Transformation of Sacred Space in the Community Life of Catholic Bahnar People in Dak Ha Commune, Quang Ngai Province

Abstract

Based on a spatial-structural approach, this article analyzes the transformation of sacred space in the lives of the Catholic Bahnar community in Dak Ha Commune, Quang Ngai Province. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork combined with quantitative surveys conducted in three Catholic Ba-na villages, the study clarifies the adjustment in the functions and meaning of traditional sacred spaces such as the village communal house (nha rong), water sources, and funerary forests, while also examining the role of Catholic worship facilities within the contemporary spatial structure of the village. The findings indicate that the presence of Catholicism does not result in a rupture of the traditional sacred spatial system; rather, it unfolds as a process of cultural integration and adaptation, in which new religious elements are incorporated into the existing village spatial framework. In this process, the Bahnar community plays an active role in delineating the function of different spaces, maintaining symbolic boundaries, and mediating between tradition and new religious practices. As a result, a multilayered structure of sacred space has emerged in contemporary community life.