24/11/2025
📌 COMING TO TẢ VAN TO LEARN ABOUT THE GAY PEOPLE'S CULTURE 🇻🇳
The Giay ethnic culture has thrived for over 200 years in Tả Van (Sa Pa), Lao Cai, along with a rich collection of folk tales, poetry, proverbs, and traditional festivals... these vibrant and diverse cultural elements have attracted many visitors to explore and experience. Through this article, we invite you to join Thổ địa Sa Pa - Original Sa Pa in discovering the culture of the Giay people in Sa Pa.
The Giay people mainly reside in Lao Cai Province (most densely), Tuyên Quang, Yên Bái, Lai Châu, and a small number live far from their hometown, spread across 39 provinces nationwide. In Sa Pa, they typically live in Tả Van and Mường Bo villages, areas with relatively flat terrain along streams, which facilitates rice cultivation. Living according to the concept of “settling down to prosper,” they tend to have stable long-term residences. Over 200 years of living in Sa Pa, Lao Cai, the Giay ethnic group has preserved, cherished, and promoted their traditional culture, forming a treasure trove of folk tales, poetry, proverbs, and festivals... contributing to enriching the overall picture of the traditional cultures of various ethnic groups in Sa Pa.
The Giay people in Lao Cai, also known as Nhắng, when visiting Sa Pa, have the opportunity to explore a rich and preserved traditional culture, which is still actively maintained today through various aspects of cultural, spiritual life, and community activities.
When visiting Tả Van village in Sa Pa during festival seasons, you must participate in the most prominent traditional festival of the Giay people the Down to the Field Festival (Roóng Poọc Festival). This is a unique rice-asking festival held annually on the Dragon day in the first month of the lunar calendar, with the hope that dragons will bring rain to make the fields lush and prosperous. The festival attracts participation from every family and many travelers. On the festival day, each family prepares a offering tray with pork, chicken, sticky rice cakes, and incense, which they place outside the field at the festival site, praying for a year of favorable weather and happiness. The festival involves various rituals, folk games, and activities, among which the throwing of the rice husk (còn) is the most important: a tall pole is erected at the most prominent place, with a wide ring (about 1 meter in diameter) hung at the top, with a hole (about 20cm) in the center covered with two-sided colored paper red on one side symbolizing the sun, and green or white on the other side representing the moon. After the offering ritual, participants try to throw the rice husk through the hole on top of the pole. When someone succeeds, the husk is collected and placed in a rice jar, symbolizing a hopeful and prosperous year ahead for the family.
Visiting Giay families in Sa Pa also offers a chance to learn about their unique marriage and family traditions. According to customs, the highest authority in the family is the husband and father, with children taking the father’s surname. In marriage, the groom’s family takes the initiative. Traditionally, Giay people also practiced “pulling a bride,” where, if the girl and her family agreed but the groom’s family was too poor to organize a wedding, the groom would go and “pull” his bride. Their wedding rituals include several ceremonies such as matchmaking, house viewing, betrothal offerings, “breaking the word” (a ritual of formal engagement), wedding ceremony, and the return of the bride.
In addition, the customs of the Giay people include rules such as: pregnant women must observe certain taboos and offerings to ensure a smooth childbirth. When a baby is one month old, a ceremony is held to inform the ancestors and seek their protection. The child's name, birth date, and year are recorded on a piece of red cloth, which is used to determine auspiciousness for marriage, house-building, or funeral rites.
Visiting Giay families, learning about festivals, customs, marriage, and family life, you should also spend a night with a Giay family especially in homestay tourism households to learn more about their traditional houses and costumes, which are distinctive. Giay people in Sa Pa live in stilt houses. The central area inside the house is a sacred space used for worship, with adjacent rooms for family activities, and a separate kitchen. Their traditional attire differs between men and women. Men’s clothing includes a collared shirt with a front opening, round collar, fastened with fabric buttons, often with three pockets (two below and one on the right). The shirt is usually short, indigo colored. Men wear straight, wide trousers (about 30-40cm in diameter at the waist), with a high waistband, worn without a belt. Women typically wear a short, sleeveless, slit shirt that covers the hips, with a slit on the right side, wide sleeves, and a collar with decorative contrasting piping from the left to right shoulder, often with contrasting colors. Besides the outer dress, women also wear a short, collarless inner shirt with a front slit and two pockets, carefully stitched with fabric buttons. The nape of the neck is often decorated with headscarves or silver jewelry, which adds to their attractive appearance.
Furthermore, don’t forget to try a traditional Giay family meal simple, unpretentious, mainly consisting of familiar dishes, with stir-fried and soup dishes as staples. When hosting guests, they also include boiled and fried dishes, and the famous delicious “Khâu Nhục” (roast pork), seasoned with various distinctive spices that other ethnic groups cannot replicate. The beauty of Giay cuisine lies in the fact that they practice gender equality and treat young and old equally during meals.
Every region and ethnic group has its unique characteristics, and the Giay people are no exception. During your Sa Pa journey, be sure to visit the villages to create memorable experiences, live, eat, and stay together, and discover the most special aspects of Giay culture, which will inspire you to explore more about the diverse communities of ethnic minorities in the highlands.
