Mnong people

The Mnong or Munong people (Vietnamese: người Mơ-nông) are an ethnic group mainly living in Central Highlands and Southeast regions of Vietnam, and Eastern region of Cambodia. They are made up of many smaller groups: Mnong Gar, Mnong Nông, Mnong Chil, Mnong Kuênh, Mnong Rlâm, Mnong Preh, Mnong Prâng, Mnong Ðíp, Mnong Bhiêt, Mnong Sitô, Mnong Bu Ðâng, Mnong Bu Nor, Mnong Bu Ðêh.

Mnong
Mnong people during an elephant blessing ceremony in Buôn Đôn, Vietnam
Total population
 Vietnam 127,334 (2019)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Lâm Đồng, Bình Phước -  Vietnam
Mondulkiri -  Cambodia
Languages
Mnong, others
Religion
Christian, Theravada Buddhism, Animist
A longhouse in the Mnong village of Buôn Jun in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Mnong women near Buon Ma Thuot
Mnong's elephant carer

Every group speaks a variant of the Mnong language, which along with Koho language, is in the South Bhanaric group of the Mon–Khmer family.[2]

Population

The Mnong in Vietnam can be subdivided into three main groups:

  • Central Mnong: around 39,000 people in Đắk Nông province and western of Đắk Lắk, 75% population are Christians.[3]
  • Eastern Mnong: around 36,000 people in Đắk Nông, Lâm Đồng provinces, and eastern of Đắk Lắk, 25% population are Christians.[4]
  • Southern Mnong: around 36,000 people in Đắk Nông, Lâm Đồng and Bình Phước provinces, 70% population are Christians.[5]

A big community with around 47,000 people of Mnong live in the Cambodia's northeastern boundary province of Mondulkiri where they are known as Bunong (alternatively spelled Phnong, Punong, or Pnong).[6]

Culture

The M’Nong have a rich cultural heritage that includes many epics, legends, proverbs, and songs. Gongs, buffalo horn flutes, jew’s harp, the monochord, and lithophone are their popular traditional musical instruments.[7]

Epics (Mnong language: Ot N'rong - Ot: telling by singing, N'rong: old story) take an important part in Mnong people's life. Many of these epics, such as Con đỉa nuốt bon Tiăng (Mnong language: Ghu sok bon Tiăng, English: The leech swallows Tiăng village),[8] or Mùa rẫy bon Tiăng (English: The farming season of Tiăng village) are quite long.[9]

Notable people
  • Y Thu Knul (1828 – 1938), a Laos - Mnong person, a chieftain who established Buôn Đôn, a famous elephant hunting and taming village in Central Highlands. Y Thu Knul caught over 400 wild elephant in his life. In 1861, he caught a white elephant and gave it as a present to the Thai royal family, leading the king of Thailand to bestow upon him the name "Khunjunob" (literally "King of Elephant hunters").[10][11]
  • N'Trang Lơng, a tribal chief who led villagers against French colonizers in a 24 years uprising from 1912 to 1935.[12] One of the most well-known action of N'Trang Lơng was the assassination of Henri Maitre - a French writer, explorer cum colonizer - who was famous with the adventure book Les Jungles Moï (English: Montagnard in Jungle, Vietnamese: Rừng Người Thượng) as well as brutal actions against the Mnong people.[13][14]
  • Điểu Kâu - an ethnologist, Điểu Klứt and Điểu Klung - two epic tellers, are three brothers in a family, who collected, recorded and spread M'nong epics. In August 2008, folk artist Điểu Kâu died of old age. This was a great loss for the M'nong people because they consider Điểu Kâu as the keeper of their cultural identity.[15]

See also

References
  1. "Report on Results of the 2019 Census". General Statistics Office of Vietnam. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  2. "Committee of Ethnic Minority Affairs - Introduction about M'nong people". cema.gov.vn. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  3. "Central Mnong in Vietnam". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  4. "Eastern Mnong in Vietnam". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  5. "Southern Mnong in Vietnam". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  6. "Central Mnong in Cambodia". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  7. "Overview of the M'Nong in the Central Highlands". vovworld.vn. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  8. "Central Highland Epics". issch.vass.gov.vn. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  9. "Đăk Lăk Province's Library - Mùa rẫy Bon Tiăng". hdl.handle.net. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  10. "The legend about the white elephant". baodaklak.vn. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  11. "Elephant taming job of the M'Nong". vovworld.vn. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  12. "N'Trang Lơng Uprising 1912 - 1936". baodaknong.org.vn. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  13. "Tribal chief Lơng and the assassination of Henri Maître". cand.com.vn. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  14. "Montagnard in Jungle". thanhnien.vn. 15 January 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  15. "Keeping the Central Highland epics". tuoitre.vn. 30 June 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
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