Nung people in Tuyen Quang - Preserving culture in clothes and songs

Amidst the whirlpool of change, there are values that quietly remain the same. In the mountainous region of Tuyen Quang, the singing, the indigo color of the shirts and the traditional rituals of the Nung people remain intact. Not noisily intruding into the modern flow, but it is this very silence that creates cultural depth - where each song, each embroidery on the indigo shirt is a part of the collective memory passed down through generations.

Nung girls give their hometown soul in dance.

The lyrics follow the indigo dress in flight

Each ethnic group has its own way of telling its own story. For the Nung people in Tuyen Quang , that story appears in their songs and their ao dai - two spiritual sources that never run dry.

Nung women wear indigo ao dai, silver buttons running along the hem like dew drops after a long night. The hand-embroidered headscarf, with meticulous patterns down to every stitch, is an indispensable dowry that a mother gives her daughter when she marries. In the flickering light of the kitchen fire, her sunburned hands still diligently sew and embroider, weaving countless emotions into it.

“A Nung girl who cannot embroider a scarf or sew a shirt to wear on her head is not an adult,” Mr. Vang Van Quan, an ethnic Nung and elderly man in Thuong Son commune, Tuyen Quang province, said with a gentle smile. “A man must know how to sing luan. Not only to get married, but also to preserve his soul in this world.”

The Nung people's singing is not simply about lyrics. It is a form of love exchange, a dialogue with emotions, a challenge of intelligence and improvisation. In the wedding ceremony, if the groom's family comes to pick up the bride without singing, the bride's family will not open the door. Each verse is both romantic and profound, as if prolonging the bustling pace, as if prolonging the longing sent.

Nung girls show off their beauty among the clouds of Tuyen Quang.

Ms. Nguyen Thuy Trang - a tourist from Hanoi who attended a traditional wedding ceremony of the Nung people in Po Ly Ngai commune, Tuyen Quang province said: "This is the first time I have witnessed a wedding without an MC, without a loudspeaker, just singing. Every sentence is deep and soulful. The old sing, the young sing, and the guests are also drawn into that atmosphere. It is as if everyone is a part of the ceremony, and is touched by the unique subtleties of Nung culture."

Not only singing luan, the Nung also have a forest worshiping ceremony - a sacred ceremony held at the beginning of the new year to thank the green forest, mountain god, tree god for protecting the villagers. In the strictly protected forbidden forest, people set up an altar under the ancient tree, hang sticky rice cakes, smoked meat, corn wine and pray. There is no sound of drums, no sound of gongs, only the rhythm of people's hearts blending with the mountain wind.

Mr. Hoang Van Trieu, a Nung ethnic, an elderly person in Pa Vay Su commune, Tuyen Quang province, quietly said: “Worshiping the forest is not only to pray for a good harvest, but also to remind each other: The forest is home, the trees are friends. If we lose the forest, we lose our entire lineage. Therefore, protecting the forest means protecting ourselves.”

Keep your identity with very gentle things

In the flow of modernity, when young people gradually prefer T-shirts and jeans, when antithetical songs are replaced by hasty text messages, somewhere in the mountains and forests of Tuyen Quang, there are still people quietly holding on to the old soul.

The indigo color blends with the clouds and mountains of my homeland.

Many Nung folk artists in Tuyen Quang still quietly preserve the cultural soul in their own way. Some, every festival season, take their traditional clothes out to dry in the sun, smoothing out each fold as if touching their memories. Some people are deeply concerned: "Singing for guests is easy, singing for our children to remember is difficult." So, in the quiet moments of everyday life, they whisper to their children to teach them a few luan songs, the first embroidery stitches on their headscarves, or old stories in their mother tongue. Because for them, preserving the lyrics means preserving their roots.

In the homestays in Hoang Su Phi, tourists now not only come to see the terraced fields or drink Shan Tuyet tea, but also to try on indigo clothes, to sit by the fire and listen to the old lady sing, to dye an indigo cloth to take home as a souvenir. These experiences - seemingly small but make people remember forever.

“There are no stage lights, no perfect performances. But when I listen to the old lady sing, and see her smoothing the tourists’ clothes, I feel like I have just touched something very real, very beautiful that I have long forgotten,” said Nguyen Quoc Huy, a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, after the trip.

Amidst the layers of green forest, the Nung people do not talk much, but each fold of their clothes and each song they preserve is the gentlest answer to the question: How can we not lose our identity on the journey to tomorrow?

Article and photos: Duc Quy

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/van-hoa/202507/nguoi-nung-tuyen-quang-gin-giu-van-hoa-trong-sac-ao-tieng-ca-4252851/