Churu culture leaves visitors to Vietnam’s Central Highlands with unforgettable memories. The Churu people have faithfully preserved their traditional costumes, folklore, and handicrafts.

The Churu in Don Duong commune, Lam Dong province

The Churu ethnic group in the Central Highlands has preserved a treasury of literature and art works which are invaluable historical documents. 

Their epics, folk songs, and proverbs praise matriarchy, the role of women, and the struggle to eke out a living from nature. 

The Churu have many unique musical instruments: drums, gourd clarinets, gongs, and cymbals. 

Linh Nga Nie KDam, a researcher of Central Highlands culture, said “A set of Churu gongs has three gongs. Other ethnic groups, like the Se Dang, carry their gongs and dance around the room or around a Neu pole. But the Churu hang their gongs or place them on a shelf to play them.”

The Churu craft many types of clay household utensils. In the dry season, from December to March, families heat up wood kilns to fire their clay products. Luong Thanh Son, another researcher of Central Highlands culture, said “The Churu, like the Cham in Bau Truc pottery village, don’t use a potter’s wheel. The artisan walks around the worktable to shape the product. They fire pieces in open kilns.”

The Churu are matriarchal. The women decide everything in the family. Children take their mother’s family name. 

Some Churu hamlets still maintain the custom of “catching a husband”. When a Churu girl falls in love with a man, her parents go to the man’s house to make a marriage proposal. 

When spring comes, the girl’s family chooses a good day to bring offerings to the man’s house. 

They offer the man a ring. If he puts in on, he accepts the marriage. If he refuses, the girl’s representatives return home but promise to come back again until the man’s family agrees. 

Son added that  “The Churu and other ethnic groups close to the Churu require generous offerings. Many poor girls can’t afford to have a husband. After the wedding ceremony, the groom usually lives with the bride’s family, but in certain circumstances, the bride will live with the groom’s family.”

Ina ceremony to welcome the groom into the bride’s family, the bride’s mother covers the couple with a scarf to wish them a long and happy marriage.

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