Become acquainted with the legendary Raglaï tribe, a matriarchal ethnic group located in the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuân and Ninh Thuân on Vietnam’s south-central coast. Also known as Rac Laï, Orang Glaï, or Roglaï, the approximately 110,000 Raglaï are Austronesian and speak a language that belongs to Malayo-Polynesian language family.
A Raglai in the background of Okha mountain
A Raglai in Okha mountain
The Raglai live in stilt houses made of wood, rattan, bamboo with thatched roofs, on high land areas near a water source. Unlike most stilt houses of other ethnic groups in Central Highlands of Vietnam which are enormous, the Raglai stilt houses are smaller, located at the foot of mountains, surrounded by dense and impenetrable forests, helping to preserve their unique culture. Each hamlet (palay) has several stilt houses and around 10 to 20 families of the same clan live each house. Raglai villages are scattered apart.
Despite not having a writing system or concept of time, the Raglai speak their own language and the Raglai culture is preserved through oral literature. Raglai legends, proverbs, epics and folksongs are told by the elders to the younger generations by the wood stove in the house. Like many other tribes in Central Highlands, the Raglai are animists who believe everything has a spirit. They take the names of mountains, rocks, trees, or animals as their family name and consider them their guardian angels. The supreme being in the Raglai belief system is called Giang, the God of heaven, alongside the genies of mountains, forests and prominent rocks.
Raglai slash-and-burn field
Raglai - South Vietnam
Secret Indochina offers trekking and ethnic immersions, operated with Raglai people, an ethnic group that have intriguing links with the Champa kingdom. According to legend, during the disappearance of Panduranga in 1832, Cham princes entrusted part of their treasures and archives to the Raglaï, including royal tiara, relics, and precious antiquities. Tales about treasures hidden in the Raglai mountains have become part of Raglaï lore and given the area an aura of myth and spirituality.
