Alak people
Encyclopedia
The Alak or Hrlak are an Austro-Asiatic ethnic group of southern Laos
, living mainly in Salavan Province. They speak the Alak language
. Little is known of their history, though as a Mon–Khmer-sepaking group, their origin is presumably in the Central Highlands of Vietnam
.
, farmed with the slash-and-burn method, although small game, fish, and various plants and mushrooms provide additional food.
Religious beliefs involve a range of supernatural beings, including spirits of mountains, forests and other natural features. Most villages have a shaman who helps cure the sick and predict the future for the village. The dead are typically buried in graveyard
s in the forest.
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, living mainly in Salavan Province. They speak the Alak language
Alak language
Alak is a language spoken by some 4,000 people in southern Laos, especially in the Provinces of Salavan and Sekong . It is closely related to the language spoken by the Bahnars of Vietnam....
. Little is known of their history, though as a Mon–Khmer-sepaking group, their origin is presumably in the Central Highlands of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.
Culture
Nowadays, most Alak live in scattered villages of between ten and sixty houses, traditionally built in a circular pattern around a communal house. Houses are normally built on stilts about a metre high. The main diet and trading staple is riceRice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, farmed with the slash-and-burn method, although small game, fish, and various plants and mushrooms provide additional food.
Religious beliefs involve a range of supernatural beings, including spirits of mountains, forests and other natural features. Most villages have a shaman who helps cure the sick and predict the future for the village. The dead are typically buried in graveyard
Graveyard
A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...
s in the forest.