Symbol from the Forest to the Textile of Lao’s Ethnic in High Region on Truong Son in Indochina

Authors: Nguyen Phuong Lien (Vietnam National Nniversity, Vietnam)
Speakers: Nguyen Phuong Lien
Strand: Language, Community, Ethnicity
Session Type: General Session

Abstract

Be one of the most oldest ethnics in Indochina, Lao’s ethnic stay on the Truong Son (meaning: long mountains), the longest mountain here, still live with the forest nowaday by connecting to the nature. While textile industry is developing in both Lao and Vietnam, some of villages almost use only clothes which are done handmade by the women. Traditional clothes are not only need colour from nature, as the forest’s products, but also keep for the people here stories around each details on these clothes. From these stories, we can collect a chain of symbols of the life between people and animals. They shows the opinion about the relation with the nature when people believe that they are belong to the balance world. They provide new feeling for the modern people (by travelling) when Lao’s ethnic who are living on the Truong Son tell tourists and their guests about their textile with stories for each symbol: deer, tiger, bird, many kinds of flowers and trees… with the explanation about custom of Lao’s ethnic. The way they chose to mix history topics with foklore arts here become a developable method for this poor community because there is some exhibition about their textile (with the stories about these symbols) were made by Ethnic Museum in big cities in 2015, 2016… And when the tourists come here sometime to find memories about the war in the past, this is the different effect on high region for them in the present days. So, continuity with the more effective plan to protect nature and traditinal way of living while developing the economic need more ideas.

Keywords: Laos, Cultural anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, Ethnicity