong and
Dao do not put the younger
end of a tree branch in first
as it is believed to cause
breech birth. Respect the
kitchen.