Customs related to water and water management in the tradition of the Dai people in Vietnam

Abstract

Abstract This chapter is an ethnographic account of the roles of water in the life of the Black Dai people in the Quy Chau and Que Phong Districts, Nghe An province in central Vietnam. For the Dai people, water meets the needs of their daily life, which includes housing, agricultural production, cultivation, and their customs and religious practices. This account relies on data that was collected for the case study in 24 villages of six communes in the two districts in 2013–2017. Using the views of local people and the information that they shared, this chapter demonstrates how the Black Dai people exploit and use water in an effective and efficient way. Their knowledge, their customs, and their practices reveal cultural identities that have been passed down by elderly people. Water is also reflected in their ways of social behavior and community management. Today in the open market economy and high technology era, their customs and habits related to the use and management of natural water endure and are still being promoted in their daily lives, such as in agriculture and swidden land cultivation.