Nàng Han
Tai Dam (Black Tai) · mortal · Tai Dam (Black Tai) traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Nàng Han is the warrior-maiden of Tai tradition in the Northwest, a heroine sometimes likened to a Joan of Arc of the Tai. In the legend she disguises herself as a man to rally the Tai of the upper Black River and the Nậm Na and drives back a northern invasion; her victory secured, she bathes at a spring and vanishes, and thereafter she is venerated as a tutelary spirit. Her cult persists in an annual festival, the Lễ hội Nàng Han, held in Tai communities of Lai Châu and Sơn La (notably Quỳnh Nhai and Mường So), where offerings and communal dances renew her protection of the mương.
Domains
- war
- protection
Powers
- leads the Tai against invaders
- vanishes into the water and is deified
Epithets
- Nàng Han — the Lady Han, warrior-maiden of the TaiNguyễn Văn Hòa (sưu tầm), Truyện cổ và dân ca Thái vùng Tây Bắc Việt Nam (Hà Nội, 2001) (secondary)
Sources
- Nàng Han is a Tai warrior-maiden of Northwest Vietnam who, in male disguise, led resistance against a northern invasion and was afterward deified; she is honored with an annual festival (Lễ hội Nàng Han) in the Tai areas of Lai Châu and Sơn La (Quỳnh Nhai, Mường So).: Nguyễn Văn Hòa (sưu tầm), Truyện cổ và dân ca Thái vùng Tây Bắc Việt Nam (NXB Văn hóa Dân tộc, Hà Nội, 2001) (secondary); Cầm Trọng & Phan Hữu Dật, Văn hóa Thái Việt Nam (NXB Văn hóa Dân tộc, Hà Nội, 1995) (secondary)