The Raglai () people are a

Chamic The Chamic languages, also known as Aceh–Chamic and Acehnese–Chamic, are a group of ten languages spoken in Aceh (Sumatra, Indonesia) and in parts of Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hainan, China. The Chamic languages are a subgroup of Malay ...

ethnic group mainly living in Khánh Hòa and Ninh Thuận provinces of

Central Vietnam Central Vietnam ( or ), also known as Middle Vietnam or The Middle, formerly known as by the State of Vietnam, by the Republic of Vietnam, or '' Annam'' under French colonial rule, is one of the three geographical regions within Vietnam. Th ...

. They speak Roglai - a

Malayo-Polynesian The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...

language. The word means 'forest' in their language. The Raglai's population was 146,613 in 2019.

History

Raglai community has many names: Rànglai, Ràglai, Ràdlai, Rơglai, Ràng-chơk, Ràng-ngơk... However, these are just negative ways of "mountainous people" but no other meanings. In the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

's records, this community was once called as ''mọi Lá Vàng'' ("barbarians of yellow-leaf"). The Raglai people have lived in the high and rugged mountains in the west of Khánh Hòa, Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận provinces, next to the

Cham people The Chams (Cham language, Cham: , چام, ''cam''), or Champa people (Cham language, Cham: , اوراڠ چمڤا, ''Urang Campa''; or ; , ), are an Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnic group in Southeast Asia and are the original inhabi ...

in the

South Central Coast In Vietnam, South Central Coast () and South Central Region () are two terms which can refer to the same region or two regions that do not correspond to each other. South Central Coast (sometimes called "South Central Region") consists of the i ...

plains for a very long time. The two groups of Cham and Raglai have had a deep relationship during their history. The thousand-year-old remaining proverb ''"Cam sa-ai Raglai adei"'' (Cham oldest sister, Raglai youngest sister) proved their blood relations. Previously, the Raglai community was only considered a part of the

when considering the language, costumes and some customs. However, while the

basically moved to the

belief A belief is a subjective Attitude (psychology), attitude that something is truth, true or a State of affairs (philosophy), state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some Life stance, stance, take, or opinion ...

s that banned idols and

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

s, the Raglai over time returned to the habit of worshiping the "wooden statue" ancestors like the Central Highlands community. Since 1989, there were administrative

document A document is a writing, written, drawing, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of nonfiction, non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes ...

s and some efforts of cultural officials to go from review to the recognition of Raglai people entitled to

ethnic minority The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

regulations in 1997. Since then, Vietnamese media and entertainment have regularly read the name of this nation as Rắc-lây (Kinh language) or Raàk-lei (Rhade language).

Culture

Although Raglai people is still a small community, but it has made great contributions to modern culture in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. Even in many music competitions, Raglai contestants often win high prizes or receive huge votes from

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. These

phenomena A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...

are often believed to come from the rich community activities of the Raglai people, which is more or less limited in the Islamic Cham people. The Raglai people use their own specific variants of Đàn đá,

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

Đàn nhị The (, Chữ Nôm: 彈二), also called , is a Vietnamese Bow (music), bowed string instrument with two strings. The word ''nhị'' means "two" in Sino-Vietnamese, and means "instrument". Its sound box is generally covered on one end with snak ...

, Kèn bầu, Đàn bầu instruments those named as PATƠU TILẼNG, CHHAR / CHĨNG, CANHĨ, CHAPI VILUAI respectively.

Notable people

* Pinăng Tắc - Ama Tắc (1910 - 1987), a

Việt Cộng The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...

guerrilla of Ninh Thuận Province Command, who led the Raglai people during

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

and

Second Indochina War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, was awarded the

Hero of the People's Armed Forces The Hero of the People's Armed Forces () is an honorary designation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Criteria The title (and medal) of Hero of the People's Armed Force is awarded to individuals with "exceptionally outstanding achievements ...

on May 5, 1965.

References

*Hải Liên. 2002. ''Trang phục cố truyền Raglai''. Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà nội. *Nguyễn Hữu Bài, et al. 2014. ''Văn hóa dân gian Raglai ở Khanh Hòa''. Hồ Chí Minh City: Nhà xuất bản văn hóa - văn nghệ. {{Authority control Ethnic groups in Vietnam

History

Culture

Notable people

See also

References