How special are the four newly announced national intangible cultural heritages?

The list of national intangible cultural heritages has just been officially signed and announced by Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung with 4 heritages in An Giang, Hanoi, and Lao Cai.

These unique heritages not only carry the traditional, folk and regional identities of the localities... but also represent spiritual culture with its own meanings.

Unique heritage

Minister Nguyen Van Hung decided to include the folk performing art "The art of playing Chhay-dam drums of the Khmer people in Tri Ton district and Tinh Bien town, An Giang province" in the List of national intangible cultural heritage.

The Khmer community has many dances that represent the national culture, of which the Chhay-dam drum dance is a familiar dance that can be performed from the stage to festivals such as Chol Chnam Thmay, Dolta, Ok Om Bok... For the Khmer, the sound of the drum and the Chhay-dam dance not only symbolize joy and peace but also help make festivals and community activities more exciting.

A type of drum covered with one side of leather, the drum body is made from a hollowed-out old areca tree trunk. The Chhay-dam drum has a large, bulging drum head covered with buffalo or dried python skin; the smaller drum tail is connected to a metal drum stand. Depending on whether the person is an adult or a child, a large or small drum is used. Each Chhay-dam dance performance usually has 4-6 Chhay-dam drums, two Cuol (gongs) along with Chul (cymbals) and Krap (seng drums).

To perform the difficult techniques in the Chhay-dam dance, the dancer must practice a lot to have good health, flexibility and grace in each hand and foot movement. (Photo: An Hieu/VNA)

The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism also decided to include the traditional festival "Tong Goi Boat Cheo Singing Festival in Tan Hoi Commune, Dan Phuong District, Hanoi City" in the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

This unique land rowing song of “Xu Doai white clouds fly” is a unique form of folk performance in Vietnam, performed on land with boats.

All the songs in Cheo Tau praise the merits of Thanh Hoang, national heroes, love for the homeland, human feelings... This can be said to be a unique folk performance ritual when only women sing. More specifically, to learn and sing Cheo Tau, in addition to talent and passion for traditional art, the female performer must also be a virgin.

Two heritages of Lao Cai honored

In this decision, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism officially recognized two unique heritages of Lao Cai province in the list of national intangible cultural heritages: social customs and beliefs "Forest worship ritual of the Pa Di people in Muong Khuong district, Lao Cai province;" and the weaving craft of the Tay people in Nghia Do commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province.

The Pa Di people in Muong Khuong often hold a forest worship ceremony at the end of the first lunar month every year, in the village's forbidden forest with offerings of products produced by the villagers themselves.

Like other ethnic minorities in the highlands, the Pa Di people (a small group of the Tay ethnic group) in Muong Khuong district, Lao Cai province also keep for themselves a forbidden forest and call it a sacred forest.

Pa Di people gather after the forest worship ceremony. (Photo: Lao Cai Newspaper)

Sacred forests are extremely important to the Pa Di community. They believe that forest gods, tree gods, and stream gods are the ones who help drive away wild animals, provide wood for building houses, and provide drinking water... Therefore, they sanctify the forest with the intention of voluntarily protecting the gods who support the village.

The Pa Di people protect the forest as if it were their own home, so they never cut down trees or break branches. From a young age, Pa Di children are educated by their grandparents and parents and taught the customary laws of responsibility and duty towards the sacred forest.

For this reason, the Pa Di people’s forest worship ritual has become a unique social and religious practice, demonstrating the harmonious relationship between humans and nature. The ritual not only has spiritual elements but is also an opportunity to connect the community, educate the younger generation about environmental protection and preserving national cultural identity.

This national intangible cultural heritage list also recognizes “The weaving craft of the Tay people in Nghia Do commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province.”

Thanks to the traditional weaving craft of the Tay people in Nghia Do, natural materials have been turned by the skillful hands of local women into many essential products for the decoration and life of the Tay ethnic people here.

The weaving craft of the Tay people in Nghia Do commune has been officially listed as a national intangible cultural heritage. (Photo: Vu Son)

This traditional weaving craft has contributed to creating many highly applicable products in people's daily life, considered a unique cultural feature, imbued with national identity. In their daily life, the Tay people often choose weaving items for decoration, production and today also create products for tourism to preserve and promote the traditional handicraft of their people.

Thus, with the four national intangible cultural heritages that have just been officially recognized, leaders at all levels where the heritages are located are required by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to carry out state management in accordance with the provisions of the law on cultural heritage within the scope of their duties and powers./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/bon-di-san-van-hoa-phi-vat-the-quoc-gia-vua-duoc-cong-bo-dac-biet-the-nao-post1038608.vnp