The culture of the Giay ethnic group, with over 200 years of history in Tả Van (Sa Pa), Lào Cai, along with its treasure trove of folk tales, poetry, proverbs, and traditional festivals, is rich and vibrant, attracting many visitors to explore and experience. Through this article, we invite you to join Original Sa Pa in discovering the culture of the Giay people in Tả Van (Sa Pa).

The Giay people mainly live in Lào Cai Province (most densely), Tuyên Quang, Lai Châu, and a small number are scattered across other provinces nationwide. In Sa Pa, they typically reside in Tả Van and Mường Bo villages, where the terrain is relatively flat, along streams to facilitate rice cultivation. They tend to settle steadily for long periods, adhering to the belief of “settling down to prosper.” Over 200 years of inhabiting Tả Van (Sa Pa), the Giay have preserved, refined, and promoted their traditional culture, creating a treasure trove of folk tales, poetry, proverbs, and festivals, enriching the overall cultural landscape of Sa Pa’s ethnic communities.

The Giay people in Lào Cai are also called Nhắng. When visiting Tả Van (Sa Pa), you will have the opportunity to explore a rich, preserved, and actively promoted traditional culture through various aspects of social life, spiritual practices, and community activities.

The rice planting festival (Roóng Poọc)

When visiting Tả Van (Sa Pa) during festival seasons, you must participate in the most prominent traditional festival of the Gày people: the rice planting festival (Roóng Poọc). This is a unique festival held on the Dragon Day (Thìn) of the lunar calendar’s first month, aiming to pray for good rain and a bountiful harvest. The festival attracts participation from all households and many tourists. On the festival day, each family prepares a offering tray with pork, chicken, sticky rice cakes (bánh khảo), incense, and flowers, which are placed outside the fields where the festival takes place. Everyone prays for a year of favorable weather, prosperity, and happiness. The rice planting festival features numerous rituals, activities, and folk games, among which the throwing of the rice husk (còn) is the most important: a tall pole (nêu) is erected at a prominent spot during the festival, with a large ring (about 1 meter in diameter) hanging at the top, with a hole about 20cm wide in the center, covered with a double-sided Gày paper. One side is red, symbolizing the sun, and the other side is green or white, symbolizing the moon. After the offering ritual, participants split into two groups to throw the prepared rice husk through the hole on the pole’s top, aiming to pierce the paper. The lucky rice husk that goes through the paper is kept by the owner and placed in a rice jar, symbolizing a year of prosperity and abundance for the family.

Visiting Gày families in Tả Van, you also have the chance to learn about their unique marriage customs. According to tradition, the highest status in the family belongs to the husband and father, and children take the father’s surname. Regarding marriage, the groom’s family takes the initiative. In the past, the Gày also practiced “pulling the bride” (kéo vợ), where the bride and her family agree, but if the groom’s family was too poor to organize a wedding, the groom would have to “pull” the bride himself. Their wedding rituals include several ceremonies: matchmaking, house viewing, proposing, bride price negotiations, “đoạn lời” (a ritual phrase exchange), wedding ceremony, and bride’s return.

The wedding of the Giay people in Ta Van

In addition, Gày customs have their own regulations: pregnant women must observe certain taboos and prayers to ensure a smooth childbirth. When a baby is one month old, a ceremony is held to inform the ancestors and pray for protection. The baby’s name, birth date, and year are recorded on a piece of red cloth by the shaman, which is used later to determine compatibility for marriage, building a house, or funeral rites.

When visiting a Gày family, exploring festivals, customs, marriage, and family life, you should also stay overnight with them especially if you stay in a homestay that has developed as part of tourism, to learn more about their housing and traditional clothing, which have distinctive features. Gày houses in Tả Van are built on land. The central room is a sacred space for worship, with adjacent rooms for family members and a separate kitchen. Their traditional clothing differs between men and women. Men’s attire includes a chest-opening shirt with a round collar, fastened with cloth buttons, often featuring three pockets two at the bottom and one on the right side. The shirt is short and indigo-colored. Men’s trousers are straight-cut, wide (about 30–40cm), with a large waistband, worn without a belt. Women’s traditional dress is a short, sleeveless, high-necked blouse that covers the hips, with side slits, wide sleeves, and contrasting embroidery along the collar and chest area. Women also wear an inner shirt short-sleeved, with a round neckline, and two pockets at the bottom. Their nách (armpit) slit shirts are carefully sewn with cloth buttons, creating a striking and eye-catching appearance. Women often wear headscarves wrapped in various styles and silver jewelry around their necks.

Moreover, don’t forget to try a meal in the traditional Gày style simple, unpretentious, mainly consisting of familiar dishes, with stir-fried and soup options. Guests’ meals may include boiled and fried dishes, and most notably, the famous and delicious khâu nhục, seasoned with countless unique spices that other ethnic groups cannot replicate. What’s special about Gày cuisine is the emphasis on equality: men and women, young and old, dine together.

Different regions and ethnic groups have their own distinct cultural features, and the Gày are no exception. On your Sapa travel journey, visit the villages to create lasting memories, and seize opportunities to live, eat, and stay with local families. This will help you discover the most unique aspects of Gày culture, inspiring you to explore the highlands further and learn more about the diverse communities of minority groups.