The Mường (Mường language: Mõl Mường (Mường Bi dialect), Vietnamese: người Mường) are an ethnic group native to northern Vietnam. The Mường is the country’s third largest of 53 minority groups, with an estimated population of 1.45 million (according to the 2019 census). The Mường people inhabit a mountainous region of northern Vietnam centered in Hòa Bình Province and some districts of Phú Thọ province and Thanh Hóa Province. They speak the Mường language which is related to the Vietnamese language and the Thổ language and share ancient ethnic roots with the Vietnamese (Kinh) people.
Etymology
The word Mường in Vietnamese is etymologically related to the word mueang from the Tai languages, meaning “cultivated land” or “community”, and referred to pre-modern semi-independent city-states or principalities in mainland Southeast Asia. This comes from their close association with the Tai peoples. The Mường call the Tai as ɲew, Nyo or Âu; while referring to themselves by various names, such as “Monglong”, which means “people living in the center”, to distinguish themselves from the people of the valleys and of the highlands. In Hòa Bình, They call themselves Mõl or Moăn. In Thanh Hóa, they call themselves Mon or Mwanl and in Phú Thọ Province, they call themselves Mon or Monl. Sometimes written as Mal, Mwal or Mwai. These words are all dialectal variations on the Mường word for “people”. From Vietnamese perspective in the past, the word mọi is “an old word to denote ethnic minorities, [in] distant regions, [and] backward”, even though it is cognate with the Mường word mõl “human being”, and both the Vietnamese and Mường words come from one same Proto-Vietic *mɔːlʔ. Among different groups of people of Northern Vietnam, both the Vietnamese and the Mường are referred to by some other common designations such as Cheo (Cheo Chi) or Keo are derivations from Giao Chỉ, the name of Northern Vietnam during the First Era of Northern Domination. These designations are used by Tai-speaking people in Vietnam.
The Mường were referred in Vietnamese Nôm texts as Mường Mán (茫蠻), which was used in a derogatory sense in the past.
Economy
The Mường residents primarily grow wet rice and some of them also grow corn and cassava. Breeding is attached special importance to development. The main livestock is cattle and poultries. The significant economic resources of the Mường family are exploiting products of forest including mushrooms, wood ear, wood, bamboo, rattan, etc. The typical crafts of the Mường are weaving, knitting, reeling.
History
From an anthropologist viewpoint, both the Mường and the Vietnamese Kinh are descended from common origins-the ancient Viet-Muong speakers-the northern subbranch of the Vietic ethnolinguistic group of the Austroasiatic family that had heavily contact with Tai-speaking people and other Northern Austroasiatic speakers during the first millennia. The Mường are often perceived as an intact culture, compared to the sinicized Vietnamese (Kinh) in the lowland, and they also tend to adopt and exchange many customs of the neighboring Black Tai
Historical records said there were Mường rebellions in 1029, 1300, 1351, 1430s, 1822, 1833, 1880s. In 1931, Mường population was 180,000, and it grew to 415,000 by 1960.
Presently, the Mường are one of the four main groups of Vietic speakers in Vietnam, the others being the Việt, Thổ and Chứt. The Nguồn, who are classified as Việt, are sometimes believed to be the southernmost group of the Mường, who intermixed with Chứt people.
Language
The Mường speak the Mường language, a close relative of Vietnamese. Writing based on the Vietnamese alphabet appeared in the 20th century, introduced by Western scholars. The Mường aristocracy were already familiar with Chinese writing through their study of the Confucian canon.
The Mường language is mainly used in the domestic sphere of communication. Most native speakers also speak Vietnamese.
Geographic distribution
The population of Mường in Vietnam was 1,452,095 according to the 2019 census, 1.51% of Vietnam’s population. They mostly live in the north of Vietnam, mainly in the mountainous provinces of Hòa Bình (549,026 people, comprising 64.28% of the province’s population), Thanh Hóa (376,340 people, comprising 10.34% of the province’s population), Phú Thọ (218,404 people, comprising 14.92% of the province’s population), and Sơn La (84,676 people, comprising 6.78% of the province’s population). In Hòa Bình province, there are four large Mường population centers: Mường Vang (Lạc Sơn District), Mường Bi (Tân Lạc District), Mường Thàng (Cao Phong District) and Mường Động (Kim Bôi District).
Literature
The Mường people have many valuable epics (Mường: mo), such as Te tấc te đác (meaning Giving rise to the Earth and the Water).
Holidays
The main holidays of the Mường are New Year and agrarian holidays. During the celebration of the New Year, Mường people pray to the ancestors. Such prayers are also arranged on the revolutionary holidays after which the whole village treats themselves to pre-cooked dishes.
Clothing
The traditional dress of the Mường people (photo from the Vietnamese Museum of Ethnic Studies)
Different Mường groups will wear different clothing styles. Some wear clothing borrowed from the Thái, while others wear clothing similar to the Vietnamese. In general, clothing for women consists of some type of tunic or robe, headscarf, and skirt. Some women in the past wore neck rings like other minorities in Northern Vietnam. Men generally wear simple tunics and pants.
Religion
Main article: Muong ethnic religion
Mường shaman’s hatMường funeral
Mainly, the Mường follow Buddhism and Christianity (Catholics), often with local animistic influences. They believe in the existence of harmful spirits (ma tai, ma em, and others).
The Mường practice their traditional ethnic religion, worshiping ancestral spirits and other supernatural deities. They are primarily animists, which means that they believe that non-living objects have spirits. They also deify local heroes who have died. However, with the introduction of modern medicine, adherence to many folk beliefs has declined.
