Vang Pheo Village

Morning mist settles over the valleys of northwestern Vietnam, between ranges of steep mountains. In some of those valleys, small villages have been home to the Thái for hundreds of years. Stilt houses, festivals, the music of the tính tẩu lute and finely hand-embroidered costumes, all of it is still there.

Vàng Pheo lies in Lai Châu province, about 30 kilometers north of Lai Châu city. It belongs to the Mường So area of Phong Thổ. The village sits snugly in a small valley, wrapped by two streams, the Nậm So and the Nậm Lùm. To the north rises Mount Phu Nhọ Khọ. About 100 White Thái households have lived here for generations. In 2007, the village was recognized as a provincial cultural and tourism village.

People call this place the Valley of Beauties. The name comes from a story, though, not from any idea that the women here are different from women elsewhere. The story is the legend of Nàng Han.

In the legend of the White Thái of Phong Thổ, Nàng Han was born in Vàng Pheo. She was beautiful, hardworking and loved by her neighbors. When enemy soldiers invaded the village, she did not wait for anyone to rescue her. She disguised herself as a man and called on the young people of the villages to unite against the invaders. Her fighters beat the enemy and saved the village. After the victory, the legend says, she turned into a cool, clear stream that runs through the valley. Today that water still wraps around the village, in the two streams called the Nậm So and the Nậm Lùm.

Every year, on the full-moon day of the second lunar month, the White Thái hold the Nàng Han Festival in her memory. They pray for luck and a fertile new season. It is the most distinctive festival in the Phong Thổ area.

The stilt houses are traditional White Thái houses. The wooden floor stands high, away from wild animals and stream floods. The steep roof sheds rain quickly. Buffalo horns decorate the roof, a feature that marks the White Thái. The Black Thái of Sơn La and Mộc Châu have something else, the roof ornament called khau cút. This small detail marks the difference between the two branches of Thái culture in the northwest.

The costume of White Thái women is distinctive as well. They wear bright or white blouses and black skirts, with bands of colorful embroidery. The White and Black Thái differ in more than name. They differ in clothing, in architecture and in custom.

Women in the village weave brocade by hand, in traditional patterns. A single meter of cloth can take several weeks to finish. The White Thái brocade of Vàng Pheo has motifs of its own, and nobody would mistake it for the brocade of another region.

The village has three major festivals each year. The first is the Nàng Han Festival, on the full-moon day of the second lunar month. The second is Then Kin Pang, on the tenth day of the third lunar month. It is a ceremony in which the Thái thầy mo honor their ancestors and pray for a good harvest. The third is Kin Lẩu Khẩu Mẩu, on the full-moon day of the ninth lunar month. It celebrates the new rice after the autumn harvest.

During Then Kin Pang, the thầy mo sings the old hát Then songs to the tính tẩu. Hát Then is one of the most distinctive kinds of music and spiritual life among the Tày, Nùng and Thái. In 2019, UNESCO recognized the practice of hát Then by these three peoples as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In September and October, when the rice ripens, the terraced fields around the village turn a shining gold.

Time moves more slowly in Vàng Pheo. The stilt houses still stand. The streams still flow. The women still weave, and the sound of hát Then still carries.