Lang Cun Cần

Lang Cun Cần, also called Đá Cần, is the principal culture-hero of the Mường creation epic. Born among the beings hatched from the eggs of the world-birds Chim Ây and Cái Ứa, he becomes the first great lord (lang) of the Mường. He organises the felling of the immense copper chu tree, whose timber and treasure equip the people with the communal stilt-house, the bronze drums and the ordered life of the mường; he apportions land, establishes the noble lineages and teaches the cultivation of rice. Sources give his name variously as Lang Cun Cần, Lang Đá Cần or simply Đá Cần, and traditions differ on the exact sequence of his deeds, but across recensions he is the founding ancestor-lord from whom the Mường aristocracy claims descent.

Parentage

• paternal: Chim Ây
• maternal: Cái Ứa

Domains

• kingship
• agriculture

Powers

• founds and orders the mường polities
• leads the felling of the chu đồng tree

Epithets

• Đá Cần — Cần of stoneĐặng Văn Lung, Vương Anh, Hoàng Anh Nhân, Mo: sử thi và thần thoại dân tộc Mường (NXB Khoa học Xã hội) (secondary)

Sources

• Lang Cun Cần (also Đá Cần), hatched from the world-eggs, is the first lord and culture-hero of the Mường, who founds the mường polities, leads the felling of the copper chu tree, and institutes the customs of the people.: Đẻ đất đẻ nước (sử thi Mường), Vương Anh – Hoàng Anh Nhân – Bùi Thiện sưu tầm (NXB Khoa học Xã hội, Hà Nội, 1976) (primary); Nguyễn Từ Chi, Người Mường ở Hòa Bình (Hà Nội: Hội Khoa học Lịch sử Việt Nam, 1996) (secondary)