Name of Ethnic Group: Brau
(Brao).
Population:
About 200 people.
Locality:
Dak Me Village, Bo Y Commune, and Ngoc Hoi District of Kon Tum Province.
Customs and Habits: The Brau have a tradition of tattooing
their faces and bodies and filing their teeth. Their houses are built on stilts. Young men
and women are free to choose their partners. The wedding ceremony is organized by the
bride's family and the groom must live with his wife's family for several years before
bringing his wife and children home.
Culture:
The Brau language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group.The Brau like to play gongs and
traditional musical instruments. In particular, a set of two gongs called the chieng tha
has great value in their culture. Young girls often play Krong Put, a musical instrument
that consists of 5-7 bamboo tubes, both long and short, which are joined together. The
sound is produced when air is forced into them by the clapping of the hands.
Costumes:
Women wear a lot of jewelry around their arms, ankles, and necks. Men often wear
loincloths and women wear pagnes.
Economy: The Brau have led a nomadic life for a very long
time, but also practice slash-and-burn cultivation in order to grow rice, corn, and
cassava using rudimentary tools.
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