Lolo Culture

How do they live? Lolo houses are often built on slopes and hillsides. Villages are densely populated, usually with 20-25 houses in a relatively small area. Lolo houses take three different forms. Some are stilt houses, built above the ground. Some are built on the ground. And others are a mixture, built on slopes, half on stilts and half on the ground. Houses are usually built on high, well drained sites overlooking valleys. They prefer areas near dense forests. Because they consider the forest as the dwelling place of the Spirit of the Earth, they are active in forest conservation. They usually build a stone wall around their house, complete with a gate. The kitchen is sometimes separate from the house, and they also have a separate barn for farm animals.

House. The house illustrates the religious beliefs of the Lolo. Each dwelling has an altar to the "Spirit of the House", located against the back wall of the central room, which also acts as a foyer. To the right of the main entrance is a bedroom with a fireplace. To the left is a kitchen with another fireplace and the altar to the ancestors. Houses that have an above-ground level have a stairway or ladder. The central room has the door, which faces the yard.

Crafts. Lolo women, like their sisters in other tribal groups, are skilled at basket making spinning, weaving, batik dyeing and embroidering. Men make many kinds of things from rattan and bamboo. Lolo craftsmen have done little to develop markets for their craft items, mostly making them for their own use.

Society. The Lolo society is based upon the clan and the nuclear family, which is patriarchal. All things are under the father's control. Only sons can inherit assets. Daughters inherit their mother's jewelry, and receive a dowry when they get married. But all other property is inherited by the male children. The Lolo family lineage involves more than 30 clans. Each family is part of a clan, maintains close ties with and often lives near other clan members. Each clan includes several family names. Clan members join together in joint worship of common ancestors. The eldest person in each clan takes the position as the head or Thau Chu. Within a family, the maternal uncle has an important role, but only so long as the mother is living. Worship of maternal ancestors is less important for the remote generations. The Lolo make a strong distinction between "close" and "remote" ancestors. Close ancestors are those up to and including five previous generations. Ancestors six or more generations removed are considered remote.

Marriage. Members of the same family or clan may intermarry, as long as they are separated by five (sometimes four) generations. At Lolo weddings the bride's family asks a high price from the groom's family (silver, meat, and alcohol). The Lolo are monogamous and divorce and polygamy are rare. Cousins may marry, but only if the groom's mother is the sister of the bride's father. If the prospective groom's father and the prospective bride's father are brothers, marriage would be forbidden. Until quite recently, it was common for girls to marry at the age of 13 to 14, but it is becoming common for brides to marry at an older age. Adultery is condemned. The Lolo practice a kind of levirate marriage, in which the younger brother may marry the widow of a deceased elder brother. The Lolo quite often find partners outside their own ethnic group.

Birth Customs. The women of the Lolo are careful to watch their diet when pregnant, and restrict their activities. They give birth at home with the help of a midwife. Twelve days after a baby is born, the parents hold a naming ceremony. However, the name can be changed if the baby is often sick or cries too much. They believe that the reason for a sickly or crying child might be because he does not like his name.

Music. The distinctive musical instruments of the Lolo are their paired bronze drums. Each family has two of these drums, one "male" and one "female". These are a family treasure and are often used in rituals, especially funerals. The Lolo people have a many ancient sagas and songs that give a richness and depth to their shared history and beliefs. Their songs tell of hardships overcome, of natural disasters, wars, accomplishments and the contest of good versus evil. They often have evening song times during moonlit nights , and also sing at weddings and funerals. Like many people groups of Vietnam, young people enjoy singing alternate verses. Their poetry often uses five-word stanzas.

Livelihood The Lolo grow wet rice in terraced fields as the main basis of their livelihood. In the lower fields they practice typical paddy agriculture by transplanting rice seedlings. But the Lolo also farm fields on the hillsides. The hill farms are used mainly to grow upland rice and corn (maize), but they also grow beans, sweet potatoes and other vegetables. The Lolo are skilled at using crop rotations to maintain the productivity of the soil, and the also practice multiple cropping to increase production. They raise domestic livestock such as chickens, other poultry, pigs, and cattle, which are used for food and for sacrifice. They also keep water buffalo and horses for draft and pack animals. Hunting and the use of wild plants are also an important source of building supplies, food and medicine.