Da Nang Story · October 2026 · By M Jay
The Co Tu Call The Forest Their Mother: A New Exhibition In Da Nang
Nearly 57,000 Co Tu people live in Da Nang, about three in four Co Tu in Vietnam. Since 6 October 2026, a new exhibition shows how they use forest plants.
The Co Tu have lived for a long time in the Truong Son mountains. In Da Nang, they live in the west of the city.
On 6 October 2026, the Da Nang Museum and the Vietnam National Museum of Nature opened an exhibition about them, called Plants in Co Tu Cultural Life. It comes from years of research, with knowledge that Co Tu people shared with the researchers.
It has nearly 40 plant samples, 80 photos and more than 30 objects, in four parts.
The first part is about daily life. The dark blue black of traditional Co Tu clothes comes from the leaves of a plant called ta ram. A root called cu nau dyes cotton thread red brown.
The forest feeds them too. The young shoots of two plants called ri doong and a tang are eaten raw or cooked in soup. The fruit of the a lan plant, crushed with salt and chilli, makes a spicy, fragrant seasoning.
The second part is about culture and art. The guol is the sacred house where a Co Tu village meets. It is built from forest wood, rattan and bamboo, and it is full of carvings.
The third part is about belief. Before they take from the forest, the Co Tu pray and ask for permission. Wood from the forest also becomes the carved figures on the guol and on grave houses.
The last part is about protecting the forest. The Co Tu call it Me Rung, Mother Forest. Over many generations, they made strict rules about what can be taken from it, about protecting sacred forests, and about punishing people who harm it.
The exhibition ends with photos of their festival to thank the forest. Hung Son, a Da Nang commune on the border with Laos, held one on 4 and 5 April 2026 at its po mu forest.
That forest has 1,146 po mu trees listed as Vietnam Heritage Trees. The local Co Tu have given many of these trees their own names.
The exhibition is at the Da Nang Museum, Branch 2, 281 Phan Boi Chau, Ban Thach ward. That is about 65 km south of the city centre by road. It is not at Branch 1, the museum's building at 31 Tran Phu in the city centre.
It is open every day until the end of September 2027, from 7:30am to 11am and from 1:30pm to 4:30pm.
If you go, look for the mats woven from the alo plant, the drum made of wood, forest rattan and cowhide, and the clothing made from tree bark.
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