Coho ethnic group

Proper name: Coho.

Local groups: Xre, Nop (or Tu Nop), Co Don, Chil, Lat (or Lach) and To Ring (or T'ring).

Population: 92.190 people.

Language: Coho language belongs to Mon-Khmer group (which is part of the Austroasiatic language family).

History: The Coho are permanent inhabitants in the Tay Nguyen region.

Production activities: With the exception of the Xre, who practice wet-rice cultivation (the name Xre means submerged fields), other Coho sub-groups cultivate rice on swidden fields which they change periodically, using the slash-and-burn method to prepare the land for planting. In general, the Coho's farming methods and tools are similar to other groups in the Tay Nguyen region. Apart from the use of digging slicks to make holes in the scorched earth to insert seeds, the Chil people also use a tool called the p'hal, which has a long wooden handle, a blade of about 28cm .in length and 3-4cm in width, and is used both for making the holes and putting the seeds into the earth. Among the Xre, the typical farming tools are the wooden-made ngai (plough), which has a flat base and wooden blade (later made of iron) and the rake with wooden tines. Ploughs, rakes and kor (to even out the field's surface) are drawn by oxen or buffalo. Paddy rice is the main crop, but the Coho also grow corn, manioc, gourd, pumpkin, loofah, and beans, etc. The Coho practice informal animal husbandry. They raise livestock to draw the ploughs in their fields and as animal offerings in certain ceremonial scarifies. Basketry and blacksmithing are practiced by every family, but textile weaving only prevails among the Chil sub-group. Hunting, fishing and gathering remain popular ways to supplement the family diet.
Diet: The Coho usually eat three meals a day. Formerly, they prepared rice and soup in a length of bamboo. Later they use earthen cooking pots, and then bronze and cast-iron ones. Food are often served dry because the Coho have a tradition of eating with their hands. Soups are cooked with vegetables, with chili and salt being added as main seasonings. Meat and fish are cooked in a fish sauce with water or boiled with the trunk of a young banana tree. The Coho store water in dried gourds or ghe. Can (pipe) wine, or tornom, which is made from rice, corn and manioc and fermented from special forest tree leaves, are popular drinks that the Coho consume at parties and festivals. Many people still enjoy smoking locally-grown tobacco.
Clothing: Coho men wear loin cloths and women wear short skirts. The Coho loin cloth is a square piece of fabric, 1.5cm to 2cm in width, with designs on the two vertical hems. A cloth wrapper or sarong is neatly wound around the body, with one corner being tucked into the waistband. The cloth wrapper is often dyed black, with white designs being arranged along the two sides. During cold weather, people tend to wrap themselves with blankets (ui). The most popular ornaments are necklaces, wrist chains, bead strings and earrings.
Housing: The Coho live mainly in Lam Dong. They live in sprawling houses on stilts with curved, thatched roofs, bamboo-woven walls
for resisting the cold, and a staircase in the front. There is often an altar facing the entrance, together with a line of pots, baskets and wide-- bellied jars is found on the side of the wall opposite the entrance. All family activities take place around the hearth.
Social organization: The Coho village (or bon) reveals many traces of the earlier matriarchal social structure. A Coho village is headed by a chief (kuang bon). In populous areas, a volunteer alliance among neighboring villages is established, led by a M'drong, or head man. The Coho have two kinds of families: extended and nuclear families. Extended families, however, are disappearing and giving way to smaller families, particularly along national highways and near the districts or townships. Matriarchy is popular. The woman takes the initiative in marriage. After the wedding, the husband comes to stay with his wife's family and the children are named after their mother's family name. Coho couples marry at a young age (girls at 16-17 years old, and boys at 18-20 years old). This accounts for a high reproductive rate among the Coho, and it is not uncommon for a Coho woman to give birth at least five times in her life.