The Hre

The Hre, also called Cham re, Chom Kre and Luy have a 95,000 population, inhabiting mainly in the western part of Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh provinces. Their language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group and close to the Xo-dang and Ba Na languages.

They believe in theism and conceive that there is a system of supernatural power including different spirits.

They grew wet rice very early, and farm techniques are the same as those used in the south central delta plain. Animal husbandry is in the first place to provide offerings for ceremonies. Particularly, buffaloes are also used to draw plugs and harrows on the rice fields. Basketry and weaving develop fairly well, but weaving has declined.

Formerly, males wore loincloths and waist-deep vests or remained naked to the waist with turbans as headgear. Females wear double-layer juleps and five-paneled shirts and cover their heads with scarves. Both males and females wear their hair in bun decorated with a hairpin or a bird feather. Nowadays the Hre dress in the Kinh style but their headgear remains unchanged. Most of the women still wear japes with materials coming from the textile industry. The Hre like to wear ornaments in copper, silver and glass bead. Both males and females wear necklaces and bracelets; females further wear ankle bracelets and earrings. Tooth filing has been gradually given up.

The Hre live in houses on stilts, the floor being about one meter above the ground. The partitions jut out in the upper part; each end of the top of the house is decorated with a pair of animal horns. At each end of the floor there is a space separated from the interior; one space is reserved for men to receive guests and the other for women.

The village chief has a high prestige and plays an important role in the villagers. In feudal time, all villagers adopted the family name of Dinh; of late some have 'taken Nguyen, Ha and Pham as their family names. The form of small-size nuclear family is very popular.

The Hre also hold buffalo-stabbing ceremony like other ethics in the Truing Son Range and Western Highlands. They are fond of composing verses and songs and play a wide range of musical instruments. Ka-choi and Ka-leu are two popular tunes. Old tales about faithful love, the contention between the goodies and the badness, wealth and poverty have attracted generation from generation. Musical instruments include Brook, Ching Ka-la, ling-la (traversal flute), ta-lia (longitudinal flute), ong but for women, ra-vai, rang ngoi harps, po-pen and drum. Gongs are very much like by the villagers, giving different rhythms with a set of 3 or 5 gongs.