Katu

The name "katu" in the language of katu means "wild" and, apparently, was given to them by neighbors whom they terrorized ^[6] . The khat themselves interpret this word differently: “people living at a height in the mountains” ^[6] . Jean Le Pichon ( fr. Jean Le Pichon ) reported in 1937 that khat call themselves mnuih , and in modern Katui language [ manɯih ] means “people” ^[7] . The Vietnamese names for the katu “kao” and “thap” used earlier mean “upper” and “lower”, referring to the ethnographic groups of the high mountain and valley katu ^[8] .

It is not known where the khat came to Vietnam, their own legends say that this people once inhabited the banks of the Mekong tributaries on the territory of modern Yunnan ; if this is true, then they descended to the south either along the valley of the Mekong, or along the coast, and then they were forced back into the mountains ^[9] . Archaeological evidence suggests that the Vietnamese and Katuisky peoples actually settled south from the Red River delta between 1000 BC. er and 300 year n. er in search of fertile land ^[9] . Quangbin , Quangchi, and Thiathien-Hue preserve a remarkable tradition: they make a basket from a banana stem and put offerings in it to " Aboriginal spirits" ( Vietnamese ma mọi , my) , salted fish, boiled vegetables and fish paste. These katu products are still consumed, and the basket is a type of shoulder baskets used by the khat. This ceremony apparently appeared even before the khat from these places ousted Vieta and tyam ^[5] .

Kathu were the last people of Vietnam to practice a headhunt , which greatly worsened the attitudes of Viets and towards this people ^[10] . After the 1945 revolution, the katu gradually abandoned human sacrifice under the influence of , but in 1952 crop failure and disease came to their lands, and the local communist administration distributed food and medicine to the khat in the villages to avoid hunting ^{[11] [ 12]} . However, according to the Vietcong veteran Kuat San ( Quách Xân ) , the elders of the katu continued to beg for permission to kill at least one person and began to prepare for the march. One of the Communist Viets voluntarily volunteered to become the last victim of a bounty hunt, which stunned the elders; he was spared and since then ceased to perform sacrifices ^[11] . The image of wild and ruthless warriors, however, they continued to use to their advantage in conflicts, frightening the enemies ^[11] .

During the Vietnam War, Ho Chi Minh Trail was laid across the lands of the khat, which caused their villages to suffer from American bombardments and chemical weapons ^[13] . At the same time, good-neighborly relations of Kathu and Viets, established after the communist revolution, led to the fact that among the Kathu there were almost no defectors on the American side, unlike many other police ^[11] .

After the war, most of the katus moved to land more suitable for rice in valleys and near roads ^[13] .

The number of katu differs in different sources. So, according to the 1970s, it was 37.5 thousand people, of which 25 lived in Vietnam ^[14] ; According to the data of 1999, Vietnamese khat are about 50 thousand people; according to the 2009 census, there were 61,588 kathu in Vietnam ^[15] ; The total population in Vietnam and Laos as of 2006 was estimated at 67,482 people ^[1] . The main areas of settlement are in the province of Quangnam (districts of Hien and Namziang), the provinces of Thyathien Hue (districts of Aloy and Namdong), fewer katu live in the Lao provinces of Savannakhet and Sekong near the Vietnamese border ^[9] .

The people are included in the katu-bru subgroup, which also includes the people of Bru , , , Taoi , Katang , Nge (according to some data they represent Taoi and Katang) and talieng ^[14] . Like other katu-bru nations, katu is divided into ethnographic groups ^[14] : mountain katu ( đriu ; inhabit the Chyong Son mountains and the border with Laos), residents of mountain valleys ( nal ; live in the valleys near , ), inhabitants of the foothills ( cha-lâu or phương ) ^{[16] [4] [17] [18]} .

The most common katu languages ​​in Laos and Vietnam, respectively, are the West and East -Katu languages ​​of the Mon-Khmer family ; Vietnamese and Lao are also used ^{[19] [20]} . Vostochnokatuysky uses Khmer and Vietnamese (based on cuokngs ), there is also East Katan written language based on Latin, which was created and promoted by Kuat San ^[11] . West Katuya is written in the Lao alphabet ^[20] .

Kathu is inhabited by extremely inhospitable mountain forests that cross turbulent mountain rivers. There are frequent cases of lack of food, and legends say that earlier, in the “ golden age ” of food, there were more and thin katu were thin then ^[21] . Livestock sacrifices are common: the animals are slaughtered and offered to the spirits to “treat themselves”, after which the settlement eats meat ^[22] . Food is distributed throughout the settlement ^{[23] [24]} .

The villages of the valley katu previously located exclusively on the tops of the hills, away from the wet bottom of the valley, but now they prefer the hills ^{[25] [21]} . Katu collect food in the forest ( rattan , honey , mushrooms, fruits - together they make up 11-50% of all food) and are engaged in slash-and-burn farming ^[26] . Historically, the katu used the field alternately: first, on a cleared area of ​​dense forest, rice was sown, after which cassava was grown there for 2–3 years, or it was left immediately under steam for 12-15 years ^[27] . Since 1977, the Vietnamese government has been encouraging the transition to a settled way of life and the cessation of transferable farming, but not everywhere these efforts have an effect ^[28] . Meanwhile, numerous studies show that slash-and-burn farming with such a long period of non-use of land is environmentally safe in the long-term, provided that the population of the site remains constant ^[29] . After the Vietnam War, many of the khat villages moved closer to roads and cities, and the katu’s variety of living conditions increased dramatically ^[30] .

They are also engaged in hunting (in particular, on large animals) and fishing. In percentage terms, the share of hunting prey in the khat ration is much less than fish, but hunting is very important for the ritual and social life of the village ^[31] . Fish, snails, shrimps and mollusks are caught almost daily, both in the forest and in family ponds ^[31] . They keep cattle (buffalo, cows, pigs, goats and chickens), but its main goal is to be a ritual food for the spirits ^[32] .

Katu still use traditional means of production, they are much poorer than the average Vietnamese level ^[33] . Women collect firewood for the hearth in the forest (some families switched to gas ) ^[34] . Pottery and weaving crafts, basket weaving ^[31] are developed. Trapping is considered to be a man’s occupation, katas make baskets of various kinds: shoulder, waist, tame; the production of fabrics, shirts, skirts and loincloths - women's work ^[32] . Created objects and surplus food are exchanged and sold both to neighbors in the village and outside it ^[35] . War veterans receive a small allowance from the state, while local government officials receive a salary; although in absolute terms the katu's cash income (including proceeds from the sale) is small, they mostly cover their needs ^[36] .

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  Mature katu in homespun clothing

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  Kathu from Laos crushes grain

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  Wine container

Farming

Several types of rice, corn, cassava , millet , pineapples, sugarcane, yams , taro , pumpkins, bananas, and other crops are cultivated in Katu ^[27] . Cultivation of rice and other plant foods is considered a female occupation, only women can open the barn and enter it ^[37] . In this case, boiled rice is considered a male food, and with a lack of rice, women and children switch to boiled cassava, which is usually fed pigs ^[38] . The basis of nutrition is vegetable food: fresh, dried and fermented ^[16] . Tavak sugar palm juice is fermented to produce a low alcohol palm wine , boiled and eaten in its fruits ^[39] . Another type of palm wine is obtained from the sago palm , the khat is also produced from its sago stem ^[40] . Another alcoholic drink is made from cassava ^[38] . More and more khat are beginning to participate in the commodity-money economy of Vietnam ^[30] .

After the Vietnam War, in the late 1970s, many katu descended down the valleys and settled in places suitable for the constant cultivation of rice in flood fields , while keeping dry as well ^[30] . All the families of the village do not always have flooded fields, and the proportion of harvest obtained from dry and flooded fields varies not only between villages, but also between different families within the same village ^[31] .

Dry fields are divided into two types: haree and trua , and the latter are also referred to as “female”, since the crop from them is eaten mainly by women and children ^[41] . The first are large (1-2 hectares) plots in the forest, far from the main village, where they plant rice, corn and / or millet and process it with a slash-and-burn method with a long non-use cycle; the latter are small plots near the village, where cassava, pineapples, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and taro are planted ^[41] . Studies of the 21st century show that each family has 15–20 dry fields, of which 1–2 are treated in one year, usually together with relatives; each field is left fallow for 5–10 years ^[42] .

Flooded fields have a small size (in the area of ​​the village Avyong ( Vietnamese. Avương ) - 0.2–0.3 hectares), they are sown exclusively with rice, but the yield on them is predictable and depends solely on compliance with the conditions of detention ^[43] . Katu Avuyonga is harvested of two harvests from flooded fields: the first sowing takes place in December and is harvested in April, the second time they sow the field in July and reap in November ^[43] . Due to the dependence of the flooded rice growing on a stable inflow of water, only a small fraction of the land is suitable for this type of treatment, and in large villages it is not enough for everyone; The problem is also unpredictable fluctuations in the level of streams ^[44] .

Some fields located near the water are converted into gardens where bananas , papayas , jackfruit trees, guavas , melons, ginger, sugarcane, root crops and vegetables are planted ^[45] . Each house also has a vegetable garden in which edible and medicinal plants grow ^[45] .

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  Dry rice cultivation

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  Fill field

The procedure for clearing and using land

Katu use the lunar calendar ^[46] . Before the Vietnam War, the annual agricultural cycle on the fields of haree looked as follows: after the end of the monsoon rains, in January, another section was cleared and left to dry; in May, they set fire to it, then sowed rice and corn so that they would rise just in time for the beginning of the rains in June-July; in October-November, the harvest began, which ended in December ^[47] . Two months in which no agricultural rituals were performed did not previously have names at the katu ^[48] .

Under the influence of Vietnamese agricultural practices, the khat was transferred to another system: in December-January, the plot was cleared, then set on fire and sown ^[49] . Residents of the village and in the XXI century spend all field work almost simultaneously, however earlier the elders made the decision to start or postpone this or that work because of the grievances of the spirits, and the whole village performed them simultaneously ^[50] .

Field Preparation

To cut down the forest in the area where it was decided to make the field, you need to wait for a good day according to the lunar calendar ; 2-3 days before it, the village closes for visitors ^[46] . The male head of the clan clears, he starts from a small area or even a single tree, burning incense , then gradually expanding it, while trying to notice signs of displeasure of the spirits as quickly as possible ^[51] . These signs include bleeding from a cut during felling, a meeting with a snake or a rodent's corpse, singing “unhappy” birds, as well as dreams that dream of the head of the clan or his wife: about chasing, about thunder, about the herd of buffalo and others ^{[ 51]} . Dreams are considered a way of communicating with spirits, and birds are their messengers, so some birds can be explained that the head has the right to clear this area, and then they will pass it on to the spirits ^[51] . On the third day, other male cutters and women clearing the undergrowth join the head of the clan, but a bad omen at any stage of clearing leads to an immediate halt to work and the choice of a new place ^[52] . In the event that a forest belonging to the family is cleared, in the place of which there was already a field, the consent of the spirits and rituals are not required, although subsequent phases of the agricultural cycle require annual ceremonies ^[52] .

After clearing the field is set on fire (usually in the early to mid-March), only men are engaged in it ^[53] . The fields of the katu living in the mountains are located on steep slopes, and watching the forest burn, it is easy to break and fall, or suffocate in the smoke, if the fire spreads to the neighboring areas of the forest ^[53] . The worst foreshadowing when burning a kat is the death of animals (especially snakes) in a fire and the burning of graves; in the past, if one family accidentally set fire to the grave of a member of another family, then a blood feud began between the clans ^[53] . Before setting on fire, the head of the clan consults with a healer or an expert in perfume to drive them away from the field, and the village enters this state into a taboo state similarly to clearing the forest ^[53] . Men set fire to dry bushes and branches and inform the spirits that they need to leave this place ^[53] .

Sowing

Immediately after the field is burned down, boiled rice, wine, a goat or a pig and a chicken are sacrificed to the spirits, and then the sowing begins ^[54] . On large fields from above and almost to the very bottom, corn is planted in rows, and the next day - rice is sowed throughout the whole area; in April, cassava and sugarcane are planted in the lower part of the field, mixed with rice shoots, and pineapples in May ^[55] . Plain and sticky rice is planted in the same field ^[55] . Women and men tie small baskets with seeds on a belt, make a hole in the ground with a small peg and throw seeds there ^[56] . When sowing rice it is forbidden to give it to any of the outsiders, the ban is lifted after the final ceremony and the sacrifice of a goat or pig ^[56] . At this ceremony, invite neighbors in the village and residents of neighboring villages ^[57] . At the edge of the field put a protective pillar of the bamboo stem, split in the shape of the letter Y ^[57] . A month later, over rice grown to 15–20 cm is held a ceremony with the sacrifice of a goat, which should protect crops from disease, natural disasters and eating wild animals ^[57] .

The yield on dry rice fields varies greatly and ranges from 350 to 2100 kg, 700 kg is considered the minimum for family survival, 1,400 kg or more is a good result ^[58] . If the ripening rice shows that the harvest will not be enough, the older woman (the elder's wife) should carry out village rituals that are designed to increase yields and help the family live on the leftovers until the next harvest ^[59] .

Harvest

One of the main events of the year for the katu is the harvest, which is now carried out in July-August instead of September-October ^[60] . The date of the harvest is determined by the head of the family; the village is usually closed on the first day of harvest ^[61] . On this day, the elder's wife alone goes to the field and squeezes about half a basket of rice, which she pushes and cooks while her husband prepares an offering for the spirits ^[62] . See # Sacrifice ^{[62] for a} complete list of items offered to spirits. Although formally, each family marks the harvest independently, for the feast that takes place on the second and subsequent days, they also invite neighbors and friends from other villages ^[62] .

Both men and women reap rice, but women do most of the work ^[59] . Some families move to temporary shelters at harvest time closer to the fields, while others remain in the village ^[59] . Harvested rice is sorted: sticky is stored separately from the usual, poor quality grain is deposited for livestock feed, and the rest is divided depending on whether it is consumed immediately or put in a barn (while rice that is sown next year is stored separately from what you plan to eat later) ^[59] . Separately, retain rice from the last compressed ears and the latest plant from each field, cut off entirely. If the store still has remnants of last year's harvest, then before placing a new one there, they are removed and either eaten, donated or sold ^[59] . At the end of the harvest, the barn is closed ^[63] .

In Vietnamese katu, the importance of the harvest ceremony has faded in front of the importance of the lunar New Year - theta ^[48] .

Opening of the barn

When rice, set aside for immediate consumption, almost ends, the older woman picks up the leaves of certain plants, lays out a piece on the way to the barn and attaches the rest above the entrance, then opens the barn and takes out the required amount of rice ^[63] . Cut out the last plants intact, she pulls them out of the basket and sticks them to the ceiling, where they are before the next planting (before throwing them out) ^[63] .

The rice brought after the opening of the barn is used to prepare and carry out a ritual of treating the spirits, similar to the ritual of harvest ^[64] . The first portion of the rice brought should be eaten by the woman who brought it (similarly, the first compressed corn should be eaten by the older woman) ^[38] . Previously cooked food was taken to gyol, where they feasted with the rest of the village ^[64] .

Land

The land tenure system is designed in such a way that the man who appointed the first clearing of this part of the jungle is appointed the owner of the land; even if nothing is grown on the earth, according to the ideas, the khat forever belongs to this man and his sons, although it can be temporarily transferred to other people ^[65] . In the event that one of the tribesmen asks a man to lend him land for a year for cultivation, the owner may either agree or refuse ^[66] . Such requests are usually not accompanied by payments or the sending of gifts, unless a man who has taken a wife from a stronger clan asks permission from members of this clan ^[67] . Families also enter into long-term joint land use agreements, in which case they hold a clan reunion ceremony, for which the applicants provide plenty of treats ^[67] .

The floodplain fields always adjoin the streams, and their distribution follows a different principle: if the family, on whose lands the suitable plot is located, does not cultivate it, then it cannot claim it ^[68] .

The property stratification in small villages is very small, but in large settlements it increases due to the lack of land and the above-mentioned land tenure system: families that moved later than others find themselves forced to look for suitable land for processing away from home ^[69] . In settlements that have been displaced under a government program, land is distributed equally, and there is no problem there ^[68] .

Hunting and Fishing

Hunting does not bring any significant amount of food, but is very important as a marker of masculinity, all cosmology and the organization of society are built around hunting ^[70] . Among the game that hunters bring: deer , boar , bezoar goats , mountaineers , saols , rodents and birds ^[71] . Hunting is associated with agriculture, and successful days for cultivating the land are considered unlucky for hunting and vice versa ^[71] .

Hunters set a variety of traps, which are then periodically checked; one hunter can serve over 30 traps ^[70] . There is a huge variety of their constructions, for example, for hunting large mammals on their way they stretch a rope that lowers the mechanism, which sacrifices a pointed heavy spear made of wood ^[70] . The fields are densely surrounded by traps that simultaneously protect crops and bring game ^[71] .

In addition to traps, hunters use spears, crossbows and shotguns (however, the latter are prohibited by the Vietnamese authorities), as well as hunting dogs ^[71] . In fact, the main skill of the hunter is to assess the time of year and day, the knowledge of the paths and the correct analysis of sounds, litter, etc., the katu themselves believe that the only two things on which the success of the hunt depends are the pleasure of the spirits and the use of healing plants by the hunter , ginger and others ^[72] . The hunter independently grows his plants in a small vegetable garden, the location of which keeps secret ^[73] .

Among the spirits, Comorbar, an androgynous supernatural creature endowed with predominantly female features of appearance, which cares for all animals and forest plants, is responsible for hunting ^[74] . If the hunter does not appease Comorbar before going into the forest, an incident will certainly happen to him ^[74] . It is also important, upon returning to the village, to perform rituals over the slain animals, so that his soul tells Comorbar that she was well treated ^[74] .

Before hunting, men memorize and analyze their dreams, if a woman appears in them (especially carrying bamboo tubes that stuff meat for smoking), this promises good luck; if the hunter sees a man in a dream, he cancels the hunt, unless the man gives the hunter cigarettes ^[73] . Also, before going after the game, the hunter conducts various rituals, which are complicated if he has not been lucky lately; hammers and cooks chicken, wonders over its paw, presents its blood, bananas, rice, wine and leaves of special plants to spirits ^[75] . If, lately, Komorbar has not sent animals to the hunter, a small bamboo altar is hung from the ceiling of the gyola, seated on the floor next to it and thrown onto the altar flowers made from strips of bamboo; if they fall on the altar or cling to the ceiling, this is interpreted as a good omen ^[76] .

Going to the forest, the hunter necessarily puts on the sallet back basket ^[77] . After killing a medium-sized animal, a man shouts out to his fellow tribesmen about a successful hunt, after which he cuts out the area where the fatal wound took place, bakes on the fire and brings it to spirits ^[78] . If the prey is unusually large, then he keeps the fact of her murder secret, secretly sneaks into the village and tells the relative or close friend who goes to Gyol and already there informs the others ^[78] . Several men go along with a carcass hunter; in the past, on the way back, they buried a few hairs torn from the prey and erected small monuments from bamboo or twigs ^[79] . The carcass is brought to gyol, where rice, wine and live chicken are added to it, which is then slaughtered and boiled; after that, the carcass is cut (outside the giola) and prepared (inside), after which all the products are offered together with Komorbar ^[80] .

Historically, khatu villages were very small temporary and moved in the event of land depletion or game, after military conflicts, and after illness, “bad” deaths and setbacks (see # Religion ) ^[25] . This usually happened once every 5–10 years or less; while in the Awyong region there are villages that stand in one place for 50–100 years or more ^[81] . In the worst cases, the settlement moved once a year or two for 10–15 years: among the reasons for such frequent resettlement are the attempts of the French colonial administration to impose heavy taxes on taxes and the spraying of the Orange agent during the Vietnam War ^[81] . Before leaving the village, a communal house holds a ceremony informing local spirits that people leave this place and ask not to persecute them ^[82] . Then the families either disperse around the district, or jointly establish a new village, or join an already existing settlement; All of these options require appropriate rituals ^[83] . In the latter case, newcomers donate animals, alcohol, and rice for the prngooch holiday a year after the resettlement ^[84] . A similar ceremony of a smaller scale marks the arrival in the village of one or two families ^[84] .

In general, a large modern settlement ( katu bɨəl , fыонгng vɛɛl ) consists of thirty long houses , villages of 4–8 houses are common ^[85] . The village is ruled by a respected man from the most noble community ^[27] , chosen by the elders ^[16] . The katu settlements are ring-dwellings surrounded by a fence of logs or bamboo ( karii katu ) , which protects residents from wild animals and enemies ^[85] . To get to the village, you need to go through one of two or more gates ^[85] . Houses for individual families are built on stilts; high straw roofs cover them from above ^[16] . In the center of the settlement is a wooden house of men, called gyol ( katu gɨəl ) or rong ( katu rooŋ ) , richly decorated with ^{[16] [85]} . In the most ancient types of settlements, there was no gyolov, and the whole village was one or two long houses in which one extended family lived ^{[86] [25]} . Modern villages still usually inhabit 1-3 clans, linked through marriage ^[85] .

Another important place in the center of the village is a carved sacrificial pillar in front of the giola, to which animals are tied up for slaughter ^[87] . In addition, at the edge of the sacred area, bamboo pillars are set, inclined towards the sacrificial pillar ^[88] . A special subject of katu art is wooden sculptures of two birds: a hornbill and a toucan , mounted on the roofs of communal houses ^{[89] [90]} .

In addition to permanent byol houses, many kat families also have temporary housing, which they build next to the fields (30–90 minutes walk from the village); in these buildings, people rest after work and dry rice, and also live in the period of intensive work and harvest ^[91] . Temporary houses belonging to relatives stand in groups of 3-5 and move every 2-3 years ^[91] .

Construction

Construction is ruled by elders ^[92] . Numerous taboos surround the cutting of the forest - it is forbidden to cut trees where evil spirits live, as well as some types of trees: with very thick trunks, covered with lianas , with lightning strikes or large anthills - all this is considered a sign of evil spirits ^[93] . Construction in general, and especially the foundation of a new settlement, requires the performance of complex ceremonies that require permission to equip dwellings with supernatural inhabitants of the chosen place: spirits of hills, rivers, forest areas where the khat plan to live and hunt ^[82] . During the collection of materials for construction, five ceremonies are held: xiec tac dang before leaving for the forest, i xiec before cutting trees, aroh along after finishing the harvesting, choh dong on the first day of construction and pa chien dong on the grand opening day ^[94] . The grand opening is celebrated for two days, at the end of the ceremony sacrifice a buffalo ^[94] . If the forest is felled in a plot belonging to someone from the settlement, the consent of the spirits is not required to ask ^[65] .

Before the start of construction work, various experiments are carried out, which should show whether this is a good place to erect a building: an egg is dropped at the site of the future grave, and if it is not broken, it is interpreted as the intervention of evil spirits; before building a house, they put mollusks or amphibians on the ground and look in which direction they will move ^[95] . Then for six days the spirits are offered sacrificial animals (two dogs, chickens, goats, and pigs); the largest sacrifice is made a year later, after the first harvest is gathered: a buffalo is slaughtered at an opening ceremony in gratitude for the kat ^[82] .

Gyol

The name of the communal house is related to the word gơl , meaning "husband" ^[96] . In the old days, unmarried men slept in gyola, women were forbidden to go there ^[96] . Here, adult katu men taught boys to use weapons, make traps and baskets, sing, and so on ^[97] . In the 20th century, the gyols turned into communal houses, where the entire village, both men and women, is going ^[98] . They resolve disputes, conduct lessons and celebrations, including public holidays in Vietnam ^[99] .

Gyol is similar to the rong, the Banarian communal house, and the Khmuy Kong on stilts and thatched roof ^{[100] [92]} . Walls are made from bark, bamboo, rattan , palm leaves or planks ^{[97] [92]} . Katu is erected by modern concrete and brick gyols ^[92] . The walls of the old gyols are slightly tilted outwards, so that they hang over the foundation ^[101] . Inside the communal house there is a carved central column, which is surrounded by six “mother” and six “father” pillars ^[102] . It is this column that is a characteristic feature of katu communal houses, unlike other kindred peoples ^[103] .

The appearance of gyol built in different regions is different; In addition, it should be noted that not all villages have geyols; for economic reasons, gyol may be small in size and may not have complicated decorations ^{[98] [92]} .

In the 21st century, gyols are built not only by residents of the village, but also by various companies, including those affiliated with the government and international humanitarian organizations ^[104] . The Vietnamese government in 1989 adopted a set of measures aimed at improving the situation of national minorities; in particular, encourage the construction of community houses ^[105] . In each of the 66 villages in the Namdong district of Thiathien Hue province, a community house was built, all but two of which were made of concrete, but most were in traditional style ^[105] . The construction of gyol also should spur ecological tourism ^[106] .

Kathu have a pronounced patriarchal organization of society, like other peoples of Central Vietnam ( hre , tao , bru, and others) ^[107] and a patrilocal marriage ^[16] . Clans living in the same village (and the villages among themselves) usually unite asymmetrical relations: women from a more noble family marry men of a less noble one ^[85] .

In the past, the groom's family paid for the bride with kalym , which necessarily included a necklace of 12 agate beads ^[108] .

The katu costume contains elements of Dongshon culture clothing ^[109] . Men wear loincloths , women wear skirts and bibs ^[16] . A men's bandage is a rectangular piece of fabric 35–40 cm wide and 1.5–8 m long ^[109] . On holidays, men wrap dangling ends on the chest crosswise, similar to Sedangas and Banars ^[109] . Women used to wear only a short simple skirt, opening their breasts, and in the case of a cold snap they would put on either another skirt or a v-neck shirt. Later in some of the settlements, married women began to wear an apron that looked like Myung's women’s clothes and Vietnamese ^[109] . Katu is decorated with clothes with shiny objects like tin balls and rings, hung from the edge of the loincloth, and they wear jewelry. Among the peoples of Vietnam, only katu and taoi sew tin ornaments on their clothes ^[110] . The leader, who performed the buffalo sacrifice, put on a special outfit, which was sewed with hundreds of small iron rings, designed to protect him ^[110] .

Katuysky hairstyles often repeat hairstyles depicted on dongshon drums: they either wear bangs or stack long hair in a bun on the back of the head, which supports a bronze comb , a pointed bamboo stick, a porcupine needle or a pork tusk ^[111] . For the production of canines of the desired size, the upper canines amputated the hogs, and the women fed them with finely ground food for several years; many animals died before their lower canines reached the desired size ^[112] . Growing pigs for decoration stopped in the 1950s under the influence of the communists ^[113] .

Both men and women use narrow cotton, bamboo or herbal dressings as headwear ^{[16] [108]} . With stripes of bamboo, young men and women decorate their heads while performing rituals; Previously, such peculiar crowns were made of bird feathers ^[114] .

In the katu customs, it is abundantly decorated with the body, including tattoos ^[16] . They wore and continue to wear various bracelets and beads (glass, stone, agate , clay ...) ^[115] . In the past, khat women wore long spiral bracelets made of bronze wire on their hands, similar to those worn around the neck of a Palaung woman and on the legs of a mnong woman ^[108] .

A common motif for tattoos is a frog-shaped “dancer” ( katu paɗiil jaja ) , which men and women put on their foreheads and hands; the same motif is found on house pillars and village gates ^{[116] [117]} . Other popular motifs are two suns on the lips, a dotted line of dots that goes from ear to ear above the eyebrows, a swastika inscribed in a circle, a serpentine head, and others ^[117] .

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  Girl in traditional costume

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  Women's suits: ede (left) and katu (right)

For katu music is very important that accompanies everyday activities ^[118] . In general, their melodies can be described as monotonous, they are performed to the accompaniment of flute and drums ^[118] . Kathu rhymes in a peculiar way: the last word of one line should rhyme with the second or third word of another ^[119] . However, some genres, for example, a song at a meeting, pronoch , are played without rhyme ^[119] . Couplets are often repeated, and one song can be performed for hours ^[118] . Famous singers are invited to celebrations in the neighboring villages, to be a popular performer is very honorable; because of the patriarchal organization of society, singers are mostly men ^[119] .

Dances are different in different sexes: women dance, spinning around their own axis, raising their arms up and shaking their hips, and men dancing and shaking their arms ^[120] . Vietnamese choreographers created a popular contemporary dance based on Katuisky female ^[120] .

Widespread carving. There are often two ornaments in the thread - the “flower” alom and the “leaf of the sago palm tree” atut ^[121] . Previously, the katu created many wooden statues, in the XX century, this tradition was almost lost, the statues remained only in the villages lost in the forests on the border with Laos ^[122] . Katu also created carved masks suspended from gyola walls; the meaning of this action was a carefully guarded secret ^[123] . Decorated skulls of hunted animals are reinforced under the roof ^{[97] [124]} . Probably earlier human heads were hung in gyola, similar traditions existed among various peoples of the region ^[125] .

The harsh living conditions led to the katu having many rituals and customs, with which they tried to adapt to such an existence ^[126] . They mainly adhere to traditional beliefs - animism , totemism .

The katu has a myth about the flood and a myth about a dog's ancestor who escaped from the flood with a single woman ^[127] . The ancestor dog appears in the myths of many South-East Asian peoples: Yao , , Bru , Ze-cheng and others ^[127] . However, only some caths of the katu refrain from eating dog meat : Alang and Zram ato ( Vietnamese. Alang, Zrâm Acho ) . Perhaps the dog's ancestor has a tradition to wear long loincloths with the ends hanging down ^[128] . Because of this detail of the costume, the Vietnamese used to call the kata "natives with tails" ( mọi có uôi , my cousin) ^[128] . Dogs are present in ornaments and other images; the stylized dog is located on the central column of many gyols ^[128] .

Even katu consider even numbers to be happy, especially they love the six, which appears in many rituals: they give the child a name for the sixth month; during the initiation process, six teeth are filed by teens; after the death of a family member, relatives maintain a fire in the hearth and offerings to the grave for six days; after a “very bad death”, the village was abandoned for six months; six women and six men perform dances around the sacrificial pillar, and so on ^[129] .

Sacrifices

If evil spirits were angry with the villagers and staged crop failure, illness and death, they are sacrificed; previously, if nothing helped, they were given blood of buffalo or human ^[130] . To obtain human blood, the supreme elder declared a bloody hunt or head hunt (the head was considered the focus of spiritual strength, and, bringing a new head to the village, the warriors strengthened its combined strength) ^[131] . Another reason for hunting people was revenge for the killing of fellow tribesmen ^[131] . Later, human sacrifices were replaced by buffalo ^[132] .

The buffalo sacrifice was considered a rich offering; to have a buffalo, pots or gongs in property meant to be wealthy ^{[133] [32]} . Buffaloes, cows and pigs are held mainly for large sacrifices: for a wedding and a funeral, in the case of diseases and for other major rituals ^[32] . The procedure for this depends on what kind of spirits are going to feed, good or evil. A buffalo intended for good spirits was sacrificed in a festive atmosphere, with songs and dances, and killed with one precise blow to the heart ^[134] . If the animal was intended for evil spirits, it was beaten with a spear for a long time and tortured ^[134] . A goat is considered an ideal sacrifice for forest spirits, and chickens are killed at each ceremony, as they try to predict the reaction of spirits to any more or less important undertaking ^{[135] [32]} .

The full offering for the festivities is as follows. First, chicken is slaughtered and boiled, they are wondering over its legs, and the collected blood is delivered to the spirits along with freshly prepared young rice and wine, and, if possible, also with rat meat and fish ^[62] . After that, the pig is slaughtered, its blood is also collected in a vessel, and the carcass is boiled, then the head, tail, limbs and entrails are separated, which are also served to the spirits ^[62] .

Death Cult

The cult of ancestors is developed. The cult of death played the most important role for the khat right up to the 20th century, and for the khat it was more important to die “worthily” than to live righteously ^[21] . Funeral practices differ depending on whether a person has died of a “good” (natural) or “bad” death (from injury, a snake bite, in childbirth ) ^[130] . Katu is believed that every person has two souls: bad and good, and only one of them survives after death.

The dead "good" death is carried to the forest and left with his favorite food and things in an open coffin, from which his "good" soul must get out. After one or two years, the remains were washed and reburied in a wooden carved coffin, which was placed in a richly decorated family grave ^[136] . Both ends of the coffin are crowned with two heads: a buffalo and a bird; less often deer and rooster ^[137] . The graves of the khat are located west of the village, they reflect the status of the family and the characters of its members ^[138] . The decor on the graves is symmetrical about the central axis of each wall, on the western side they carved images of women and chickens, and on the eastern side men and buffaloes ^[139] . Sometimes the jewelry tells about some peculiarity of one of the dead: for the hunter a hunting scene was cut out, for the music lover - gongs and drums ^[140] . It is believed that if the deceased is remembered and prayed to him, as well as leaving offerings, he will turn into a good deity ^[130] .

The dead "bad" death is quickly buried in a dark place in the jungle, trying to cover as much heavy earth as possible so that the "evil" soul does not get out of the grave. If such a death occurs in the village, they leave it without harvesting and pre-killing all the animals that belonged to the family of the deceased ^{[130] [141]} . If grain remains in the barn, it is thrown away, after which people turn to the residents of the neighboring villages for rice for food and planting ^[64] .

Cult of rice

In myths, growing rice is often compared to a baby ^[142] . Kathu believes that rice has a soul, “Grandma rice” ( ayech avi ) ^[142] . Harvesting ritual is associated with it: the last few uncompressed plants, in which the soul is believed to be contained, the older woman squeezes as usual, and the last shears off at the root and places the collected rice on top ^{[37] [143]} . She performs this ritual alone, but requires using a specific basket and going around all the fields belonging to the family in one day ^[143] . Apparently, rice is called “grandmother” figuratively, as the head of the female part of the genus ^[142] .

All the important stages of dry rice cultivation are accompanied by rituals; relatively new agricultural practices — cultivation of cassava, corn, millet, and wet rice growing — did not fit into the religious system and does not require special ceremonies ^[50] . Each family conducts its own rituals independently, but due to the fact that they are tied to the seasons and require the consent of the elders, in fact they are conducted throughout the settlement at about the same time ^[50] .

Rice set aside for sowing is kept away from home, it is forbidden to approach it sick, men, children and visitors: it is believed that they can spoil the "soul of rice" ^[59] . Also separately stored a basket of rice from the last ears of corn, it can be eaten only by family members; whole plants cut vertically into the basket ^[143] .

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• A modern theatrical performance in the Kathu village on YouTube
• Gyol and traditional khat on YouTube VietNet (Vietnam Digital Television) ( English , Vietnamese )