Dec 22, 2018

Tay House, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology


Tay House
 
This house was built in 1967 and originally belonged to Mr.Dao The Dien’s family in Tham Roc village, Thai Nguyen province. It was reconstructed at the museum in 1999 by twelve Tay people from the region.

According to traditional techniques, wood and bamboo are soaked in water and mud for at least 3 to 6 months to protect against woodworm. The house at the Museum is covered with 6,000 palm leaves. It sits on 1.8m high stilts and its surface area is more than 100m2. The walls and the shutters are patterned with bamboo laths that are naturally dyed in black with a mixture of soot and brown tuber juice. These flower and diamond-shaped patterns are widely used in Tay textiles and basketry.

The space under the house is for domestic animals, firewood, tools, implements, and mill and mortar for pounding rice. Children play and older people rest in the shade.

The family kitchen god is worshipped in a simple shelter erected at the entrance of the house.



 
Interior spaces

The house interior is symbolically divided by two crossed axes 
interior, interior and exterior parts. The upper space along the patterned wall is separated by a partition: the outer for men; the space for the mistress in front of other female members’ room is at the interior end. The Tay follow a patriarchal tradition and worship three generations of their ancestors. The altar locates at the interior part. It is forbidden to worship impure offerings like buffalo or dog meat. Women is periods and mothers-to-be are not allowed to come close to the altar.

The inferior part is for pantry and food preparation. The bedroom of the daughter-in-law is in the inside inferior space.

The space around the house and above the ground side is for the head the household and important guest; the lower for daughters, stepdaughters and their guests. The outdoor space between the wall and the fireplace is for sons, step-sons and their guests. The space inside is for the hostess and her guests. It is forbidden to spit in the hearth as the Tay believe that this is where the Kitchen God who take care of the house resides.


 
Room of the newlywed

This room is always at the house’s “bottom”, separated by plaited bamboo partitions. Inside the room, there is a wooden 
 and personal items, and a woven 
 tools. It is the private space of the young daughter-in-law where she receives her sisters and friends. In the past she gave birth in this room. According to tradition, neither her father-in-law nor her husband’s older brothers may enter this room.

On the wedding day, after a ceremony in front of the altar to present her to her husband’s ancestors, the bride is accompanied to her room by an elderly woman who is the epitome of virtue: having lead a good life and having a husband, and many sons and daughters. This woman prepares the ‘marriage bed’ on which the bride spends her first night with a bridesmaid. The second night is her wedding night which she spends with her husband.

This daughter-in-law is the first person to get up early each morning to prepare breakfast and warm water for here parents-in-law.


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