The Cúng Yêu Tinh Funerary Rite Among the Bố Y People in Vietnam: Finishing the Unfi nished

The Cung Yeu Tinh Funerary Rite
Among the Bo Y People in Vietnam: Finishing the Unfinished

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.3.123-129

T.Q. Viet
Hanoi Metropolitan University, Vietnam D?i h?c Th? do Ha N?i, 98 Duong Qu?ng Ham, C?u Gi?y, Hanoi, 100000, Vietnam

The article outlines the results of long-term ethnographic field studies in the Ha Giang Province of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, focusing on the small ethnic group Bo Y, which has retained the foundations of traditional culture. The objective is to assess the Bo Y funerary practices. Original findings bearing on the traditional Bo Y ideas of life and death are introduced. Rituals of animal sacrifice relating to the ancestor cult are described. Despite all the transformations, such rituals remain necessary for regulating social relations, which do not end after the person’s death. Under modern conditions, they acquire a new form while preserving the traditional content-maintaining the continuity between the living and the dead and making social life more harmonious. Bo Y traditions in north Vietnam and southwest China, where the large part of this people lives, are compared. It is concluded that the stability of the Bo Y ritual system contributes to the maintenance of cultural identity, securing the unity and integrity of this small ethnic group.

Keywords: Bo Y people, local communities of Vietnam, funerary rite, Cu ng Yeu Tinh rite, traditional views of life and death, social communication system.