The Co - ho

The Co-ho's population is of nearly 100,000 inhabitants who settle mainly in Lam Dong province. The Co-ho com mutiny has other names such as Xre, Nop. Co-don, Chil, Lat and Tring. The Xre group has the largest population and inhabits in Di Linh plateau. Co-ho language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group.

The Co-ho cultivate rice on burnt-over land and submerged fields. The Xre group mainly cultivates rice in submerged fields and lives in a sedentary lifestyle for a long time. The remaining groups practice cultivation on burnt-over land only. They use farm tools such as axes, beams and sticks to dig holes to grow plants. The Co-ho are good at horticulture. In the gardens they grow jackfruit, rice-fruit, banana, bobo and papaya. Many Co-ho villages lead a sedentary life and cultivate coffee, grow mulberry and rear silkworm.

The Co-ho people live in a village naturally have blood ties. The young Co-ho women play an active role in marriage. Monogamy is the rule in the Co-ho society. After the wedding, the groom comes to live with his wife's family.

The Co-ho believe in the existence of many genies. Of them Ndu reigns supreme and under this god are genies representing a force or a natural object: the sun, moon, mountain, river, earth and rice. Many rites are organized relating to rice growing such as buffalo-stabbing (nho sa ro-pu), seed sowing and buffalo-feet washing. The buffalo-stabbing is a grand ceremony organized when the old crop is finished and the new crop is prepared. In these rites the Co-ho play traditional musical instruments. By the fire and the can (pipe) alcohol jar, the elderly men tell their descendants legends, myths and explain verses of poems and folk ballads of their ancestors and nativeland.

The Co-ho possess an abundant source of folklore and culture. The verses of the lyrical poems, called Tampla, sound very romantic. The Co-ho also have many traditional dances to perform at festivals and ceremonies. Their musical instruments include gongs, dear-skin drums, bamboo flutes, box pan-pipes, lip organs, six-stringed zithers, bamboo oboes, and so on.