A corner showing Muong funeral at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi

The “Land and Water” epic comprises many legends about the formation of land and water before human beings and the first appearance of the Muong. Muong shamans recite the epic as a compulsory funeral rite. Professor Ngo Duc Thinh, Director of the Vietnam Center for Research and Preservation of Culture and Belief, elaborates: “The epic talks about how the earth, the sky, and man appeared. It explains the roots of the Muong and the establishment of villages. At a funeral, when seeing off the deceased to go with his ancestors, the shaman reads the epic so the deceased will know about his roots.”

Since the earliest days, the Muong have tried to explain the origins of natural phenomena, animals, and human beings. The Muong say that nature formed the land, skies, and water, including mountains and rivers. At first, there were no human beings and the land was cold and deserted. “This oral epic mentions many historical events. It talks about “Chu dong”, a sacred, universal tree, which symbolizes the relationship between human beings and the heaven. The banyan tree is associated with the formation of the Muong. There is a legend about eggs which hatched people of many ethnic groups. The epic has been handed down orally.”

Professor Thinh says there are many variants of the “Land and Water” epic of the Muong. “The shortest variant has 8,000 verses and the longest version has 16,000 verses. There are 8 variants by different groups, containing different details that reflect the traditions and places of the various Muong branches. The epic talks about ordinary people, the upper class, and shamans, and their position in society.”

The “Land and Water” epic is a valuable cultural work in terms of folklore, literature, philosophy, history, and ethnology.