Tai Narrative, Ritual, and Discourses of the Environment in North Central Vietnam

As a result of the policy of cultural revitalization pursued by the Vietnamese government since 2004, ethnic minorities have restored and promoted their written languages as well as their religious traditions. More precisely, Tai local intellectuals and authorities in the Quan Sơn district, situated in the highlands of Thanh Hóa province close to the Vietnam-Laos border, have preserved, restored, and translated ancient manuscripts as part of a process of literary revival. Subsequently, there have been attempts to write, publish, and disseminate texts on Tai culture and history. The traditions of tutelary deities and the worship of spirits of nature were also revived. Based on ethnographic data collected between 2015 and 2020, as well as on Tai manuscripts pertaining to local history, this essay outlines the Tai ritual of Lễ Hội Mường Xia, providing new insights into Tai ecological thought since premodern times. It analyzes the dynamic interplay of rituals, deities, ethnic narratives, and the environment in producing discourses of place and nature in the highland border areas, in the context of Tai literary revival and cultural revitalization in contemporary Vietnam.