TIBETO - BURMAN
The Tibeto-Burman language group in Vietnam includes six ethnic groups: the Ha Nhi, La Hu, Lo Lo, Cong, Si La, and Phu La, with a combined population of over 58,000 (as of 2019). A few have lived in the northern mountainous regions of Vietnam for a long time, while the majority migrated between the 17th century and the early 20th century.
They live scattered in small villages located in high mountain border areas in the North. Their villages are typically ethnically homogeneous, with few residents from other ethnic groups. Some groups historically practiced shifting cultivation and nomadic living. Others, such as the Ha Nhi, are known for their skills in digging irrigation canals and wet rice farming on terraced fields, as well as settled upland farming.
All six ethnic groups follow a strict patrilineal family system. Some still maintain the tradition of naming children using the father's name (father-son linked naming). Most live in ground-level houses, though some live in stilt houses or semi-stilt, semi-ground houses. Their common spiritual belief is ancestor worship, and annually, villagers jointly perform rituals to worship the Earth God. The Lo Lo have preserved remnants of pictographic script and maintain the tradition of bronze drum beating during funerals.
(Source: Vietnam Museum of Ethnology)
