Katu people

This article is about the Austroasiatic people group of Vietnam and Laos. For the Tibeto-Burman people group of Myanmar and China, see Kadu people.

Katu

Total population
(83,600 (est.))
Regions with significant populations
Vietnam, Laos
Vietnam	61,588 (2009)
Laos	22,000 (2005)
Languages
Katu, Phuong, others
Religion
Traditional Religion (Animism), Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Pacoh, Brao, Ta Oi

The Katu people (also Co Tu, Ca Tang; Vietnamese: người Cơ Tu) are an ethnic group of about 83,600 who live in eastern Laos and central Vietnam. Numbered among the Katuic peoples, they speak a Mon-Khmer language.

Laos

The Katu in Laos live in Sekong Province along the upper Sekong River and in the highland basin of the Song Boung river watershed along the border with Vietnam's Quảng Nam and Thừa Thiên–Huế Provinces.

Vietnam

File:Co Tu tomb.png

Model of a Co Tu tomb

The Vietnamese government's official name for the Katu ethnic group is "Co Tu". Within Vietnam, most Katu live in the provinces of Thừa Thiên–Huế and Quảng Nam. The Katu in Vietnam numbered 50,458 in the 1999 census and 61,588 in the 2009 census.

The Katu typically serve rice cooked in bamboo stems such as zăr, aví hor, koo dep, koo gdhoong, and cha chắc, and drink a beverage called tavak. Their famous dances are tung tung (performed by males) and ya yá (performed by females). They play h'roa in ordinary life. Traditional Katu homes are on stilts and those who live on the Laotian border are known for growing jute and weaving. Some 15,000 Katu in Thừa Thiên–Huế speak Phuong, a Katuic dialect often recognized as a separate language.

References

• Lưu Hùng. 2007. A contribution to Katu ethnography. Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Thế Giới.