(VOVWORLD) - Traditional stilt houses and their stairs are part of the unique cultural features of the Tay and Nung ethnic minority people. The stairs, especially, contain features of their rich culture and customs.
 The stairs of the Tay and Nung stilt houses have odd number of steps. (Photo: VOV) |
In the old times, the Tay and Nung built houses on stilts to avoid wild beasts while keeping their houses clean with fresh air. Gia Van Vu who lives in Bac Kan province, said: “The Tay and Nung ancestors set rules that the stairs must have an odd number steps, 7 or 9. The elders say that stairs with an even number of steps are ‘ghost stairs."
The stairs can be built on the right or left side of the house, depending on its location. The Tay and Nung always choose durable wood, such as ironwood or sandalwood to build their stairs, which are considered one of their cultural symbols. The stairs tell historic stories of their ancestors adapting to nature and fighting beasts and evil spirits in order to settle down their lives.
Every day, the mother and wife are the ones who used the stairs the most. That’s why, when the Tay and Nung people remember their mothers and wives, they think about the stairs and the hardships they endured.
Folklorist Duong Sach said: “On the wedding day, the Tay and Nung have the “going down the stilt-house” ritual to see the bride off to her husband’s house. She holds the handrails with her two hands while her grandparents, parents, and relatives hold the stairs for her. The stairs are like steps of love for the girl to leave her parents’ house to become a wife.”
 Tay women perform Then singing and Tinh musical instrument. (photo: VOV) |
In the cultural life of the Tay and Nung, the stairs can welcome the souls of ancestors. They believe that a person has a body and a soul. While living, the body and the soul always exist as one. But one day when some parts of the soul leave the body the person will eat less and become sick. The Tay and Nung will organize a ritual to call the soul back.
Folklorist Duong Sach said the 7 or 9 steps of the stairs represent parts of the soul, the thread connecting life and death. "The soul ritual is usually performed by a shaman or a ‘Then Master’. The shaman cuts a banana stem as a symbol of the stairs, and on this he sends ghost soldiers to heaven to welcome the soul back to earth. Votive money is placed on the steps and colorful paper figures and flags are stuck on the handrails. These objects are gifts for the ghost soldiers to take care of the stairs,” Sach said.
The Tay and Nung have continuously revised and renovated their houses to suit the natural conditions and agricultural production. But the stairs are maintained in the unique cultural and architectural style of the Tay and Nung ethnic groups.