Kim Boi district has worked to preserve and promote the cultural trait of the local Muong ethnic minority group, taking them as a mission to popularise and effectively carry out the Party’s guidelines and the State’s regulations.
Artisan Bui Tien Xo is
instructing members of the Muong gong club in Thao Ca hamlet, Vinh Tien commune
how to play chieng (gong).
The district has directed competent sectors and
branches to enhance communications work to raise public awareness of policies
on preserving and promoting cultural heritage. Besides, it has paid due
attention to safeguarding traditional folk games, honouring artisans, families
and community with standout contributions to the preservation work, and promote
the restoration of traditional festivals such as Muong Dong festival, Lap
communal house festival, and Sim pagoda festival.
The culture and information bureau proposes the
district organise art performance programmes and create traditional cultural
space to preserve and develop the culture.
According to head of the bureau Nguyen Thanh Ha,
a number of practical measures have been rolled out to keep the Muong ethnic
culture alive such as arranging training classes for cultural officials and Mo
Muong artisans, debuting the club to preserve and promote Mo Muong cultural
heritage, and organising contest and festivals.
Besides, the district has listed local
intangible cultural heritage, handed the items on younger generations and
honour artisans, she said, adding the State has bestowed the artisan title on
nine folk artists, including seven Mo Muong, one Muong folk singing and one
Muong gong artist.
Meritorious artisan Bach Thi Dao in Beo hamlet,
Xuan Thuy commune, has had a strong passion for Muong folk songs since she was
a little girl. She established a Muong folk singing and gong club in 2017 with
a view to teaching local kids about the Muong tradition.
Statistics showed that there are 45 shamans in
Kim Boi district who have a great deal of knowledge and a deep insight into the
Mo Muong values. They have conducted Mo Muong rituals in line with current
regulations to preserve and promote its values.
In the coming time, Kim Boi district will
continue communications work to raise public awareness of the preservation of
the traditional values, and encourage communes and town to establish cultural
clubs and honour those who make contributions to safeguarding the local
cultural treasure.
Mo is a term referring to a profession and cultural heritage which integrates folk beliefs with folk culture and arts. Practiced at funerals and religious rituals by the Muong ethnic people, it aims to provide spiritual comfort during significant life events such as illness and death.
Hoa Binh leaves a strong impression on visitors due to the diversity in the lifestyle and cultural identities of its ethnic groups. The province is home to six main ethnic groups, with a total population of nearly 900,000. The largest group is Muong, making up 63.3% of the population, followed by Kinh with 27.73%, Thai 3.9%, Tay 2.7%, Dao 1.7%, Mong 0.52%, and other ethnic groups 1.18%. Along with the long history of the nation’s formation and defence, the province’s ethnic groups have always been united, hardworking, and determined to strive for socio-economic development. At the same time, each ethnic group displays its own unique and distinct cultural identity, contributing to a diverse, rich, and attractive cultural tapestry.
Hoa Binh province has carried out multiple programmes and initiatives to revive its cultural heritage which has gradually fallen into oblivion through the ebbs and flows of history.
The most prominent and defining feature in the prehistoric era of Hoa Binh is the Hoa Binh Culture. The Culture was first discovered in Hoa Binh. The significant prehistoric culture represents not only Vietnam but also Southeast Asia and southern China. Through excavations of cave sites in the limestone regions of Hoa Binh, French archaeologist M. Colani introduced the world to a "Stone Age in Hoa Binh province – Northern Vietnam" in 1927. On January 30, 1932, the First Congress of Far Eastern Prehistorians, held in Hanoi, officially recognised the Hoa Binh Culture.
Known as the "Land of Epic History”, Hoa Binh province, the gateway to Vietnam’s northwest, boasts a strategic location and a unique cultural tapestry woven by its ethnic minority communities.
The People's Committee of Luong Son District recently held a ceremony to receive the certificate recognizing Sau Communal House in Thanh Cao Commune as a provincial-level historical and cultural site.
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