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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