(HBO) – Bui Thanh Binh, Director of the Muong Cultural Heritage Museum in Thai Binh ward of Hoa Binh city (Hoa Binh province), has been spending decades helping preserve the Muong ethnic group’s culture.
Bui Thanh Binh introducing tools displayed at the Muong Cultural Heritage
Museum in Thai Binh ward of Hoa Binh city to visitors.
Binh said when working as a tour guide at the
Hoa Binh travel company in 1985, he realised that foreign tourists preferred
visiting mountainous and remote areas to explore ethnic groups’ culture. Born
in the Muong Dong area – one of the cradles of the Muong culture, he has
nurtured a desire to help uphold the cultural heritage of the Muong people
since their culture not only is diverse but also boasts high artistic value.
In 1985 - the first year of his efforts, Binh
spent his modest salary collecting household utensils such as a basin, a frying
pan, and several bronze food trays from rural residents. From 1988 to 1998, he
collected a number of ceramic and bronze items, rice milling utensils, and
belongings of shamans. About 5,000 - 6,000 unique objects reflecting the life
of Muong people have come to his possession so far.
Introducing the Muong Cultural Heritage Museum,
Binh showed visitors six stilt houses deeply imbued with Muong people’s
cultural identity. The houses are located on a hill covering about 4,000 square
metres.
Among them, a stilt house of a Muong herbalist
contains many precious objects like an altar, a set of items used in betel
chewing, jewellery, hunting and foraging tools, bone and horn handicrafts,
swords, and seals. Meanwhile, the farmer house boasts such items as rice
milling utensils, wine jars, a wooden weaving loom, and men and women’s
outfits, helping visits gain an insight into the life of Muong people.
At a stilt house showing the ethnic group’s
cuisine, Binh said wild vegetable, five-colour steamed sticky rice, grilled and
steamed fish, and roasted pork are among the dishes winning tourists’ hearts.
Over the last more than 10 years, the Muong
Cultural Heritage Museum has welcomed thousands of tourists from across Vietnam
and other countries.
Apart from searching for and collecting
antiquities of the Muong culture, Binh has also invested efforts in maintaining
and popularising the group’s folk songs, especially gong pieces – a
long-standing part of the Muong people’s life.
The artisan has taught the Muong gong playing
skills and folk music to learners from various localities, from Hoa Binh,
Hanoi, Phu Tho, Thanh Hoa in the north to Lam Dong and Dak Lak provinces in the
Central Highlands. He is also the head of the Muong village’s artisan group at
the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism in Hanoi’s Son Tay
town./.
Once a vibrant part of the daily life for the Muong ethnic group in Hoa Binh province, traditional Muong singing styles such as "thuong rang bo meng” and "hat dup giao duyen” had faded over time. Today, local authorities and communities are working to restore and celebrate this cultural art form, recognising its value in preserving the group’s heritage.
Gau Tao Festival, one of the most important traditional festivals of the Mong ethnic minority group in Mai Chau district was held at the Pa Co stadium in Pa Co commune on January 11.
The ancient stone engravings dating back thousands of years in Suoi Co valley in My Thanh commune, Lac Son district, used to astonished domestic archaeologists. What their meaning is and what message they convey are the questions to which scientists are seeking answers.
Preserving and promoting unique cultural identities of ethnic communities in Hoa Binh province is considered a crucial task amid in the international integration trend.
More than just a cultural and historical attraction, the Muong Cultural Heritage Museum is playing a vital role in fostering sustainable tourism in the Northwestern region of Vietnam, particularly in Hoa Binh province. It stands as a model for the emerging trend of "responsible tourism," cleverly blending the preservation of cultural heritage with community economic development, raising awareness of Muong ethnic cultural values while promoting green tourism and sustainable growth.
The provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism on December 24 organised a conference to report on the results of collecting, researching, restoring, and preserving "Bi doi”, a musical instrument of the airophonic family and a traditional instrument of the Muong ethnic people in Da Bac district.
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