Hà Nhì people in westernmost frontier

ĐBP - In the place where the sun sets last on the S-shaped land, the Hà Nhì community persistently preserves traditional cultural values as part of their flesh and blood, creating a unique mark in the westernmost region of the Fatherland.

Currently, the Hà Nhì people live mainly concentrated in Sín Thầu commune. This is the long-standing settlement of the Hà Nhì La Mi branch, where the mountain and forest landscape remains pristine, community life is close-knit, and cultural identity is preserved quite intact.

Art performance welcoming the traditional New Year of the Hà Nhì ethnic group in Sín Thầu commune.

From traditional housing architecture leaning against the mountain, colorful ethnic costumes, to folk melodies, religious rituals, and festival activities, all are still vividly present in daily life. It is these values that are becoming an important foundation for Sín Thầu commune to orient the development of community tourism, turning Hà Nhì culture into a fulcrum to connect tourists with the remote but identity-rich border region.

The Hà Nhì people in A Pa Chải village, Sín Thầu commune still preserve traditional costumes.

Besides Sín Thầu, the Hà Nhì community also lives in Mường Nhé commune with a population of about over 1,600 people, distributed in almost all villages, with large concentrations in Đoàn Kết, Nậm Khum, and Húi To villages. Although residing interspersed with many other ethnic groups, the Hà Nhì people here still preserve customs, practices, and traditional cultural life quite intact.

Preparing typical dishes, deeply imbued with the identity of the Hà Nhì people in the Westernmost region.

Those values are clearly shown on occasions of festivals, New Year, and community activities, when the sound of flutes and pan-pipes blends with folk dances, when traditional feasts are carefully prepared to offer to ancestors and deities, or when the whole village gathers in rituals deeply imbued with religious color. In the flow of modern life, the Hà Nhì community in Mường Nhé still upholds the spirit of solidarity, family, lineage, and village attachment, considering the preservation of traditional culture as the common responsibility of many generations.

Hà Nhì ethnic female students in Mường Nhé commune in traditional costume.

From Sín Thầu to Mường Nhé, Hà Nhì culture appears as a persistent source, continuously transmitted in daily life. The fact that the community still preserves its identity amidst many fluctuations shows the strong vitality of national culture in the border area.

The Hà Nhì people in Tả Kố Khừ village, Sín Thầu commune joining the Xòe dance on the traditional New Year days of the ethnic group.

This is a precious resource for developing community tourism associated with cultural conservation, contributing to improving people’s lives, and simultaneously affirming the value and position of the Hà Nhì people in the westernmost region of the Fatherland.

Diệp Chi
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