Cotu ethnic group

Proper name: Cotu.

Other names: Ca Tu and Ka Tu.

Population: 36,967 people.

Language: Cotu language belongs to the Mon-Khmer group (of the Austroasiatic language family), and is close to Ta Oi and Bru-Van Kieu languages. Their script, invented before 1975, is primarily based on the Latin system and is not widely-used today.

History: The Cotu are permanent inhabitants in the mountainous areas of northwestern Quang Nam province and southwestern Thua Thien- Hue province, neighboring the Cotu people who also live in Laos. They are among the most long-established inhabitants of the Truong Son-Tay Nguyen region.

Production activities: The Cotu practice slash-and-burn cultivation. They cut down trees with axes and cutlasses, burn them, and use digging sticks to make holes to put seeds in the ground. They cut weeds using a special knife with a curved blade and do the thrashing by hands. The Cotu practice crop rotation, leaving a rice field fallow for a long period after many annual harvests. Secondary crops are grown intermittently. Animal husbandry include buffaloes, pigs, dogs and chickens. Products obtained from gathering, hunting and fishing are also important daily sources of food. In some Cotu areas along the Viet-Laos border, handicrafts are made, including textiles and pottery (earthenware). Basketry - is especially well-developed. A monetized economy is still limited, and barter still prevails in some areas.

Transportation: The gui (back-basket) is carried with two straps wrapped over the shoulders. The Cotu make many kinds of gui, thinly- woven and thicker ones. Men's gui have three sections.

Diet: The Cotu eat ordinary rice for daily meals and sticky rice only for festivals. They have a tradition of eating with their hands. They like roasted meat preserved in bamboo, and drink unboiled water, cane wine, ta vak (coconut wine), rice and manioc wine, etc. Nowadays, many people prefer to drink boiled water. The Cotu people smoke cigarettes with pipe.

Clothing: Cotu traditional attire is made from indigo cloth decorated with either lead beads or glass beads. Men wear loin cloths and often leave their upper torso unclothed. Women wear long skirts which may be brought up high enough to wrap around their chests. If shorter skirts are worn, they are complemented with a sleeveless vest or blouse. On festival days, Cotu women add a white belt. People also wrap themselves in blankets when the weather is cold.

Housing: The Cotu live in the districts of Hien, Giang (province of Quang Nam), Phu Loc, and A Luoi (Thua Thien - Hue province). They live in stilt houses with roofs that resemble a tortoise shell decorated with wooden finals (khau cut) in the shape of two crossed posts. In the past, many Cotu families lived in the same house, especially families of the same fraternal clan. Village houses are build in a circle around the village square or plaza. Each village posses a Guol, the communal house and the most majestic and beautiful of all the houses in the village. It is the place for meetings and community life.

Social organization: Community relations in a village are strong. The village is a habitat on a territory defined by an autonomous customary administration, led by the most respected and honorable patriarch. Difference in social classes has not developed. Wealth is evaluated in terms of the- quantity of gongs, earthen jars, buffaloes, ornaments and cloths a family possesses.