The Dao ethnic community in the northern mountainous province of TuyenQuang are struggling to maintain their cultural traditions against theinfluence of modern life.

In particular, their highly-valued ‘cap sac rite’ (literally translated as Granting an Order) is under threat of dying out.

Their efforts to prevent this have received a boost recently thanks toState recognition of the rite as part of national intangible culturalheritage. The accolade brings with it more expert research andinvestment in preserving the unique custom.

All Dao menmust go through the cap sac rite in order to be recognised by thecommunity as mature enough to undertake communal positions

According to a local shaman, Chu Van Bich from Thai Hoa commune, thecap sac rite has its origins in a thousand-year-old legend of the Dao.The story goes that when the Dao community was attacked by devils, theJade Emperor told fairies to teach magic to household heads in villagesand issued an order (sac) for them to fight the devils.

The rite is usually conducted at the end or the beginning of the lunaryear for one or more men, always an odd number. Three shaman chair therituals with the assistance of three others over the course of threedays.

Before undertaking the rituals, the men must keep themselves clean, refrain from speaking bad words or sexual activity.

On the first day, the ritual is conducted in the open air. The nextday, the men enter the house to listen to the shaman praying and learnseveral traditional dances. The third day is dedicated to rituals payingrespect to ancestors.

The Tuyen Quang provincialcultural department has made video and audio records of the rituals andundertaken extensive research of the cap sac rite of all Dao sub-groupsin the province.

Tuyen Quang is home to 77,015 Dao peoplebelonging to nine sub-groups, making up 11 percent of the locality’spopulation. The Dao is the third largest community among 22 ethnicgroups in the province, after the Kinh and Tay-VNA