拉祜族，作为中国古老的民族之一，其历史与文化在云南省澜沧江拉祜族自治县、孟连、双江自治县以及思茅、临沧等地区有着深厚的根基。据统计，截至2000年，他们的人口约为45.3万，而这一数字还不包括他们在缅甸掸邦的25万人，以及泰国和老挝各自约8万6千人及1万6千人的分布。在越南，他们同样是54个民族中的一个成员。

“拉祜”这个词汇来源于他们自己的语言，其中，“拉”代表虎，“祜”则意味着将肉烤香，因此，在历史长河中，人们曾称之为“猎虎的民族”，展现了他们过往游牧生活时对自然界力量的敬畏与依赖。

与彝族、哈尼族、傈僳族、纳西族和基诺族一样，拉�6144

2 tribe and their culture, language and clothing features.

The Rala people have their own language, which belongs to the Han-Tibetan language family of Tibeto-Burman languages within the Sino-Tibetan languages. The Rala language has two major dialects: Lhawa Na and Lhawa Xi.

Rala people believe in a mysterious power that is both revered and feared in nature.

Their traditional clothing is characterized by black as the main color for men's and women's attire. Men typically wear short-sleeved shirts with buttons on both sides, black pants, a black hat or headscarf wrapped around their heads. Women wear long-sleeved dresses with open sleeves and slits at the sides, embroidered with silver threads or various patterns along the cuffs and collars. They also wear black pants under them. Their hair is tied up in a long scarf wrapped around their heads, adorned with colorful tassels on both ends that are wound around their legs.

The above text describes the history of RaLa tribe