VIETNAM--Part 8OUTSIDE DALAT: A VILLAGE OF THE LAT PEOPLE
A
House in a Village of the Lat People: This House Can Sleep Forty People, Including
This Man...
...Who
is the Patriarch of this Village -- At Age 103 (A Best Guess), He Still Plays
a Mean Kamput!
The
Inside of a Lat House: That Huge Basket in the Back Holds Enough Rice to Last
Through a Bad Harvest, and Then Some
This
Cutting Tool Has Dozens of Uses: It Cuts Anything, It's a Great Stool to Rest
On, and It Can Measure Long Distances (You'll Have to Ask How!)
Lat
Families Get to Be Very Large; The Children Are Needed to Help Work the Fields...
...And
the Young Ones Have to Come Along for the Ride
Like
Many Others in the Highlands, the Lat People Are Catholic and Gather to Pray
in Churches Like This
The
Symbol On the Church Roof, Though, Shows That Their Catholicism is Mixed With
Animist Beliefs -- The Bottom Part Portrays Buffalo Horns, a Reflection of
Their Reverence for the Beast
This
Buffalo Horn Altar Inside the Church Was Built for the Harvest Celebration,
Replacing the Ancient Practice of Slaughtering a Buffalo in Thanks for Bountiful
Crops
The
Lat People Play Music With Gongs: The Interlocking Patterns Remind Me of Balinese
Music (I Wonder Why the Similarity?)