...because of a closer similarity of their language with dialects spoken by tribes in southern Vietnam.

When the first Lao people arrived in the territory of today's Laos , probably in the eight century AD, they pushed them out of the valleys into higher lands. For many centuries they were the traditional slaves of the Lao. Many of the Khamu adopted the Lao way of life and intermarried to get out of the slave class. However, the majority of the Khamu people still preserve their traditional social structure and distinct ethnic group characteristics.

Population
With a population of more than a million (500,957 in 1995), the Khamu are, next to the majority Lao, the largest single ethnic group in Laos .

Language
There are several subgroups of Khamu in Laos , each with its own name and distinctive dialect.

Clothing
The Khamu have limited weaving skills and buy their cloth from other groups in their vicinity. The festive dress of the Khamu woman includes a long—sleeved dark vest open at the front, often with red hems, a dark based sarong with many colored strings or motifs and a kerchief.

On ordinary days, Khamu women wear Lao—style sarongs and ordinary blouses, preferably in bright colours. The older women wear a headscarf, the younger women wear their hair bound up in a bun and leave it uncovered. They decorate themselves with silver and copper bracelets. Tattoos of geometric figures can be found on the arms and legs of older Khamu women.

Traditionally, Khamu men wear trousers or loincloths and long-sleeved jackets, which are embroidered along the hems and fastened at one side of the neck. Today, the Khamu buy cheap, factory-made garments in the Lao markets.

Crafts

The Khamu have sacred textiles, which they have collected over the span of a lifetime and keep stored either in large ceramic jars or metal trunks. These sacred textiles, mainly tube-skirts or chong kaben, are woven by the Khamu by other ethnic groups in large tapestry designs. The Khamu wear such textiles during rituals, such as burials, healing rites and a number of religious ceremonies. They also use sacred garments to place on alters or cover a coffin.

Houses and villages
Khamu villages can be found near a stream in low mountainous areas and forested valleys. The villages are usually between 15—90 houses. Traditional Khamu villages have a communal house, where young adolescent boys live and where men gather for important discussions or to work together on crafts.

The Khamu build their houses on low wooden stilts, about 1 to 1.5 meters above the ground. The walls are made of bamboo mats with no windows. The roofs are covered with thatch. A short bamboo ladder leads to a small porch or directly to the entrance door. The interior has a single room, with an earthen fireplace and the kitchen utensils in one corner and sleeping mats in another corner. Some houses have the fireplace and the kitchenware in an attached outbuilding on one side of the house.

Agriculture and economy
Traditionally, the Khamu cultivate dry rice in swiddens. They also grow maize, cassave, gourds, eggplants, peanuts and occasionally cotton. Vegetables, including cabbage and cucumbers, are grown along riverbanks. The Khamu grow tobacco and brew rice whiskey, both for self—consumption.

The Khamu keep a few buffaloes, cattle and goats. Pigs and poultry are kept in larger numbers.

Their economy is often based on subsistence agriculture and supplemented by hunting, fishing and gathering of edible wild forest products. They catch squirrels and other small rodents, a delicacy which they sell alive in the markets or at the nearest roadside.

Marriage and family life
The Khamu live in nuclear families. Monogamy is the predominant form of marriage today, but polygamy was common among the wealthier Khamu men. Marriage within the father's patrilineage is forbidden, as is marriage with anyone who has been ceremonially included within that patrilineage.

Courtship between the Khamu is relatively free. Traditionally, young boys live in a communal house and pay frequent visits to eligible girls during the night. Negotiations between parents about the bride price often begin when the girl is pregnant. During, and for a short period after the pregnancy, the mother has to keep certain food taboos.

Ceremonies, myths and beliefs
Khamu people believe in spirits – the house spirit ( hrooy gaang ), forest spirit ( hrooy prri ), and the spirits of water ( hom ), thunder ( indray ), wind and sky. Every village has a guardian spirit. Among the evil spirits, the hrroy poop and the hrooy suu are particularly feared because of their ability to take possession of people and turn them into dangerous persons. Spirit gates are erected over the entrances to Khamu villages, and special houses are built to make sacrifices. In former times, buffaloes and pigs were sacrificed to honor these spirits. Today, however, the spirits have to be satisfied with chicken, rice, whisky and occasionally a pig.

The Khamu practice a form of ancestor worship. Every Khamu village has a shaman and several sorcerers. The sorcerers are considered as excellent religious practitioners: both male and female can fulfill this role. They can describe which spirit is causing the illness or calamity and prescribe the necessary sacrifice, be it rice, chicken or eggs. The Khamu follow the agrarian cycle and practice several ceremonies for a good harvest.

The Khamu buy their deceased in the forest. To avoid any possibility that the soul of the dead returns to the village, the burial party proceeds in large circles on its way back to confuse the spirits.