A rite of passage

      From Sapa town in Lai Chau province I drive over the Hoang Lien Son pass to Tam Duong district in search of a community of Black Dao, who are also known as Dao Dau Bang (Plain headed Dao).
With a population of 35,000 people, this hill tribe lives mainly on the slopes of Phong Tho and Tam Duong plateau in Lai Chau province but you can find small clusters in Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang and Ha Giang provinces as well. The Black Dao women are quite distinctive.
They will normally have plain black trousers and jackets but the sleeves and collars will be decorated with colourful embroidery. They will also have silver jewellry and an eye-catching maroon ruff. Their hair is usually worn in a chignon and tied up with a thick black chord and kept in place by a large silver frame which sits on top of the head.
A black scarf will be draped over the silver frame and decorated with beads and maroon tassels. When I arrive at Sin Chai village in Tam Duong district, the locals are busy preparing a rite of passage for 11 boys of this Black Dao tribe. The ritual is called ‘Tu Cai’ and confirms a boys official entry into manhood.
According to Dao people’s beliefs, Tu Cai is a process of gestation and birth. The local witch doctor is seen as the mother and he must connect the boy to the soul of a grown man. After the ritual, the tribe’s ancestors and gods will officially accept the boy as a man and allow him to unite with his ancestors when he dies.
Each boy has three more “fathers” – also witch doctors – who will deliver each boy’s soul and give him a new name, which he will be known by when he meets his ancestors in the afterlife. To prepare for the ritual, families of the boys will have invited the sorcerer to select an auspicious date for the ceremony.
Nine days before the event, the boy has to follow strict guidelines. He must not kill a plant or an animal, he must not dig soil and he must eat vegetarian meals with two bowls of rice and drink light soup. He is not allowed to drink water and cannot be exposed to sunlight. There are actually hundreds of ceremonial steps and procedures, some of which reenact the formation of the earth and the creation of human life.
The boys will also be offered advice on how to become a good person and help the community. Those who do not attend the Tu Cai ritual will have not have a soul and therefore be unable to go to the next world. In this life the community will not recognise them as independent people. For these reasons, no man will ever shun the ritual.
The only concern is a financial one. The ritual is costly for a hill tribe community in the remote countryside. Some men from less affluent families may be fathers or even grandfathers when they finally perform this rite of passage.
“We have 11 boys from nine to 14 years old who will participate in the same Tu Cai ritual to save money. Each family has to pay VND7- VND8m for their son to be involved,” says Phan A Nao, one of the villagers from Sin Chai village.