54 GROUPS: WHITE THAI PEOPLE OF VIETNAM

This page provides some details about White Thai people. They are one part of Thai, one of the 54 groups of people in Vietnam.

Mai Chau, The First Settlement

The Moc Chau and Thanh Hoa people have the same origin from Laos. Many centuries ago, a princess from Laos led a retinue together with the queen to Dien Bien Province, then Lai Chau, and Binh Lu. They passed Hoang Lien Son range and were going to settle down in Bac Ha. However, the land here was too barren. Then they decided to boat along the Red River to find new land. When they entered three-Waycross of Da River they came across the very fertile land. But this land had been inhabited by the Kinh people. So they went upstream on the Da River and capsized their goat leather-made boat. Deciding to stop and explore the land, being Mai Chau. The charming scenery and fertile land to produce rice, made them decide to settle down there.

White Thai People Expansion

However, Mai Chau was too small a valley for the whole tribe to migrate to. In one moon full night, part of the community had to farewell and all agreed for them to take the moon as a signal to identify each other. This also explains the reason why the Thai houses are moon shape. The second brother and the Queen stayed while the youngest one led a retinue along the river Horse to discover the new land of Thanh Hoa. The oldest brother followed the sunset went West. When they arrived at the Moc Chau high lands, they realized that the land there was ideal to live and dream of having many children. But unfortunately, the Xa (Kho Mu) had lived there a long time ago already.

There was no other choice and the fight between the oldest brother and the Xa people broke out. Thanks to his talent in the art of warfare, the oldest brother won and became the new owner of the Moc Chau highlands.

For more information about 53 more ethnic groups of people in Vietnam, please follow this link