Eastern Bru

The Bru belong to the Mon-Khmer-speaking peoples who have long inhabited the interior mountains of the Indochinese peninsula, well before the formation of modern states. For centuries they lived in relatively autonomous communities, in contact with neighboring kingdoms and lowland peoples, from whom they received influences without losing their own identity.

The wars of the twentieth century deeply affected the region where they live. Displacement, loss and the division of the people among different countries have marked many families. For this reason there are Bru communities today in more than one nation, each with its own historical experience, yet united by kinship, language and shared memory.

Daily Bru life revolves around subsistence farming, with rice at the center of the diet and of the rhythm of the year. Families cultivate fields on the hillsides, supplement their living by gathering and raising animals, and live in villages where kinship ties organize work, mutual help and community decisions.

The elders are respected as guardians of tradition, and hospitality and solidarity among neighbors are deeply held values. Weddings, harvests and the remembrance of ancestors bring families together for celebrations and ceremonies. In each country, contact with the majority culture is also shaping the way people dress, study and work.

Traditional Bru religion is bound up with the world of spirits and the veneration of ancestors. It is believed that spiritual forces dwell in the house, the forest, the land and the waters, and that good relations with them must be kept through offerings and rituals at important moments, such as planting, illness and mourning. Faith is lived in the family and in the community, not as a written doctrine.

In some regions, contact with Buddhist neighbors has left its mark, and many blend practices of different origins without feeling any contradiction. Following the religious customs of the village is also a way of belonging to the people and honoring those who came before. For this reason, the question about Jesus is usually experienced as a matter for the family and the community, more than as an individual choice.

Scripture exists in the Eastern Bru language. The work of translating and writing the language began in the twentieth century, with an alphabet in Latin letters, and the New Testament was published decades ago, with later revisions. Today the complete Bible also exists. Having the text available does not mean it is within everyone’s reach: many adults read little in their own language, and schooling is conducted in other languages. Audio materials and reading aloud in homes are natural paths for a culture that values the spoken word.

For many Bru, the spiritual customs of the village and the remembrance of ancestors are part of who a person is. Leaving these rites can be seen as turning away from family and community, and the decision to follow Christ is rarely made alone. Added to this are the isolation of mountain villages, the scarcity of churches and Christian leaders in their own language in many areas, and the distrust that can exist toward religions regarded as foreign. In some places, restrictions on religious life also make gathering and teaching difficult.

As in many mountain communities, there is a need for schools that also value the mother tongue, for access to health care and for better means of livelihood for families who live off the land. Spiritually, the people need Christian communities that speak their language, live among their customs and can disciple with patience and respect.

Where believers already exist, the need is for sound biblical teaching, well-trained local leaders and mutual support among small churches far from one another. Above all, there is a need for the gospel to be presented in an understandable way, from within Bru culture, and not as something foreign to it.