The Tày people speak a language of the Central Tai language group, and live in northern Vietnam. They are sometimes also called Thô, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di. There are about 1.7 million Tày people living in Vietnam. This makes them the second largest ethnic group in Vietnam after the majority Viet ethnic group. Most are in northern Vietnam in particular in the Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, Bắc Kạn, Thái Nguyên, and Quảng Ninh Provinces, where they live along the valleys and the lower slopes of the mountains. They also live in some regions of the Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang provinces. They inhabit fertile plains and are generally agriculturalists, mainly cultivating rice. They also cultivate maize, and sweet potato among other things. Tày villages are usually based at the feet of mountains and are often named after a mountain, field or river. Each village has about 15-20 households. Because of their historical close proximity with the majority Viet, the Tày and Viet have some mutual influences with regards to arts and religion. The Tày are closely related to the Nùng and the San Chay in Vietnam and the Zhuang on the Chinese side of the Vietnamese-Chinese border.
Religion
The majority of the Tay practices Then, an indigenous religion involving the worship of tutelary gods, gods of the natural environment, and ancestors and progenitors of human groups. The patterns of this religion are inherited from Taoism and the Chinese folk religion: the god of the universe is the Jade Emperor, in some local traditions also identified as the Yellow Emperor. For their religious ceremonies they used to be able to recite Chinese characters but now along with the characters they use glosses because many of them can't recite anymore due to the fact that Vietnam schools don't teach Chinese characters. An altar for the ancestors is usually placed in a central location in the house. The altar room is considered sacred; guests and women who have given birth are not allowed to sit on the bed in front of the altar. Some Tay have adopted Mahayana Buddhismunder the influence of Vietnamese and Chinese culture.
Language
The Tay people speak the Tày language, among other Tai dialects of the Kra–Dai languages. Literacy in their own language is quite low among Tày people, probably around 5% or less. Dialects include Central Tày, Eastern Tày, Southern Tày, Northern Tày, Tày Trung Khanh, Thu Lao, and Tày Bao Lac. There is a continuum of dialects to southern Zhuang in China.
Nông Văn Phách alias Vũ Lập, is one of beloved hero during the war against Cambodian. He was one of the most successor to guard the north border of Vietnam to prevent china invade. However, with his skill in battles and diplomacy, he didn't need to use force but he kept the Viet-China border clear. He died later because of illness. The whole north region of Vietnam mourns his death.
Pẻng rày : made from glutinous rice, ant's black egg and wrapped by leaves of a kind of fig.
Pẻng đắng : for Double Fifth Festival.
Khảu thuy: is the cake for offering God and the Earth in Lồng tồng festival. Glutinous rice which is soaked in water of common water hyacinth and red flower- sandbox tree ash is mixed with taro and a kind of wine. Then, it is boiled and brayed. The next step is that it is cut into square-shaped or canarium fruit-shaped pieces and dried in the sun later. When the festival is going to come, it is fried until it is swelled. At last, it is soaked in molasses and then in fried-rice powder.
Nà Giàng khảu sli: the glutinous cake with peanuts made in Nà Giàng, Phù Ngọc commune, Hà Quảng district, Cao Bằng Province.
A part of the modern-day Tay population encompasses Tay-ized Vietnamese who live mainly in what is now Lang Son. These Tay-ized Vietnamese have their origins traced back to the Vietnamese living further south in the deltas of the Ca, Ma, and Red Rivers, e.g. Nghe An, Nam Dinh, etc. dispatched to the Sino-Annamese border by Annamese imperial governments to serve as governmental officials and local leaders. These people were then forbidden to return to their home areas. Eventually they got assimilated into the indigenous Tay surrounding population. Their common surnames include Vi, Nguyễn Đình, Nguyễn Khắc, Nguyễn Công, Hoàng Đức, Hoàng Đình, etc. This practice started in the 15th century and ended in the early 20th century. Vi Văn Định is an example of these Tay-ized Vietnamese in the 20th century.
