Katu

The Katu are an Austroasiatic ethnic group living in the Annam Mountains of southern Laos and central Vietnam. They believe in nature spirits, and also have a concept of a powerful female Creator Spirit inhabiting the Sky. Their traditional villages were built in a circular formation, surrounding the community hall, used for important meetings, feasts, and ceremonies.

Katu women weave textiles on a foot-braced backstrap loom – an ancient technique for creating cloth. Cloth is often decorated with beads and sewn into simple skirts and tunics for wear. TAEC works with cooperatives of Katu women from Salavan and Sekong Provinces, using their backstrap loom textiles of cotton and beads to create purses, computer sleeves, and homewares.

Learn more about the Katu in Champa Meuanglao Magazine.