(HBO) – In traditional festivals, especially those organised after the lunar New Year, the presence of traditional dishes for display or selling has become a familiar image. It can be said that traditional cuisine has been existing and promoted in local festivals.
At
Muong Bi Khai ha (going down the field) festival, food stalls always draw a
crowd of many visitors.
The
Muong Bi Khai ha (going down the field) festival is an address visitors cannot miss
if wanting to learn about the Muong ethnic group’s culture. At this year’s
festival, each town and commune in Tan Lac district had a booth displaying its
specialties, in which dishes bearing Muong people’s cultural characteristics
always attract a lot of visitors.
On
the path to the festival, bamboo-tube rice, grilled fish and hot vegetable
steamers left strong impressions on visitors. Do Nhan commune brought its
attractive traditional dishes to this year’s festival, including grilled "dam
xanh” fish, steamed vegetables with 18 different kinds, steamed stream fish,
and seven-colour sticky rice. For Muong people, steaming and grilling have long
been the two most typical ways of cooking. They also like eating forest
vegetables with bitter taste or cooking meat with sour bamboo shoots and "la
lom” – a typical kind of leaf of the Muong people. Those typical dishes were
easily found in Muong Bi Khai ha festival. Steamed or grilled fish, chicken
meat fried with sour bamboo shoots, mixed vegetables, and bamboo-tube rice were
seen in almost all booths. In addition, many specialties in the mountainous
region, including frog, squirrel, and mouse, were also sold in the festival.
The
booths were busy at noon. The space under the bamboo canopy was an ideal place
for visitors to relax and enjoy traditional dishes of the Muong people./.
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.
Recognising the importance of cultural heritage preservation in protecting and promoting the value system of Vietnamese culture, and serving socio-economic development in the new period, Party committees and local administrations in Hoa Binh province have identified it as a key task in the cultural development strategy. The province has been making efforts in mobilising resources, creating consensus among people and engaging ethnic communities in preserving and promoting cultural identity.
Hoa Binh province has captured growing attention both domestically and internationally for its distinctive cultural heritage and rich history. Most notably, it has been renowned for its famous Hoa Binh culture, considered the cradle of ancient Vietnamese civilisation. Looking ahead to significant milestones in 2025 and the 140th anniversary of province establishment in 2026, Hoa Binh Newspaper presents a comprehensive overview of the province's development across economic, social, cultural, tourism, and security domains.
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