THE SEASONAL RAIDING

( Quach Xuan)

There are 3 communes in the west of Dai Loc district, named Dai Lanh, Dai Dong and Dai
Son, which called Dai An Thuong, Dai Hoa Thuong, An Phu Khe. It is a small arch shape
valley with several thousand hectares under cultivation, Hien commune in the north,
southwest close to Giang commune, in the southeast and East neighbouring to many other
communes of Dai Loc district.
Every year, Vu Gia river (use to called Cai river) and Con river builds up this valley by a
large amount of alluvium. Alluvium and leaf-mould soil from surrounding defiles transform it
into a fertility land with rice fields, cornfields and green mulberry fields. There are also plenty
of roads in Hien and Giang commune to Dai Loc district, therefore commodity circulation
develops with all strength and resources. Old people told a story that there were a fair named
Hoi Khach ( which belong to Dai Son commune nowadays, Hoi means come together, Khach
means Katu people ), opened twice per month, Katu people took their native and forestry
products there to barter to salt, tools, fabric, and essential goods with Kinh merchants.
Mandarins sent their lackey there to collect tax and close control of the barter. Merchants
who transported goods with boats must stopped near by riverbank, Katu people must stayed at
the forest edge. All of them had been waiting for mandarin's lackeys drum and tocsin to start a
fair and left immediately when they heard it again. However, the commodity circulation were
strongly developing therefore the formal fair and the old manage way was no longer
appropriate. In low lands, there were markets as Ha Tan, Truc Ha, An My and Ha Trang
attracted many people to come and had business quite often, Katu people were also braver
than before and brought their products to sell in the markets or home delivery to whom they
known well . Moreover, on the 5th every month, Tet holiday, they, along with their relatives
came over merchants house, had fun and stayed for a few days.
Forestry products business made a big profit, so rank of merchant spread out, some of them
could not wait for the next market; they came straight to Katus villages to exchange goods.
Some peasants, who did not only have enough land to farm but also plundered by cruel land
lords, borrowed money to start their own business or worked as a boatman or a bearer for rich
merchants. Some others, either worked as a worker for the Dau Dai garden owner, they
brought rice, foods a long to come and stayed there for five or ten days, exploited Dau trees to
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take oils or as a logger, chopped woods and used a buffalo to pull it to river bank. Those left
went into forests, burnt small pieces of wood to collect charcoals or found a good land for
farming.
If Katu went down to lowland for barter increased everyday then five or seven times Kinh
people went up to highland to work. During the period between 2 crops in June and July
(lunar month), especially at the end of lunar year when every family was preparing for
traditional Tet holiday, trading between lowland and highland was particularly bustling. In
these old days, valleys people had many other worriments. Drum and tocsin echoed in
villages. It reminded villagers not only to pay taxes but also their duty to the King, they
worried that they might have to go to Giang Commune, they had to pay for poll-tax (1 to 2
Dong- Indochinese money) meanwhile the farming lands tax had increased 30% because Khai
Dinh King wanted to build his tomb and An Dinh palace. Starvation was ahead because of
thirty rice fields, chapped soil, hot and dry westerly wind was blowing from morning to
evening. The old peasants men looked up to the sky looked at each other and sighed there
will be a poor crop and big famine
One afternoon, there was leaden clouds with bluish black folds haunted in the west horizon,
firstly, it looked like it was about going to rain but some old, experienced people, looked
around the horizon then suddenly uttered to each other its disastrous
A disaster that announced quickly to all the villages and as soon as it arrived, it struck the
families that had people who went to work in mountains with consternation.
A disaster that was not disastrous in the lowland; it was disastrous in the highland, in Katu
region. The disaster was in the forests but fell in the lowland, fell on the poor families had
people who went to earn for living in the forests.
A disaster came every year to the people who lived in lowland. Even if they prayed to
Buddha, to the heaven, they could not avoid it.
Then, one afternoon, on Bung river, a bamboo boat was floating along the river, a man sat at
prow in silent, also a man who quietly row a boat, his face was gaunt and dismal. Inside the
boats hold, a body covered with sedge that smeared with blood, ticked out shrivelled, curled
up feet. One-man row another small boat went up the river. He glanced to this boat, to the

sedge then he immediately understood head and tail of its story.

They whispered to each others :
- Where did it happen?
The two men did not even look the person who asked them, answered with their sad voice
:
-At Black Stone (Da Den)
-

How many people were kill?

One

No more question, and he did not want to asked more either, the boatman shook his head,
clicked his mouth , sighed then continued row his boat, his heart filled with sentiment, bitter
and worry. He went up the river to announce people about the disaster, but he must come back
to the lowland soon, he did not know how peoples destiny in his family was. The sight of the
corpse wrapped by sedge on that boat frightened him.
The boat came to its hometown but it must have stopped far from the riverbank. Parents, a
wife and children, brothers and sister of the dead man had already waited it for a long time,
they busted into tears. However, nobody allowed coming near to the corpse before somebody
sent by a mandarin to come here and examined it. Villagers came all over on the riverbank,
besieged the two boatmen, listened to the story how did it happen. Everyone was crying, felt
sorry for the dead man, but nobody asked who was the killer and did not hate him either; they
killed people because of their custom, people was killed because of their destiny and they had
to followed their fate.
The victims families also had to stand may differently annoying things and spent a lot of
money as well. They had to offer a bottle of wine or something else for those people who had
power in their village to announce their bad news, they must have bribed for the person who
was in charge to examine the corpse, then they would tried to examine it quicker and therefore
the family could buried it soon. Without money or offering, sometimes, the corpse had been
rotten before it buried.
Some days later, people heard that there was few people who had killed, one in Bac Can, one
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at Phuong Giua, one at Khe Treetc It was very horrible. Every year, about four or five poor
people had murdered the same way; people looked at this event as an unavoidable disaster.
When the heaven was angry, there was many things like this happened. However, few months
passed by, the heaven was not angry anymore, people called each other to go up to the
mountains to work as normally. Life gave them no other choice. Somehow, the forests harmed
people but also fed them.
NGUN GC MT CI TN ----- ORIGIN OF A NAME
The old Katu men told a story that once upon time, their ancestor lived on Truong Son range
and reached out toward the sunrise, they came and near by the lowland, on the hills
neighbouring to Hoa Vang Dai Loc district. There are still many traces of them to proof that
they logged woods to farm, they build houses and buried their treasure or their tombs. But
because of exhausted soil, diseases, illness, death, but most of all because they was exploited
by governors who did not respect their custom and abused them, the governors forced Katu to
pay taxes, and work for them, Katus life was unstable. Even though, a relationship between
Katu group and Kinh people was still close. They maintained the trading, exchanged cultural,
moreover, they even had friendship or relation. In Hoa Vang, many young Katu men had
married Kinh women and had a good married life.
In Thuong Thoi hamlet, Dai Lanh commune, Dai Loc district, there was a Katu group who
used to come down to the lowland together to Chp M,(Chp means December of lunar
calendar, M means tomb, Chp M is an event that people come to take care and clean their
ancestors tomb before Tet holiday, they believe by doing that, their ancestors can have Tet
holiday too) because they had a Kinh root. They brought along rice, honey to offer to their
ancestor, most of their children could not speak any Vietnamese. Axo-Arot villagers in Hien
district, in the highland, kept a taboo forest for their Kinh ancestors tombs where farming had
prohibited. Scattered in some hamlets in the low region and the middle region of Huyen
district as Rapp, Atin, Chchoong,..etc also had Katu with Kinhs root, their grandparents
lived here long time ago, had got married with Katus men and women and did not remember
about the villages where they came from. In Dai Lanh commune, handed down an old story
.When Gia Long became the King, he commanded to pursue, terror, and killed people who
had worked for Tay Son. Because of this many people who had related to Tay Son had to go
into mountains with their families, near Viet-Laos border, ran away from danger. They had
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lived in concord with native people there, reclaimed land for plant rice seedlings, dig a well,
plant cottons, weave fabric, opened a smithy for making toolsetc. They had always
remembered Tay Sons good grace and used to remind their children that sentence Tay Son
hi huu which means its rare to be like Tay Son and in short Tay hi. This story handed
down in the masses perhaps related to a family name Trhi in Hien commune? Here people
are farming, smithing, waeving, and many families use to go to low land to Chap ma. In
western highlands in the central Vietnam, Ede and Jarai ethnic groups, they all have names
and surnames. In the north of Truong Son range, only Katu ethnic group have the same names
and surnames like Ede and Jarai minority groups. Its not Dinh surname as people used to
call them during feudal period (Dinh means a commoner, a poor landless peasant), there
are Alang, Priu, Arat, Bhnuochetc. Katu was changing from tribe period into clan period.
But different from Ede and Jarai which belong to matriarchal group, take mothers surname
for the next generations, Katu belong to patriarchal group, take their fathers surname for the
next generations, a man is a head of his family, and he is allowed to have many wives. Several
families have a same surname or some have different family name gather in one place and
built houses, make a village communal house( calls Rng house), farming at the same steadily
areas in the forests. These words: bhl, crnol, vl, all means hamlet. Names of big
streams or a highest mountain had taken for villages. For an example : Cang Arh, Ap
Apng Anghi ,called it in short: PaPng, PaghiIn lowlands, there are two bridges named
ng B (Mr B), B Rn(Mrs Rn), therefore it was easy for Kinh people to misunderstand
that B Bng, B Gh villages were where rich and powerful women (who had those name )
lived there.
When French imperialists colonized ours country, they forced feudal governors made
concession to rule over the central highlands and mountain regions because of rich resources
and strategically important places (agreement 1884). In Quang Nam province, the rights to
control the mountain regions belong to a minister who billeted in Hoi An. This minister
confided the governing rights to post commanders of guardsmen billeted in neighbouring
regions like Tra Mi, Tan An, An ien. Afterwards they came up higher and set up more
camps deep in to the mountain areas as Man Tra (in Tr Mi), Giang, post six and post Hien. In
Hoa Vang, French forced mandarins to capture ethnic people to build roads, and houses.
Mandarins in Hoa Vang compelled each village had to have one person who assumed
responsibility for capture people (people who was captured, call phu, and people who
captured them, called cai phuin Vietnamese). Tc, Ngn Cheng were cai phu then
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people called them Phu Tc, Phu Ngn, Phu Cheng and their villages was called Phu Tc
village, Phu Ngn village, Phu Cheng village ( was also known as Rdng, Pagng, Chang
village).
Somewhere else French imperialists even used different names to show their disrespect to
ethnic minority people, they considered ethic groups as savage people (Man means
savage or barbarous in Vietnamese). Mai village was called Man Mai (while ethnic
people called Bhavang), village named Tra, was called Man Tra, The low region was called
H Man, and the high region was called Cao Man. The 2 region H Man and Trung Man
considered as a canton, they appointed a person as a canton chief who was in charge for
capture people. Ci who was the first canton chief, was called Tng Ci (Tng means
canton), his village called Tng Ci village( also known as Brhnng village)
In 1904, they set An ien camp in the west of Dai Loc, Sogny was chosen as a post
commander to control Hin and Ging. He spoke not only both Vietnamese and Katu
language fluently but also had many suppressive actions, dividable tricks very artful therefore
after a few years, he was chosen as a chief detective in central Vietnam, was noted for his
brutality. In Hien commune, Giang commune, a ethic person who used to have business with
merchants, his name became his village name instead. For example: Papm,
Chchoong,Parng village had man named Hip, Ngt, Inh, K,then those villages was
changed its name to Hip, Ngt, Inh, K which Kinh people and merchants used to called
those villages.
In middle, high regions people was rarely to go out of their villages to have business with
merchants, moreover they doubted merchants heart then they changed their name sometimes,
therefore merchants had to call their villages name correctly. However, because of wrong
pronunciations, it sounded very weird: Adhur became dun, ging became giang, Brning
became B Ninh.
French chief post was not mind about it, they called what they heard, they depended on Kinh
merchants totally, through those merchants they would discovered and trained their lackeys
among ethnic groups and would used them to control minority people. French chief post
forced merchants to choose a head village in each village, and a person who would became a
corporal in each region. In Hoa Vang, there was corporal Kim, , in Hin there was corporal
n, Chu and corporal Ci (Krs) in the high region. Each one of them was given an
6

uniform and 3 Dong (Indochinese money) per month. They must wear that uniform when they
came to a post or a meeting. In short, there was a formal name that Katu use to use among
themselves and another name that had given by either feudal governors or merchants in every
village.
During clan system, there was only unite of some villages, and only the villages name as
above graphs, there was not any commune name or districts name. After the August
Revolution in 1945, during the time when we were contributing revolutionary government, we
used temporarily the villages name, which had given by either feudal governors or
merchants, after that we was gradually found out the original name and officially use it.
According to the ethnic people way of thinking, we took a name of the big stream, the high
mountain to name a commune: Arng commune, Zhung commune, Cang Kgir, Cadi
commune, Axhetc.
There are two big waterfalls on Vu Gia river. The first one named n Cp, boats come here
will sink into the water easily with a weak boatman, goods on boat also swept away by a wave
as if it was deprived. Ging Xay is the second waterfall, here water whirl likes a handle of
rice-hulling mill, unwell driving boats come here will get into a whirlpool, go around then
sink. From below to the headwaters, cross over Giang Xay waterfall, there is the mouth of the
Dhol river (Kinh call Tranh river) flows into Nuoc My river. Here, there is a white flat
sandbank where the business boats had stopped, called Giang Xay port, and then called Ging
port in short. In 1948, we established an administrative unit Ben Giang (Bn means port)
and changed it to Giang district.
At the place where Arng river joins Bhua river (also known as Con river) Katu call it Pic
Arng, they liaise it to Picarng. A famer, who is Hin, came for farming, planted corn,
pruned rice, and built a small house on a silk stretch, near by the riverbank. The business boats
came up to barter with ethnic people used to stop and stayed at Hins house for a night to
rest, left their goods as consignment, ethnic people brought their native and forestry products
to barter with merchants also stopped here. Because of this riverbank called Hin port. After
that when French set up a camp on a hill near there, given their camp a name Bn Hin post,
then changed to Hien post. At the end of 1950, we established a mountain district named
Hien.

Mt Dn Tc Kiu Hnh ----------A Proud Race

.Every night, by a cooking fire at home or in the Gl house, the old, who had highest
credit, took the young into theirs confidence. They told fairy tales, farming experiences, and
fishing, hunting wild animals, bartering with other regions or with Kinh merchants. They
always advised to the young that they should love and protect each other, for survival they
should live together and die together. They also instructed to all the villages that they should
keep their village secrets. Even if they in a death situation they can do anything to harm others
interest. This is a morality, discipline and customs handed generation to generation.
The feudal governors and French ports must have deputed a head village man or cai phu to
work for them. In this situation, Katu struggled time to time but finally they could not avoid it.
The whole village united to choose one person who spoke Vietnamese well and argumentative
to do that job. However, that person only communicated to catch up with the situation, to
know enemies purpose. He did not have right to decided anything. That person had to report
to the old for them to measure to cope with their enemies. None of them dared to do things
alone. Who was greedy for money, infatuated with liquor, or harmed other villagers, would
have juggled after few times reminded or dissuaded. Who made a small fault would have
allowed hiding in sifting cultivation to avoid French port and their lackeys. After that, the
villagers would have reported to French that the person who worked for them had died and
offered another to take that job. Who made a serious fault, like telling the villages secrets,
would have killed without a drop of blood as a trace. According to Katus traditions, after that,
Katu would have moved their villages to another region. In the case that the region had the
canton chief (Tng c) or corporal (Cai phu) worked for French port, as a case of tng c
Chu in Papm hamlet in Hin , the old would have had a meeting. This meeting included
representatives from Papm hamlet and Chus relatives. They came for his denunciation and
sentenced to death in his absence. The Papm villages and his family executed him later on. In
the west of Ha Vang, canton chief Kim was killed the same way. The tough discipline was
accepted and it became apart of Katus customs, a law in their group.
Throughout the French domination, the enemys plots to nurture their ethnic reactionaries

among ethnic group had met with this custom above; It coped with many barriers and
difficulties. In the first few years of build up the revolutionary movement and during the antiFrench war, ethnic people did not really understand and believe neither the party nor Kinh
officials. Therefore, commune committees staffs was working as intermediaries, their job was
communicating between the party and ethnic people. In the Vietnam-American war,
especially in the first three year, somebody was menaced, manipulated by either money or
liquor and foods; they had worked for the enemy without the agreement from the old. All of
them would have executed secretly. The Kinh person, who was in charge for the commune,
did not know anything about it. If he would have asked about those missing people, all the
villages would have got the same answer that they came into the forest and were killed by
bears. Later on, the mass movement for revolution, the key members expanded; the
committee of the party had come into being. Katu stared to express themselves: we were
afraid that the party would have been lenient toward those bad people therefore we had have
executed them secretly. All over mountainous districts in province, there were several cases
like this.
Meanwhile, Katu kept a good business relationship with Kinh merchants on surface, but
inside they did not trust them; they did not think that Kinh merchants were on the same side
with Katu. They called the merchants ahuc kli, ahuc bhnng. Ahuc means
alien or outer. Kli means merchant or businessperson. Bhnng means counting. In the barter
with Katu, the merchants used to cheat in measuring to earn some illegal interests barely.
They used a shallow basket when they bought rice, deducted salt, when they measured fabric
they used a bending meter. Katu used to tell each other that the port soldiers beat them up,
the merchants exploited them. It was not too much when Katu called merchants aluc
bhnng. In the business relationship, they often agued, sometimes it became seriously.
However, the merchant who had a small business had better attitude toward Katu. Katu made
use of them to against more powerful merchants. There were not many of them anyway, only
a few for a region. The big businesspersons were not only abused and exploited ethnic people
but also leaned on feudal governors and French ports to oppress them; they also used their
advantages to hamper and bullied smaller businesspersons. Because the French colonists
mostly depended on them, then they treated those businesspersons with a special attention. In
each area French chose one of them for a high position, they could have had not only
economic advantages but also politic interests. Some even became a canton chief. Katu still
kept business with them but they felt vindictive. At their point of view, French ports solders
9

and merchants were two kind of French lackey who deserved hatred. In 1910s, there was a big
business woman whose name is Tm, a widow, in Hien. Her hometown is in Ha Nha (ai
ong commune, ai Loc district). She was one of the wealthiest businesspersons in the
region. The feudal mandarins shielded her. French ports staff in An ien trusted her. She
domineered over ethnic people and scorned them. Who did not want to sell things to her, she
would have robed, starved, beat them. Sometimes she reported to French port and placed
people in confinement. The other businesspersons were afraid of her power. They ought to
have sold their goods for her otherwise they would not have allowed to have business with
minority groups. This woman really knew how to hold a monopoly business. She had many
cruel tricks to make money. Some villages in the middle and the low region in Hin hated her
as much as their hatred for French. They made well use of the other businesspersons, and
secretly combined with her Kinh boatmen. They suddenly attacked her boat in the night and
killed her. They took all of her treasure, divided it to give for her boatmen, and some villages.
Nobody knew exactly which year Tm had killed, maybe some years after 1920. The old who
were the most influential in that area led the attack. Nevertheless, until now no one know a
leaders name. This was a warning action to all the merchants in Hien and Giang. According
to what happened to Chu, Kim, and Tm it displayed clearly a strictly attitude of Katu. They
would not be kind to the people who worked for French colonists or feudal governors. It
would not make any difference if they were Kinh people or ethnic people. Those people
harmed the interest of the nation. The strictly reaction made some businesspersons and the
ports soldiers, especially ethnic soldiers, frighten. It made merchants attitude change. They
came to meet ethnic people to explain. They did not dare to abuse, disrespect, and beat them
anymore.
However punishing the cruel businesspersons didnt make the business relationship between
Katu and merchants became bad, It still maintained and developed itself strongly. The main
enemy was French. Katu called them zc ( gic means enermy,foe, raider in Vietnamese
). Zc was in the posts. They went on patrol, burned houses, killed and captured people. About
after 1939 Zc even forced village headmen, corporals, to declare the amount of peasants.
First in the lowland villages, every peasants were gave one red-card and each one of them
must have paid 1.2 Indochina money for poll tax. People reactions were very drastic to this tax
and to captured people then- . The village headmen and corporals had to declare less
peasants because some of them die of illness, some ran away to the jungles or higher region.

10

The markets had desolated, and the business was stagnated. The village headmen and
corporals made use of soldiers in French post to stir up the public opinions to protest.
At this mean time (in 1936), the French in Indochina prepared to open a strategic road number
14 from Kontum to Dakley then to Giang, Hien to connect to a military base Phu Bai. This
strategic road was not only important for military but also created a good condition to over
control native people and exploited rich natural resources in forests from Kontum to Thua
Thien. Therefore, the big matter was not to collect some tax coins from people. The matter
was how to mobilize civilian labours. The labours to open a road number 14 were ethnic and
Kinh people in the lowland in central Vietnam. The French concentrated to capture people in a
large scale for that plan.
Xau Giang !( Xu is social works in the past, when governors captured poor people to go to
build new roads, new tombs for the King. Giang is a name of the place they had to come to
work). Those two words struck not only Kinh but also ethnic people in the province with
consternations. It brought catastrophe to all families and maltreated everybody in a miserable
circumstance. Each time was 15 days, tocsin and drum was noisy all nights and days. It was a
chance for the governors and their lackeys to collect every coin, every little amount of rice
from the poor for themselves. It took people fifteen days on paper for social works, but in fact,
they had to spend almost a month. Those days were long, heavy and full of darkness. The
workers lived in rough jungles, huddled in clumps. They had to collect foods themselves.
They didnt have any medicine against malaria. They were working very hard as digging soil,
breaking stones, logging and carrying woods. They exposed the sun and the rain. They
worked under corporals eyes, posts soldiers, French team leader and punishments. The
workers lived in fear and always afraid of an accident. Their head and legs could broke or they
could fall into a deep hole, a chasm anytime. At the end of their term, they brought malaria
home. Their skin became yellow, their bellies became big but they had no money to buy
medicine to cure. After few times experienced between life and death, they died and left their
poor families behind. Every metre of number 14 road had imbued with sweat and tears, blood
of people in the province. There was no wonder that peoples protest was growing fast in a
large scale to against Xau Giang. That boiling protest made French colonists and governors in
town worried. They tried to find a way to put it down.
In the mountainous region, folks came to the French post to complain and beg to release
people from that social work. They also ran and hid in a remote sifting cultivation together or
11

up to the high mountain. They didnt want to do social work or go to open a new road. In this
situation, the French colonists forced village headmen take a work of those people who ran
away instead, otherwise they would capture the village headmen and placed them in jail.
Many village headmen came to French post asked to go in jail because they couldnt force
their people to do that job. At the post number 6 in Giang, about ten village headmen came
and prepared themselves to go to jail. It confused the French colonists a lot. Meanwhile,
people who went to work tried their best to avoid working. During the day, they worked and
at night they came together to break the road time to time. The enemy must have ordered more
lackeys to go on a patrol at night. They captured some who they suspected that those people
were manipulated workers to destroy the road. They captured and tortured them to know who
the leader of this protest was. Nevertheless, the more people they captured the more sabotage
they had. Kinh soldiers, who worked for French, were scared of the jungle and ethnic people.
They didnt dare to go deep in the forest to chase people so French must have commanded
some ethnic soldiers who came from the middle central of Vietnam to do it. In spite of this,
the protest was growing and boiling as if nothing could cool it down. The enemy couldnt
understand that when hatred went into Katus mind, they would do anything to against them
anytime they had a chance, by many ways and at many places. They would not wait for any
leader to show them how to do. Katu would not scare of torture, go to jail, killing or shooting.
In the protest movement in 1939, ethnic people in the low area of Hien with some help from
ethnic soldiers organized a night attack to An ien post, the leader of this attack was
unknown. The ethnic people used fire arrows to burn soldiers camps and stalls. It stirred up
enemys soldiers. The chief post was panic, he consolidated trench shelters and on the other
hand, he strengthened more sentries to scour around the post. He also commanded to the
communes belong to uc Hoa Thuong canton (nowaday it belongs to the west of ai Lanh
commune) to force folks to build fences below the mountain from Ha Tan to An ien. They
organized some people to keep sentry at night to aware from savage enemy who would
come to kill Kinh people. It was just a trick to divide Kinh and ethnic minority in their
neighbouring area. Its purpose prevented people from link-up together to against the social
works, taxes, and a cruel governing method of French colonist.
During this period, there was a Frenchman who led one group to go to examine a new road in
Trgia in the high area belong to Giang district. Ethnic people said they are going to hang
baskets because after examining landscape, they set up landmarks and placed a basket on top

12

of each one. Katu in Trgia ambushed them, and then killed some and some had wounded. In
1936, Saint Perron, an inspector of guardsman in Hoi An, sent a group of guardsmen to on
patrol in this area. The group leader was Michon, they came and burned houses, killed
domestic animal to bully people. The people in this area was leading by village headmen and
Acnh Hiu ( a villager in Dhangh), they ambushed and attacked them many times. Michon
had a poison arrow and had to come back to Hoi An immediately, some of guardsmen had
killed and wounded. The patrol was totally failed.
In 1936, there was plenty of change on a stage of politics in French. The popular front seized
power. In Indochina, in Vietnam a democratic movement was growing strongly. In the
minority region Smbrm, NcXu movements were spreading on many other places. The
French colonialism was in trouble therefore the colonists in Indochina must have changed
their political tricks. Towards ethnic minority groups, instead of using a method of persecute
by guns and jails, they combined violent to suppress people with many tricks to manipulated,
buy over and divide them. This was a policy with favour and authority.
French governors used that policy in Quang Nam province. A French minister in Hoi An gave
an order to a canton chief in Quang Nam to stop poll-tax, open business between the lowland
and the highland, meanwhile they tried to force people to continue opening the road number
14 in everyway. Following the order of French minister, Jrusalmy, the canton chief of
Quang Nam sent an announcement to all local government, the document had a sentence n
nh man tnh, nh chinh man thu which means calm down the savage people, stop
collecting poll-tax. They encouraged Kinh people to go to highland for business: bt cu
h x thng nhn means It does not distinguish where the businessperson come. This
was not only a method to manipulate Kinh and ethnic people by economic bait but also a way
to expand merchants rank to choice more efficiently lackeys. Their attitude towards Acnh
Hiu also changed because of that policy. Normally a person liked him who dared to against a
government protected by French, dare to ambushed and shot French staff, must have executed
or placed in jail his whole life. Nevertheless, because they knew about Katus customs, killing
him would bring them more hatred, and it would pour more fuel into a struggling fire. It
would not hand them down or defeated them. Moreover, if the armed revolt in Katus region
expanded, the strategic road could cope with many difficulties. On the contrary, if they could
manipulate Acnh Hiu, they would cool down the mass and had more village headmen on
their side. It was an arrow for two targets. They sent the most efficiently merchant to go up to

13

highland to convince Acnh Hiu to go to meet the French minister in Hoi An, meanwhile
they asked the post number 6 and Giang post to receive him kindly and help him to go to Hoi
An.
To the ethnic people, the social works and a tight control business made their life more
difficult. There was nobody took care of farming and they didnt have any native product to
barter to salt and other necessary goods. Therefore, they wanted to change the protest into a
legal revolt to reinforce and a better preparation for a stronger movement next time. Listening
to what the merchant said, Acnh Hiu was still in doubts. He thought that maybe it was a
French trap to capture him, maybe they also wanted to make peace, but he could not believe
his enemy. Acnh Hiu and some others village headmen in Trgia had met for a discussion to
weight the pros and cons. They compelled the merchant to swear on his life and his familys
life otherwise he would not go to Hi An for a talk.
The minister received Hiu warmly. He admonished and advised him to work for French with
many favour but Hiu only asked for no poll tax, reducing social works, no capturing people
at farming time, no torturing social worker and spreading business. The settlement stopped at
that point. The minister offered him many gifts and sent him home. Meanwhile he announced
that Hiu surrendered and cooperated with French. It happened about in early 1938.
At the end of 1936, the governors organized a big meeting included representatives from
many hamlets, village headmen, corporals to come over, listening to an admonishment of the
governor. The meeting was propagandised for a task of stabilize mountainous situation to win
over peoples heat, to show the French favour towards minority groups. It was especially to
speed up capturing workers for the road number 14. The meeting had a buffalo sacrificed,
ethnic dancing, ethnic traditional wine (Ru cn- wine drunk out of a jar through pipes) and
gifts for wholly. The mandarins called the meeting n yn(f te de pacification). The place
was at An ien, near by a guardsmans post. Near the day of the meeting, it had a pouring
rain, roads had become marshy, and rivers level had risen high, the high-grade mandarins
could not come. Unimportant lackeys in local had met hurriedly and there was only partying
but peace as n yn meant. The propaganda had badly failed.
Throughout the French domination period, the protest of ethnic groups in central highland and
in the west of many provinces was boiling and non-stop. Sometimes the protest was illegally
or half-illegally, they used primitive weapons and traps to decimate the enemy, sometimes
14

they changed the protest into legally to narrow difficulties and to save power. At the same
time, one area protested legally, the other did it illegal, the two leaned on and supported each
other for success. They changed a struggle form flexibly and it was full of surprise for the
enemy. The enemy became passive, they called it sng u, ti nh, phn phc khn
lng (which means surrender in the morning, attack again at night, the treachery is
immeasurable). They sullied peoples struggle, but through it they somehow admitted their
powerless in a plot to tame people by the policy of favour and stateliness naturally.
Especially towards Katu, they call them blood drinking people (buveur de sang).
Terrorization, suppression, did not make them step back. Manipulation organized n yn
did not make them surrender. The policy of favour and power was totally failed. During
almost one-hundred years of domination, they could not tame those ethnic people.

A Grindstone

There were three ethnic groups in Giang commune: Katu, Bh and Tring. The katus
population was more crowded, they lived in the east, neighbouring to the central lowland, and
they knew how to barter then their life was better compare to the others. Bh group had more
or less three thousand population, they lived in the southeast of the commune, neighbouring to
the old Kontum province. They have their own language and customs. They had a tradition to
against French colonists and their lackeys bravely. But they did not know how to business. If
they wanted to have salts, tools, fabric and some other necessary stuff they must have
exchanged to Katu, or they must have carried their goods to Ging riverbank to barter with
merchants. Because they lived quite far away, they did not know many merchants so well,
they also did not know about prices. Therefore, most of them asked Katu for help.
Fortunately, all of the old Bh could speak Katus language.
The old Katu who lived at the head of road number 13 recalled nearly one-hundred years ago,
there was a Bh person went to Giang riverbank to barter. When he came back home, it was
very dark, he stopped at one Katu village near by the road for rest (nowadays it is the road

15

number 13). In the night, while he was sitting in a commune house, next to a stove, warming
him, he was listening to villagers complaining that they did not have good grindstones to
sharpen their bush-hook for farming. The Bh person immediately took out a good
grindstone of his dosser and gave it to the villagers as a gift of memory. He said that in the
area he lived, there were many good grindstones. Heard that, the old in the village asked to
buy a big amount of it which enough for all the villagers and for the others villages around.
After talking for a long time, they agreed about quantity and its price. They made an
appointment when Bh people would carry grindstones to this village. The old Katu people
thought the grindstones was very heavy and the price was too cheap then they believe that
Bh people only promised but they could not bring more than the quantity which they
already agreed. They did not prepare enough goods to barter, instead of apologized and just
received those grindstones and they could pay back later, Katu tried to wiped off their
promise. They behaved badly and coldly towards their brother minority group, Bh. The old
Katu checked the grindstones carefully but they took only five or seven. The rest of it, they
did not want to buy and said it had bad quality. The three Bh persons were angry with them.
According to them, Katu did not keep the agreement, they cheated and disrespectful Bh.
They took all of the grindstones and thrown it into a stream up above Katu village. After
doing this, they sat and rested under a tree near by, their heart and mind full of anger and
writhe.
The three Bh men saw the native went to work together as a group, and all of them stopped
when they passed by the place full of grindstone. They looked around to make sure that there
were no Bh here, each one of them took a few, put it in their dosser and continued talking
and laughing on their way to sifting cultivation. That scene made the three Bhs anger flared
up as a fire meets a wind. The three men agreed that the Katu villagers tricked them to steal all
of their grindstones, disrespect Bh and exploited them barely. On the way back to home, the
more they thought about what had happened the angrier they were. They were angry madly.
They took out their swords and killed a Katu couple who were hand in hand going to work.
After killing the poor couple, they continued going home, their anger were cool down
somehow. They met some people who lived in the same village as the victim couple, they sent
a message :
- Hamlet X..run into debt with us, we killed two people of this village, and you
people can go to Hamlet X for a head-debt.

16

The village had people who were killed in the area of it, it called bad death. The whole
village must have left their houses, killed all of their domestic animals, and immediately took
all of their treasure to a new place. They would build up their village again, clean up a new
sifting cultivation. It was the villages custom and Katus custom as well in general. They
would probably spend a lot of energy for new houses and new farming places. They used to
face to illness and death during this time. Their hatred could not pay straight away, they must
have waited until harvesting time, about December (lunar year) and discussed for revenge.
After finished harvesting, the villagers organized the revenge. They did not go to the village
that the three Bh talked about, because that village and their village were all relative. They
found their way in Bh area. They only knew a direction but a concrete way; moreover, the
revenge must have been secret in the night. They must have not talked with anybody on the
way, it forbidden to take a big road; they must have found their way through the forest.
Therefore, they went to another Bh village, not a village of the three Bh visitors who ran
into blood-debt, but they could not come back with nothing. Then, they watched for two
victims, after killing them, they also sent a message back to this Bh village :
- Ours villager had killed by the Bh village above, we have collected two heads here and
it is enough. Your village should go up there for revenge.
Any village that joined killing and blood hunting must have depended carefully, as built
fences around the village. When women and children went to work, they must have had a man
who armed to come to protect. Therefore if a village came into another village which was in
debt with them for blood hunt, they would fail and being killed too. The incorrect revenge
opened up and reached other villages. Village A killed natives of village B. The village B
didnt revenge on the village A but village A1.The village A1 turned their revenge to village
B2 but the village B. It ran repeatedly and naturally, it created a war between Katu on the low
region and Bh on the high region. Until the August revolution, their hatred was long to more
than sixty years, there were three-hundred people had killed, and many others had wounded
badly.
The hatred had not solved; more people had killed every year after harvesting. Bh people
went to Giang riverbank for barter no longer, they must have exchanged goods with Katu
people in the high and the middle region. Katu people lived in the low region must have left a
rich land for farming on the area neighbouring to Bh, they didnt dare to open their
17

cultivation to that direction. Life became more difficult for both of them. The more difficult
they had the deeper their hatred became. They handed it down to their next generations. In a
lullaby for their daughters, Katu sang :
-

Cadic amy bn zc (your husband kills enemy)

Cadic amy tc Bh (your husband thrusts Bh )

It means when the daughters grow up, they will have a husband who will kill French colonist
and thrust Bh people. The hatred changed them from friend to foes as French colonists, their
same enemies. After harvesting year by year, a disaster fell into the two ethnic groups. There
were many reasons but the grindstone somehow became a main reason to break out. Without
the revolution, the party, and a policy of great national unity, this tragedy might not end.

Ngi Kinh Khng Tr u

...About few decades before, Katu people in Hien commune used to go to the west of Hoa
Vang, either directly had business with Kinh merchants or through Katu middlemen in this
area. The barter ran against interest of both sides sometimes and it went to a result that they
stabbed each other. The heaviest head-debt was among Liatih hamlet in the middle of Hien
with some hamlets near the west of Hoa Vang. In between Giang and Hien, there was a hatred
of Liatih- Ar cause of business debt. Every year, after harvesting or cleaning up sifting
cultivation, the hamlets in the west of Hoa Vang organized a strong depend. Wholly hamlets
had fences around by l trees and thick bamboos, villages gate always closed at night.
When people got alarm, they thrown out stones and bamboo spears from their house to a place
had movements. They also had resistance nests with strong men who were ready to use
swords and spears to kill all people dared to get through the fences. During the day, men
divided themselves into small groups; they either went to find the enemy traces or took care of
any weak point of the fence. They took a short cut and waited to kill the enemy to protect their
women. Villages in the high had more people than villages in the low. Then they were

18

careless, and attacked often, many of them had killed.

From the moment the French colonists set down An iem and Hien post later, they allowed
Kinh people to open up business, and definitely most of the native and forestry products flew
to Hin riverbank. Merchants went here, set up camps, and stayed most of their time for
bartering.
On Con river, boats came up and down from Hien to An ien, it was very bustling. Katu from
the low, middle, and high region all sent their goods to Hien. Katu, who lived near the west of
Hoa Vang, sent their goods to Phu Tc, Hoa Khuong. Even though, they still kept the hatred
inside their heats but all of them were busy to work on the sifting cultivation, moreover, they
had business to two different directions then the head-debt had almost forgotten for quite a
long time. Neither people in Hien nor people in the west of Hoa Vang wanted to fight. Even if
their fences had broken, they did not mind or fix it.
They stopped fighting for a good and peaceful life but Giang (forest spirits) did not allowed it.
The forest spirits made their rice and corn crops became poor. The forest spirits gave them
illness, and death. They offered the spirits many chickens, pigs but the amount of people, who
were ill, did not reduce. Villages had not only a worst crops but also five or six villagers died,
after harvesting, they felt the wind was strong and cold, they saw leaden clouds with bluish
black lines, it meant Giang wanted to eat human blood. If they could offered Giang it, Giang
would give them a good crop next year, Giang would give them health, wine, and foods. In
that situation, they could not skip Giangs notice. The village must had a chicken for offering
(luc chim) and then looked at the chickens legs to forecast good and bad things or a
direction that they should take for blood hunt. The first direction was so important that they
must have thought carefully, and weighted the advantage and disadvantage of it. if they went
to the west of Hoa Vang they could revenge and had blood for Giang at the same time, but
here it had bigger population, and they also depended very well, therefore they might lose and
their people who went there might be kill. Furthermore, they must have prepared themselves
for revenge next year; it meant this direction was complicated and hard. The second direction
was towards Kinh people; they could watch over and kill Kinh people. They could be
merchants, loggers, workers (who worked in du trees gardens) or some farmer who went up
to find a new place for cultivation. Those people normally did not take weapons a long, and
did not prepare themselves for a fight, they were a small groups, and the most important thing
was Kinh people did not have a custom to take back head-debt, it meant Katu would not have
19

any troubles later on. According to the way they though, the business of looking at the
chickens legs was only for formal as a must have step. The direction for blood hunt was
clearly. But it was not easy to watch over to stab Kinh, unfortunately if they could resist and
capture, those people would go to jail and would be beaten up, tortured badly. So, Katu had to
realize on their people on the low region, who lived near by Kinh to hold situations by that
they would know how many Kinh would go up to the mountain to work or their
accommodations. They must have explained about their villages life to encourage the helpers
and promised to give many gifts like blankets, jars, gongsas a reward. They called the
helpers hunting dogs, it sounded ironic but fit in reality, they needed the hunting dogs
to lead them to find their preys without hurting the low regions interest. As to the villages in
the low, if they did not want to do this job, they might discomfort Katu people in the high.
They were afraid that Katu in the high would think that they had no attachment to them, and
this attitude might turn themselves into the preys for blood-hunt, and no longer peaceful life.
If they agreed to take a role as hunt-dog to kill Kinh merchants, it would cut off their
bartering, if they killed a victim who lived near by, the solders in French post would come to
invest and they might in trouble.
A wisest way was lead Katu to go to a remote place, far away from Katu and Kinh villages.
The preys were logger, workers, and farmers, at the worst they would choice Kinh merchants
who had just start their own business. Therefore, murders used to happen a long Bung river
that flew from Hien to Giang and went to join Vu Gia river, or the murders happened on a
road that ran from Hien to An Dien, and most of thr murders happened in Khe Tre, Phuong
Giua, near by Dau rai gardens, moors far away from ethnic villages. In some years, huntdogs leaded giac mua to kill people near Ba Khe( in between Dai Lanh and Dai Dong
commune)
Seasonal raiders killed Kinh people, and victims family announced to An Diem post, Hien
post and a chief of Dai Loc district. The governors here sent their lackeys to go and examined
death persons but mainly for corrupted some money from the unlucky families only. They
examined cursory and left.
Seasonal raiding was an activity to kill, to stab Kinh people who were poor. This activity
didnt shake but consolidate the governors ruling position, it suited to a plan to divide Kinh
and Katu, to weaken the movement against them. During a few decades of domination, the
enemy ignored it and did not have any reaction to solve seasonal raiding. They were organized
20

operations to burn houses when the protest against social works rose, or when the people
attacked to the posts and solders and commanders
After 1945, the revolution regime influenced strongly on people, it always reminded people to
unite for living and to against French colonists. In Giang and Hien there was not any headhunting or seasonal raiding. Until 1952 in Hien, the seasonal raiding killed two merchants in
Thac Ri, along Bung river (belongs to Giang). In may, 1952, two soldiers of lower Laos were
attacked in the forest belongs to Axo hamlet, Anong commune, Hien district. One died, one
wounded and escaped, they lost one rifle and a dosser of fabric. In the early of 1952, one
liaison officer who worked on the south-north corridor, was killed at a slope-head belongs to
Atin hamlet, Hien commune. So, in 1952, there were three murders happened, the victim were
the merchants, the liaison officer and the soldiers who went near Laos-Vietnam border for
their mission. In the early of 1953, a salt depot in Hien had stolen many times, each time lost a
plenty of ten dossers. The seasonal raiding threatened a committee office near Cot buom, the
committee must have built fences, encouraged officers and people who lived around
organized a patrol and guarded strictly. After Tet holiday, the seasonal raiding attacked to a
district liaison station and killed one staff. At this mean time, it happened a weird thing that :
at Napuop hamlet (Hien district) the young caught a dove that its leg wore a small plastic ring
pasted with a piece of paper, inside that paper was date and time for action from Cau Hai (in
the north of Thua Thien). The dove flew many rounds above the hamlet before it had caught
in a communal house when it managed to get inside. An event of the dove make a tense
situation became worst and much more complicated. At a meeting of district committee, many
members maintained that the murder of soldiers at Axo, of liaisons at Doc But and the district
liaison station added with the seasonal raiding threatened committee office and stole salt, the
event of a dove, all of its together proved that seasonal raiding was not only simply a part of
Katu cultural. It might have had an enemy hand, reactionists, to drive seasonal raiding to
harass the rear, to break the corridor and to flurry a government organ. It created a good
condition for French to conduct At-lang campaign in V zone. That was a reason why, we had
to use local soldiers in the district and partisans in the low region to scour in suspicious area,
and weapons had used to threaten the seasonal raiding. However, many others ideas observed
that the merchants and people in the low had already announced to loggers, other merchants
and people around committee office that in the high and the low region that many hamlets had
already boiled chickens then they had already ran back to the low land. All the officers
were Kinh, the seasonal raiding attended here and it meant there might not have any enemys
21

hand or reactionists either. A hurry observation might cause a wrong method and drove
everything to a bad result.
The meeting was ebullient but indecisive, they must have waited for about a month to collect
more evident for a final decision. Even though, the committee office had fences around, and
guards, but fear hung in the air, it covered the whole offices and some families houses near
by. Business was still, information moved slowly among districts and communes; sometimes
it seemed everything landed in an impasse. District staffs did not dare to go for a business trip,
even as a group with three people. There were 20 applications to ask for coming back to the
lowland with different inadequate reasons among 21 province staffs who had just
supplemented to Hien. Soldiers on corridor, ensembles, were noticed the situation and were
advised to always aware, and to march with full defence. If they saw seasonal raiders, they
were only allowed to shoot into the air, to scream to scare them away, they absolutely were
banned to shoot them.
An atmosphere after Tet holiday was heavy and tense. People did not light any lamp at
night in offices or houses. Everybody had to keep their position when an alarm rang, they
prepare a bamboo pipe for defecate and.at night.
At the end of January of lunar calendar, monsoon became gentle, the sky was brighter, all the
hamlets started a new farming season, the seasonal raider lurked people no longer, and people
didnt saw their traces in the forests. All activities became as it were normally, worry and
doubt seemed to vanish.

The seasonal raiders

after boiling chicken, and looked at its legs, found out a direction, the old in villages
ordered a taboo sign on the villages gate. It was banned people from other villages, local
officers to visit their villages. At night the old came to communal house, drank wine, smoked
and talked with each others in front of the young. Some said that when I was young, I was
enthusiastic, when the village was in a hard time and in sickness, I determined to go, and did
not mind houses works, did not scare of death or difficulties. Some said my heart

22

decided to go but my wife and children liked clambering plants to tie me down!. A speech
intended to incentive and touched the young self-esteem, it lighted the youngs and then they
could go as seasonal raiders to kill people and brought their blood back for the villages
interest. During the night, in cultivation huts, girls sang I promise I and sisters will cook
sticky rice for you. I will cut medicine leave into small pieces and give it to you, and then I
will wear mine most beautiful clothes of to welcome you back. I will dance very well for you.
I will wait for you and will make you happy
Even though, the old did not meet to make plan, to assign duties, to set the date and time to go
but the young faced to their village sickness and poorness, moreover, they encouraged by the
old, the girls and their duties absorbed in their heart, they knew that they must have go away.
Few of them had gone into the forests to cut young bamboos and gave to their wives and
mothers already. Without a word, their mothers and wives understood their intention; they put
sticky rice inside bamboos and cooked it. Beside it, the young went to sharpen knifes and
spears, they prepared medicine leaves, blankets, and salt for 10 days trip in the jungles. One
late afternoon, when the sun was going down to another side of the mountains, they wore
traditional clothes, took tlec and carried spears which was about more than 2 meter long
with, they went to sleep in the forests quietly, one follow others, all went to the same
direction. Their families, neighbours knew where they went, what they would do, but nobody
asked or said anything to them. Nobody went to see them off or wished them success. Their
parents and wives just looked at them with their serious eyes; their deep eyes looked like good
Catholics looked at their god.
After a night slept in the forest near their villager, they woke up early, ate sticky rice, drank
stream water and walked together toward the direction of sunrise. They did not follow any
either big road or trail, in spite of they were afraid to hit people from another village who went
to work on cultivations, went to fish or were on the way back from the lowland. They went
through the forests, streams, climbed up waterfalls and listened to birds song to know about
luck or bad luck. If it was luck, they would continue to go, and they would stop to sleep a
night if it wasnt. In the night, they made a bonfire for keep warm, but they covered the
bonfire with branches to keep the light stay inside. They would clean out all their traces before
they left, due to that it made the way longer. It took them two or three days to come to the low
area, they pushed their way to a cultivation edge, and used birds song to notice the owner and
invited him to discuss in a secret place. The owner would be their hunting dog, they would

23

convince him to guide them to a place for hunting. They spent a whole day to walk through
the forest to that place, then they hid and watched to know their victims habit as eating,
sleeping, workingif the victims were a few, they would find a hidden place to hide on the
road and suddenly attacked, they would withdraw quickly after that. If the victims group had
many people and they all prepared themselves to defend, Katu had to would not attack them
when they went out to work but waited until they went back home and careless, the seasonal
raiders would thrust some people who walked behind everybody else, and very quickly ran
into the forest after did it.
The victims blood had to stay on knife blades which would be offered then, because of it,
seasonal raiders would never use arrow or crossbow, even though if they used it, it would
reduce danger and much easier.
The old told that: seasonal raiding was not successful all the time. Even if they had hunting
dogs, sometimes they had to search for three to five days but could not find their preysbecause their preys, they all came back to the lowland-. Their foods ran out, or their traces had
discovered. They must have came back home immediately, and took responsibilities for their
failure in the village. They would very shy with their women, and even felt lost face with the
other villages in their location. Near by Bung river, there was a logger man whose name is
Thu Am. He was big and tall, he knew how to fight very well. One day, three seasonal raiders
attacked him when he was paring his wood. He used axe handle to hit those three raiders and
beaten them up. The three seasonal raiders all through their weapons and ran away. Because
Thu Am wanted to keep peace with Katu for his long-term business therefore he would never
beat them to death, he did not want to have any hatred with Katu.
After killing their preys, seasonal raiders duty had done, they said goodbye to the hunting
dogs and came home straight away, and they walked through nights and days on the trails or
the big roads. When they came near their village as a distant of a howling, they turned into the
forest and climbed on a tree, howled three times to send a victorious message to villagers who
were cleaning up their field, then they found a place to sleep. The villagers who were working
, heard the howls, their hearts all filled with happiness, they quickly finished their worked and
hurry sent that message by howling to other villages about their victory after that they ran
home all together. On the villagers showed joyfulness, they thought that their people had won
and came back; they brought happiness and wealthiness to the whole village. From the
moment they had gone, the whole village had been waiting for them, for their howling which
24

would shake and echo in the forests. At this moment, the old was holding a meeting in the
communal house and dividing duties for people to prepare for a big sacrifice: they would offer
humans blood to Giang therefore Giang would stop to harass the village and the poorness and
illness would be no longer. The women took care of cooking sticky rice and some of them
would go to take buffalos, pigs. The old ordered people to cut a big tree for buffalos sacrifice.
Everybody was busy. They beat drums and howled in the commune house. The villages near
by heard it and prepare fishes, wines, meats to come to congratulate. The sacrifice would be
very big even which everybody in the same area must have known but it would be secret for
Kinh or Katu in the low region. Nobody had allowed talking about it, if anybody would dare,
they would be punishing badly.
On the next morning, the villagers dressed up, all the girls wore the most beautiful clothes
with accessories. The old led them all to go to see their heroes. The seasonal raiders went
away in quite and now their duty had done and they were welcomed home. Each one of them
wore traditional close, and a white ring which had three branches up to the sky, made by a
wild plant (which named lo o). the white ring was a victorious sign. They quietly walked in
to a yard in the middle of the village in front of admiring eyes of all people who were there.
The seasonal raiders gave the old their spears with blood of the victims on it. Those spears
would stay at the middle of the yard for offering. After a few days, people would move those
spears into the communal house, at the most solemn place. In the communal house, new sedge
was set on its floor, on it there were tobaccos, water pipe, this was an honour place, only for
the heroes. After their hard trip through the jungles, they all looked tired and thinner than
before, but happiness was on their faces. The whole villagers all agreed that they were mature
now, and that made them excited and happy. They sat on the sedge and dinking, smoking,
meanwhile people beat drums and Gongs, the young were howling, and dancing. Children
came all around and stared at them, they wished they would also be heroes when they grew
up. Even the sick and oldest people would try to come and join the even.
Many wine jars had brought out and the biggest one was set at near the heroes. Plenty of
bamboo pipes had put inside the wine jars. A boiled chicken, and a few dish of pig meat had
brought out, the old who were trusted, would hold the offering. They called out names of all
kind of Giang, Giang of streams and rives, Giang of the forest... they called them to come to
eat humans blood, buffalo meat, chicken meat, sticky rice, to drink wine. They could eat as
much as they wanted and then, the old advised them to come back to the forests, streams,

25

rivers and stay the village no longer. The Giang should not come to the village again, Giang
should release them from poorness and sickness. The old brought a cup of wine, they used
bong (rice ear) sprinkled wine around and then threw it to a truss (roof)
Now the villagers invited their guests to start eating and drinking. A special meal had brought
out for the heroes. In the afternoon, a buffalo sacrifice was held at the middle of the yard, men
took their knives and danced ting tung, women danced da da, the drum and the Gong were
beating. The party was long for two to three days.
The girls high estimated the seasonal raiders, the boys were admire at them and the village
recorded their work. When they died, their funeral would be solemnly, people would burry
them in two coffins. People would lay two wooden knives decussate on their tombs.
Later on, the offering went to an end, they had spent a lot of rice and they had killed plenty of
pigs, most of the villager had got ill and tired. It took them few months to get back to normal
life again

Mi ni mt v
The situation of seasonal raiding was different in Hien and Giang, because of it a campaign to
end the seasonal raiding must have depended on each regions characterizations to find out the
most suitable methods for the best results. The local party committee must have studied in
details to understand reasons of the seasonal raiding, to see all of difficulties and
consequences caused of disunity. They must have been patient to convince people and
gradually solved it. They must have avoided subjective and overhasty.
In Giang, Bhee lived near Kontum, far away from riverbank, they were really need tools for
self-sufficiency, but they had to bring their products through Katus region to barter. They
used to cheat by the merchants. They found Katu for help, on the other hand, Katu were
cleverer, and they knew how to have business and how to cope with the merchants tricks.
Many of them helped Bhee with bartering, but some Katu who worked as intermediaries, were
greedy, they wanted Bhee to depend on them in business with Kinh merchants for a big
interest. Conflict of interest came from that. Most of Bhee people felt that Katu were
dishonest, placed their interest on a relationship between them and somehow they thought

26

Katu did not want Bhee to barter directly with Kinh merchants. In their view, Katu were not
only exploited Bhee but also disrespect them. They did hate Kinh merchants but at the same
time, they could not believe Katu people on the low region. The Bhee group settled about a
large distant from Katu, and the area between them was a quite rich and good land where a
border between them had not pointed out clearly. Collisions happened often when Bhee
opened their cultivations down to that land and conversely. Somehow, the Bhee felt that Katu
count on their people because they were more crowded and they were sly, superior,
encroached on soil up to Bhees area. A deeply contradiction between them started with those
disagreements in business, lands, and it grew year by year, slowly but stable. The grindstones
even was just a concrete excuse for the contradiction to explode.
The party committees in Giang had a plan to manage to teach a unity policy of the party and
uncle Ho for villagers of the three ethnic groups. The partys officers must have displayed the
enemys plots and their tricks and they also had to show people the partys policy was chased
French colonists out of ours country, punished their lackeys, be independent, all of civilians
would live in peace with good health, and education as well. The officers must have showed
people that they were living in a very bad condition. As long as they kept hunting each as
seasonal raiding which came along with head-debt, they could only chase each other to
suffering and poorness. On the other hand, they would fall into the enemys

dividing plots,

which would make a power to against the enemy weaker. The committees had to suppose the
folk to discuss, to train key members of the party, to convince the victims family and upper
class to forget about what happened to live in peace. They had to be very organizing to
manage small meetings at some hamlets in the same region. In the meetings, they guided
representatives to promise to unite, and they organized an even that was called dap luoi
giao for the people to swear that they would stab each other again no longer. Together with
the policy to educate people to unite, they were also encouraging people to produce and to
divide fairly the amount of salts that the party movement in the fifth zone and uncle Ho
offered to the ethnic people. Meanwhile, they held a campaign for helping the high; this
campaign was mainly to show the low that they were in charge to help the high to exploit
forestry and native products, and to teach the high how to have business with Kinh merchants.
A class for an ethnical policy had opened for businesspersons who were learning and looking
in reality to see what they did wrong and right to fix or to bring into play. The officers advised
them to make profits without cheating or tricking. Those methods had used at the same time
and it came with excellent results. At Oc Caruong, a hamlet set on Giut riverbank, a
27

conference to rally the whole commune was held, the conference included representatives of
Katu, Bhee, Stieng ethnic groups and merchants. In the conference, all of the representatives
discussed ebulliently and all promised to unite for a revolution and to stop the head-debt
revenge, to stay as brothers, to help each other in either business or normal life. The unity
conference in 1952 was a historical even for ethnic people in Giang. The hatred for a hundred
years had worked out. The Katu and Bhee freely opened their cultivation to the land between
them. None of them doubted or made it difficult. From now on Bhee went to barter did not
have to scared that Katu might take a short cut to stab them. They had invited to stay in Katu
villages when it was dark on their way back. Some Bhee who crossed a river on the way to
barter, had sunk and death, Katu found their bodies and buried it, they also announced the
death of them to their villages, families. The families of death people brought blankets to Katu
as a punishing offer according to Katus customs, but Katu did not take it, moreover, they
gave the families of the death people a crock of salt to bring home. An attitude of the
merchants became better, they were more polite, their ways of talking became smoother, and
the business ran with very little pressure to ethnic people. A word unity sounded holly but
sweet, it came deep in to peoples inner. Unity meant love, respect, it led people to a
happily peaceful life and therefore they could go together on a way of the party, of uncle Ho,
to chase the French away to have independence, freedom and the right to control the forests.
In Hien commune, the hatred of Katu in the middle and people in the west of Hoa Vang had
similar reasons as the hatred in Giang. This was a disagreement about profits in bartering but
for a few decades, they did not continue to kill each other anymore. The head-debt fated
away by the time and somehow it went through as a memory. Even though, the resentment
had not rub out yet, they hadnt have chance to swear dap chan len luoi giao or, had not
promise to be as brothers, and to forget the resentment but as long as nobody recalled it, there
wasnt any urgent matter needed to solve. The biggest matter at this time was how to
abolished the seasonal raiding which chose Kinh people as its victims to offer their blood for
Giang.
In june of 1953, according to a polices report of Quang Nam, Dai Loc, and Phu Loc district
in Thua Thien, there wasnt any activities of the enemy and the local reactionaries toward the
mountainous region in Hien. Quang Nam polices also informed that the dove in Rarp was
only the dove which trained by French to send mail. It flown from Cau Hai( Thua Thien), and
lose its way, it couldnt find a way to comeback then it stopped in Rarp hamlet to find

28

food, and had caught there. People couldnt and shouldnt concluded it was a sigh to prove
that the enemy put one hand there to led the seasonal raiders to mix up a mountainous base.
The seasonal raiders attacked the corridor, the liaison office, the district office was because of
Kinh people lived and worked there. At du ri gardens, wood moors, Kinh people had
warned and all came back home. One clear thing was the seasonal raiding happed after lunar
January, after that it disappeared and everything became normally as it was.
Kinh people hadnt had any trouble with Katu, why did they become the victims of seasonal
raiding. On a historical view, in the past, Katu had ruled by the feudal mandarins in the past,
the French colonists later on, Katu had exploited merciless by them. They chased and forced
ethnic people toward the mountains in the west where the business ran with difficulties. Their
life somehow was in misery. Katu was a staunch clan, and settled in mountains for a long
time, they were facing to extinction because of illness, famine, therefore they depended
themselves acrimoniously by killing people who brought them to that situation. In spite of
their limited-level of knowledge, they could not see their real enemies, so they killed people
who had business directly with them, as Kinh people who lived near by, some poor peasants
who went to the mountains to work for living Their reaction slowly became a custom to
take human blood to offer for Giang to get a better life.
After the August revolution in 1945, ethnic people were happy because the feudal government
and the French had overthrown, and power belongs to the people. They listened to the party
and the new government aborted the bad custom, concentrated in working, and improved their
life. About six or seven years under the new government, some villages had bad crops and
lacked of salts, plagues happed continuously, on the other hand, the local revolution
administration lacked of care toward people life, they must had to make rituals to hope that
they would soon out of their disaster. The rituals could not help while they earned more
difficulties. In a deadlock, any word mentioned for the seasonal raiding might led them to do
it again to end their misery. The seasonal raiding had deeply reasons, but it didnt explode in a
big scale, it only happed again in the region where people reached their deadlock. At this
point, Katu didnt follow the propaganda structure for unity of the government anymore, they
listened to healers.
As Giang, the administrators in Hien district decided to educate people about the ethnic policy
in a large scale, for Kinh businesspersons, moreover, they contacted with Dai Loc district to
open the same class in Daai Lanh, Dai Hong and Dai Son commune. As others mountainous
29

districts in the province, they organized to distribute salts, farming tools, medicines among
ethic people on behalf of the government and uncle Ho. A ceremony to take Uncle Hos
picture into the village had held solemnly to open a boisterous campaign for productive
growth. Kinh officers, local armed forces, committee members, all came to the villages the
commune to teach and to work together with the people in their sifting cultivations. Two
groups of public health services had sent to villages where flu and cholera epidemic were
going around to cure and to show people methods to protect them from it. Later on, the district
held a unity conference in Cot Buom where the committee office settled. Representatives of
Giang and Phu Loc (Thua Thien) district had invited. United speeches had spoken by
neighbouring districts and the district themselves; the representatives all came to a promise to
unite people, to condemn the seasonal raiding, to promote production strength, to keep people
in a good health to contribute to the anti French revolution.
In Giang, as long as the problem between Katu and Bhee was lasting, the both sides were still
in disadvantages, so they both wanted to solve out the problem. In Hien, there was no matter
between Kinh and Katu, in spite of the customs and the difficult life, Katu unilaterally became
the seasonal raiders, and now they ended it freely and unilaterally. Inside their minds might
have had many questions therefore during the time for educating of the ethnical policy, the
officers had to untie a prejudice that Kinh officers had only protected Kinh people and had not
care about ethic minorities life. In one lesson in the middle region, one old man had taught
his thought to a district committee secretary clearly :
-

We certainly know that the revolution, the government and Uncle Ho are care about
us. My village is very poor and villagers are sick and have nothing to eat; Uncle Ho
loves us so he should love to the end, please give us one Kinh person for blood
offering. We are only a few but Kinh are crowded as leaves in the forest, one Kinh
person die doesnt matter much but a hundred of people will be save.

Katu said what they thought, and displayed all of it for the party knew to find a solution. The
sincere saying above showed their worries, they believed in the party, in Uncle Ho, they did
not terrified that if they said something wrong, they would be punish by the government. A
mistake had also displayed that the local officers and committee members had not understood
tough circumstances of the people. They had propagated about politic, unity; production in
general more than understood that people didnt have salts, tools, or any product to exchange
for medicines or necessary things, they couldnt make any ritual and they couldnt do nothing
30

while their darlings were moaning.

When Aplo (also known as Tram ) was explaining the ethnical policy in Avuong commune,
he had receipted a news that Alo hamlet had boiled a chicken, set up taboo sign and prepared
to go to hunt blood. He had handed his job to other person, and immediately went to A hamlet
but natives didnt allowed him to go into the hamlet. He set a hammock at the hamlets gate
and lied there. He told the hamlet that if they did not want to follow an appeal of the party and
Uncle Ho to unite to against French and to promote the nation economy, then they did not
have to go far to look for any Kinh person, they could come straight to him to take his blood
for Giang. Because he was the party member and an Uncle Hos worker, therefore he would
always die for the people here. That was surprise! The whole hamlet had a lively discussion;
at last, they took away their taboo sign and invited him into the hamlet. The hamlet admitted
their mistake, and gave away an idea of being seasonal raiding. Aplo asked about the hamlets
circumstance then took out all of his own medicines for sick natives; moreover, he went to the
forest to find medicine plants and showed the natives how to clean their place and to protect
themselves from sickness. He and the hamlet discussed a plan for sifting cultivation, for
growing domestic animals and they together checked out a quantity of working tools to buy
what they lacked.
Sometimes, there were some newly Kinh officers, who lacked of knowledge for Katu
customs. They didnt believed in the people, they had filled by worries and doubt. When they
heard the young and women said that they were good looking and had a good health, they
were terrified that they would have killed for blood offering. They went straight to report in
the district and asked to come back because they did not dare to stay there any longer.
Fortunately, they were only a few, most of the officers were enthusiastic and effective, they
gave a hand to keep and improve the districts campaign.
When the Genve agreement had arranged, the district decided to open storage depots to
contribute more salts and tools for people, and continued to tell people about new plots and
tricks of American- Diem, ours ways to against it. The district made people believe in the
party and its certainly victory.
Rely on many different suitable methods, which essentially concentrated on educating people
the ethnical policy deeply and widely. On the other hand, by took care of people live we had
success to end the seasonal raiding. During the Vietnam-American war, those people who
31

were seasonal raiders, became staunch soldiers, commune and district officers, who stayed
together with Kinh people as real brothers. They climbed over difficulties to build up the
mountainous region in general, and the two districts, Giang and Hien to become a strong
revolutionary base.

Capture and release Be

Be was a person who live in Axo Cup in Anong commune, Hien district neighbouring to Phu
Loc district in Thua Thien province. He had two wives, three children. His older brother was a
member of the commune committee and a headman of Axo hamlet. His younger brothers
family lived near his house. When Be was a child he had already naughty and cheeky, nobody
had liked him, his oldest brother had rarely cared of him. On the first of June in 1953 (lunar
year) Be had seen two soldier who were carrying rice on the corridor, his greedy turned him
into a murder, he had killed one of them, the other escaped. He took all of their blankets,
fabrics, hand watches and a machine gun home.
His action caused a sensation in Axo hamlet and in the whole Anong commune. Murder a
soldier who stood up for the nation, was a serious crime. It wasnt only this, a person had
killed in the hamlets land during the time for cleaning cultivations, it was a taboo. This was
not seasonal raiding; this was a murder because of greediness. According to the traditions,
Axo natives must have took all of their things and ran away from their hamlet immediately.
They would stay in the cultivations because if they stayed in the hamlet, Giang would come
and stir up their life with death and illness. The whole hamlet and commune forced Be to
admit his guilt to the government, to give back the machine gun and all things which he took
home, moreover, he must had offered a buffalo to avoid a disaster. Be didnt accept it but also
threatened to kill anyone who dared to lay a finger on him. He went to neighbour hamlets to
tell people that he killed a soldier; he wanted to rouse people to turn them into seasonal
raiders. Because it was the time to clean up sifting cultivation therefore the hamlet and the
commune hadnt have any meeting to discuss how to cope with Be yet. Condemning by the
whole village, he was afraid that the government and the village would punish him, he asked
one young person to come to the districts office with the machine gun, and it took him two

32

days to go there. He introduced himself as Bes older brother. He explained that he realized
that greediness had turned his younger brother into a murder, then he took the machine gun to
deliver it to administrators and he asked them a buffalo as a reward. He intended to take that
buffalo to offer to the hamlet. People in the low secretly reported to the districts officers that
this man was Be himself not his older brother. Capturing Be didnt seem as a hard job but if
the administrators did that, it would not have any lesson to end the seasonal raiding. Moreover
at this time, the administrators didnt know how was a situation in Axo hamlet after Be
murdered the soldier. They hadnt measure reactions of his relatives and the villagers yet.
They hadnt have any plan to mobilize the masses yet. Due to all the reasons above, the head
administrator of the office ignored as if he didnt know the true and met him calmly. Local
soldiers displayed guns in a long line, opened the wardrobe to show him mines and grenades,
then they told him :
-

by murdered a soldier, Be was not only a criminal but he also broke the hamlet
customs. You must tell him about his crime. Guns uses to against French colonists
not to exchange for buffalos. Now the soldier who used this gun to against the
enemy, had killed by Be already. Therefore, Be must take this gun to stand up for the
nation himself instead of that soldier. When the French come, he must take this gun
to shoot them to protect people, if he lack of bullets the government will give him
more.

The words above had laid bare his crime. He was embarrassed and didnt know what to
response. He asked to leave the gun there to go to the lowland to barter and he promised to
come by on the way back to pick it. On the way to Dai My, he had stole two buffalos of Kinh
people then sold one, one left he took it to offer for the hamlet. He reached his greediness
limit!

According to a suggestion of Hien district, civil affairs committee of the west of Quang Nam
province, which had newly established, agreed to capture Be and to take him to the province.
They opened a deep education dive about his guilt in the whole district. They also held a
referendum to request opinions of people to convict him. Somehow, the referendum showed
people clearer about the united policy of the party and Uncle Ho to against the French
colonists. It also condemned violence among people and the seasonal raiding. It wasnt simple
to capture Be, because he lived near sifting cultivations, near his younger brothers family. If
they failed, they would hide in jungles and would make more trouble. After capturing, they
33

wanted tie him with ropes and then chained his hands, but he probably couldnt walk because
of dangerous roads, they must have carried him all the way back. They had made a carefully
plan with all small details and well preparation. The plan had approved by the civil affairs
committee even more careful than a plan to attack a French post. The civil affairs committee
even sent one more person to Hien to support their plan.
-

Firstly, they opened a campaign in the district to educate people about his guilt, which
according to them had divided people, and blocked productions. Anong and Axo were a key
area; the district sent a commissioner, mr Nguyen Kha, with two officers to come to Anong.
They organized some debates and used the old sympathy or people had trusted in the
commune, especially Bes oldest brother, his wife and children. Concomitantly, one local
soldier unit investigated terrain where he lived, and studied his living habit; later on, they
made a plan to encroach to capture him in his house.

After checking a result of the preparation, Hien district chose a suitable way to capture Be.
Hien officers had divided into three groups, and they went to three different directions. On
their ways, they also checked the education and collected information; they decided to meet at
on secret place in Axo. The main group included one local platoon soldier, one unit police,
some of them had a mission to find a place for resting, eating. Accompanying with this group
was a chairman, one Katu person who was a member of the resistance and administrative
executive committee of the district.

This night, a district officer went to visit Be, and slept in his younger brothers house. In the
next early morning, all the soldiers had occupied the entire important place around his house.
The unit soldier together with his oldest brother got into his house. His younger brother heard
some noise, he reached his hand to take a spear but one officer immediately stopped him and
forced him to stay still. By looking at his front yard and his back garden, he saw soldiers
everywhere, each one of them held a gun with a blade on top of it. He at once realized his
situation and he didnt have any reaction. After reading a decision of the district
administration, which had translated into Katu language, the local officers told him to prepare
himself to go directly. His oldest brother advised him to follow the order and explained to him
that: they would educate him from bad person to a good one and they would not execute him.
He also told his wife to take a blanket, tobacco for him. His wife was crying but his brother
consoled her so she just prepared things quietly. The local officers and his brother added more
that according to the law, he must had tied and chained but everybody felt sorry for him and
34

respected his village. Therefore, the soldiers would use a rope to tie him a bit on his arm
regularly and one of them would hold the rope to lead him on a way. Be accepted all.
-

During two days when they came back to the district, everything had happened exactly
according to the plan. Be could see the soldier stayed at streams, head slopes. When they
came to a place for rest, he saw the soldier camped and watched over very strictly. He had
sent right away to province jail. Here, he had placed in a private cell. Few days had gone by,
he started to miss his wife and children, his house, the forest. He felt clearly that he lose
freedom and became furious, he beaten up guardsmen, ran way but he had captured again and
this time they were more strict with him. The province sent a staff who knew Katu language to
meet him. The staff gave him tobacco, sweet, and consoled him to stay to learn. However, just
after the staff turned away, he creamed as a tiger and gave a sign that they should shoot him.

Be had been capturing more or less three months, the Genve agreement had signed. We
released prisoners included Be. He thought that people was going to execute him when they
took him home. The district gave him two crocks of salts, one axe, and reminded him to
concentrate on working and keep united of people to prepare to against American- Diem.
When he came home, he told people that he had changed and studied to prove himself. He
now knew how to talk to people and he was reckless no longer. Throughout the American
war, all of his family volunteered to join the army as labourers. They contributed foods for the
soldier actively, and always tried to visit local officers.

When Be had captured and led out of the hamlet, the chairman of Anong commune held a
meeting. The two other groups had also come on time to join it. Nobody had any question
about his guilt because it had lain bare itself, but many people wondered if the government
would execute him or how many month or year if they would place him in jail. The district
chairman explain clearly his guilt, and according to the laws, he must had killed but the
government gave him a chance to change. The government wanted to use education to change
people from bad to good therefore they captured to educate him. It would depend on his
attitude to take him shorter or longer time in jail. Anybody who felt sorry for him had allowed
visiting. After the meeting in Axo, all the officers made a round in the district to explain to
people the reasons to capture Be and requested people for their opinions for his punishment.
The answers were varying from different areas. Some hamlets in the middle-land and a few
communes in the highland where the seasonal raiding exited, people misunderstood that the
government hadnt capture Be yet, they suggested to unite and skip his guilt. Their ideas were
35

to educate him and it would not bring any interest to people by killing him but it would push
his family to a tough life. People in the lowland and some communes in the highland had a
stricter attitude, according to their custom, he ought to be executed, and took his execution as
a lesson for seasonal raiders. Acnh Ri in Kpoh who knew a bit Chinese, said st nhn gi
t (means the murder should be kills) and he should had been punished that way.
-

The capturing Be and releasing him somehow had a strong effect over the whole district.
People understood clearly an attitude of the party and Uncle Ho. It was united all ethnic
groups, healing Kinh and highland people for the Resistance and to build up people life. The
government would open their eyes, reach their voice to them but the government would
strictly punish people who were furious, even if they lived in the deepest forest. The capturing
and releasing Be became a mark from that the seasonal raiding had worked out basically. The
disaster for Kinh and ethnic people had ended up. A new period had begun; the period of
unity, equality, supporting each other had started.

The seasonal raiding had solved out successfully in Hien as well as the head-dept in Giang,
it was a historical success among Katu. It was a big victory of the unity policy of the party and
Uncle Ho. It had contributed by the whole committee of Quang Nam province, included the
committee in Giang district and Hien commune.

The seasonal raiders and the American soldiers

Among Katu, during the American war, a word arp (means gic raider) did not keep
its original meaning anymore. In villages, nobody sang Cadic amy bn zc, cadic amy
tc Bh, amy m alc, amy tc ahuc any longer. It changed its meaning because people
mind had changed deeply. People united, respected and helped each other as their own brother
seriously; this attitude came straight to their inner. Who talked about blood hunt, about killing
Kinh, would have treated as American soldiers or their lackeys. Zac or arp meant American.
Zac and arp had a same meaning.
Even though, in business with merchants, French post soldiers, or puppet troops, Katu kept the
original meaning of the word arp. They took either the head-dept or the seasonal
raiding under pretext of fighting with the enemy and protecting their village or mountainous
military base. Surrounding villages, sifting cultivations, and strategic roads, they set up spike36

traps on pretext of protecting the villages from game, protecting their crops, and defending
seasonal raiders who might come from the middle land or highland. They stuck some danger
signals where they set up the spike-traps to avoid misfortune for the puppet troops. On the
other hand it allowed them to set up spike-traps legally. It was a way of using fake arp to
oppress real arp. They used the seasonal raiding to fight with American soldiers, used
menace to cope with menace, used violence to cope with violence. They threatened morale of
spies, scouts, and all kind of armed force, they didnt allow them to patrol in the forest freely.
It was concreter actions to keep a right to control the forests, to protect the revolutionary
government and the military base.
Merchants explained to the puppet troops about seasonal raiding, they even told them how the
seasonal raiding attacked because they scared of the seasonal raiders themselves, but most of
the merchants also wanted to menace the enemies, they didnt want the enemies to control
their business. The seasonal raiding was a terrified custom; somehow, the puppet governors
had a feeling that inside this custom had an angry reaction of the ethnic people toward their
system. This reaction certainly conducted by communists who were acting in the forests,
therefore the seasonal raiding became even more terrified.
Some people asked where the seasonal raiders were. Katu in the low and merchant answered
that they were in the middle land and the high land up to borders of Laos-Vietnam , every year
they came down to thrust Katu in the low and Kinh people. They hid in the forests as rats,
how could people know where they were, but suddenly people die by a poison arrow, one
movement and a knife had already went through somebody stomachs, therefore people ought
to defend by set traps everywhere crowdedly, especially at strategic places, around the
villages and sifting cultivations.
In 1956, a puppet regiment operated to scour ours revolutionary office in Bolo area in Hien, it
might because they caught ours radio. The old came to meet company commanders, battalion
commanders to report about spike-traps for protecting their villages and crops.
The puppet troops ignored it and continued to check two sides of roads some caught
themselves on spikes and had wounded seriously. Some stopped to urinate or defecate also
caught some spikes that cut their laps. Bolo hamlet had an idea to invite some commanders to
the hamlets yard. Here they performed how they stuck spikes on ground, and showed them a
trap that could release from two to five bamboo-blades, which could kill a pack of wild pigs
37

completely if it came to destroy their cultivations. The puppet commanders were amazed after
seeing the show. One second- lieutenant, who was Ede, had doubted that the villagers hid
communist in the jungle behind the hamlet. He took two soldiers to scour there, two bambooblades from a trap cut his two laps. They immediately carried him back to a health unit of
battalion to cure him. This news spread out in the regiment quickly, the commanders ordered
that nobody had allowed going deep in the forest if there was no ethnical guide.
In the same year, puppet governors in Hoa Vang sent two spies to hold the situation of Kinh
group in the west of Hoa Vang. This night, drum was noisy. People screamed that the seasonal
raiders were here and there. All families blew of their lamps, women and children were
crying, men held their spears at all valleys to watch over. One night had three times alarm, the
two spies was very hysterical. In the next morning, they hired ethnical people near there to
guide them to Hoa Khuong and went straight away. They would certainly report about the
seasonal raiding in this region with all concrete details
In 1958, there were some scours who rode a speedboat on Tranh river (a branch of Vu Gia
river) to invest a situation of the low region in Giang. They had shot by seasonal raiders by
poison arrows, two of them had died. In Hien, guardsmen went on a patrol along Arang river,
had caught some poison arrow too, they ran back to Hien post, and fell on ground, blood came
out from their mouths, it made the district chief and his wife hysterical, they left a meeting
and went back to Ha Tan.
In the early of 1958, the seasonal raiders dared to come down to Cot Buon, near Hien post;
they attacked Mrs.Chuans house, and one merchant who had business here. Nobody had
killed, but plenty of goods had destroyed. Hearing people screamed, Hien post soldiers shot in
the sky but none of them dared to come out of the post. At the same time, the seasonal
raiders shot arrows to a office of the puppet governors in Thach My in Giang district, it
stirred up the whole area. In thuong du van operation, the puppet governors sent a platoon
to set their camps at Pah hamlet in Giang. Somehow the seasonal raiders always lurked and
threatened their supply way. A part of them couldnt stand mountainous climate, many of
them were sick, another part were terrified of seasonal raiders. The platoon struggled with
their commanders to withdrawal after a month there. Katu used to say ironically nowadays,
the real arp scared of the false arp
When northern cold winds, or hot and dry winds from Laos started to blow, the puppet troops
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didnt dare to have any activity in ethnical villages in the low region, they were scared of
seasonal raiders. Some merchants also showed their worriment in front of them, they even
added more detail for the seasonal raiding to menace the puppet troops in purpose. Actually,
some good merchants felt that arp would not attack them but the puppet troop who were
Americans lackeys. They felt happy when they had some news about seasonal raiders, they
believed that deep into the forests, there was a revolutionary force that very loyal to the party.
They were brave, and the north supported them. They worked hard to chase away the enemies,
and one part of them were the seasonal raiders.
Q.X

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