Tai Dam people group of Laos
 
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  • Population: 50,000(1995);56,250(2000);70,300(2010)
  • Main Province: Northern Laos
  • Languge Affiliation: Tai
  • Religion: Animism
  • Christians: 20

The main information provided here is used by permission from asiaharvest.org

Additional information may be provided by millionelephants.com

Pray for the Tai Dam
  • Pray communication between the Tai Dam and God would soon be restored through faith in Christ's sacrifice.
  • Pray the breakthrough among the Tai Dam in Vietnam to spread to Laos.
  • Pray that the Lord would help and bless those who are presently translating the Tai Dam Scriptures.

     More than 50,000 Tai Dam, or Black Tai, live in a widely scattered area of northern Laos. Tai Dam communities are non-contiguous, being found in no less than nine different provinces of Laos. The great majority of Tai Dam, more than 500,000, live in Vietnam. The city of Dien Bien Phu was formerly the capital of a Tai Dam kingdom. The Tai Dam in Vietnam even had their own government for a short time in the 1950's.

     The Tai Dam people are believed to have originated in southern China, but gradually migrated into Southeast Asia due to oppression by the Chinese. Today there are still about 30,000 Tai Dam living in Jinping County, China. The Tai Dam in Laos are believed to have first arrived about 300 years ago from Vietnam. Several different waves of migration occurred, including in the 1960's when hundreds of Tai Dam families fled the war in Vietnam.

     The Tai Dam are one of the few members of the great Tai race never to have embraced Buddhism. They are animists. They believe that "non-human objects have spirits, and that people have multiple souls.... These spirits must be appeased so that they might avoid curses and receive blessings."164 They pay special attention to spirits called ten. The ten are earth spirits that preside over plants and soil, and over entire districts.

     The Tai Dam in Vietnam believe in the King of Heaven who founded the city of Dien Bien Phu, formerly called 'Heavenly City' by the Tai Dam. They believe there used to be a vine which reached from the earth to heaven. One mother was upset because her son kept climbing the vine to fellowship with God. She cut the vine and ever since then the Tai Dam have been unable to communicate with God. Although there are only a handful of known Christians among the Tai Dam in Laos, more than 2,000 reportedly came to Christ in Vietnam several years ago after a young Tai Dam was imprisoned in southern Vietnam. During his incarceration he was witnessed to by a Vietnamese pastor who was also in prison for the sake of the Gospel. After the young men was released, he returned to his home village and led 753 people to faith in Christ! Scripture portions exist in the ancient Tai Dam script, as well as the Lao script. More translation work is presently in progress.

  

 

  

Additional Information - yes

  1. Gospel Recording in Tai Dam are here: Tai Dam resources page If you are aware of other recordings, literature, or anything else for the Tai Dam people, please let us make it available online.
  2. Getting there - If you make a trip to the Tai Dam people, share your experience and advice here: Tai Dam travel page
  3. Information - Do you know something more about the beliefs of the Tai Dam? Do you have a story to tell? Do you have a picture? Please share it here.
  4. Does anyone know of a Tai Dam believer inside or outside of Laos?
  5. Intercession - Have you gotten any impressions, scriptures or words while praying for this group? Have you visited their area? Please share these and we will include them on the prayer page here: Tai Dam prayer page
  6. Adoption - If you feel led to focus on this group, maybe God will use you in a miraculous way to reach them with the Gospel! Need assistance? There are short and long-term opportunities for you. Contact us at: millionelephants@gmail.com, subject: adoption