Han Nom heritage opens up Gia Lai's cultural history

(GLO)- There are cultural sediments lying dormant in old royal decrees, land contracts covered with dust of time or ancient funeral orations recited at village communal houses. In Gia Lai, this treasure of Han Nom heritage is gradually being awakened, contributing to the cultural history of the highland region.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Van, former Director of the Provincial Museum, said: “Over the past 50 years, we have devoted a lot of effort to preserving and promoting the cultural values ​​of local ethnic groups such as the Jrai and Bahnar. But there is still a gap that has not received due attention, which is the culture of the Kinh people in Gia Lai .”

Land purchase and sale documents in Han-Nom script during the Nguyen Dynasty - a valuable source of documents opening the door to the past. Photo: HBT

An Khe is confirmed by researchers as the area where Kinh people settled earliest in the Central Highlands. It was during the period from the late 19th century to the early 20th century (when the Nguyen Dynasty promoted land reclamation and Vietnamese people were brought to the highlands to work on plantations) that a series of new villages were formed.

Along with that was the birth of communal houses and temples to worship gods and those who had contributed to reclaiming and establishing villages.

“In these religious institutions, handbooks, land documents, and Han Nom documents preserve many valuable documents. However, for many years, due to the lack of human resources who can read and understand Han Nom, we have been almost cut off from exploiting this archive. Restoring and seriously researching the Han Nom heritage is an urgent task,” said Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Van.

In reality, there are no longer any people who can read ancient texts, or very few. Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Van shared: “When we were making the dossier on the Tay Son Thuong Dao relic in the late 80s of the last century, reading the parallel sentences and horizontal lacquered boards was also difficult because there was a lack of people who had a thorough understanding. Interpretation was only at a relative level.”

According to a survey by Dr. Luu Hong Son and his colleagues when conducting the project "Preserving and promoting the value of Han Nom heritage in Gia Lai province", Han Nom heritage here has a history of about 250 years, mainly associated with the Kinh community migrating to the Central Highlands from the end of the 18th century onwards.

During the field survey, the research team collected about 2,000 units of documents and artifacts with Han Nom scripts still preserved at 280 public and private establishments, from communal houses, temples, pagodas, private homes to tombs, scattered in localities in the province. Most of the documents clearly state the names of ancient places, some documents provide information on local social organizations and the scale of ancient villages. These are vivid evidence of the process of land accumulation and village establishment.

However, documentary heritage is facing the risk of being lost due to lack of preservation conditions, lack of knowledgeable and interested people, and lack of systematic and large-scale research projects and topics.

The Han Nom exhibition held at the Provincial Museum contributes to bringing this documentary heritage closer to the public. Photo: Ba Tinh

After the 2024 scientific conference on Han Nom heritage which was highly appreciated by experts, the Provincial Museum is opening an exhibition to introduce more than 100 documents and artifacts and more than 300 photos of Han Nom heritage in the province, showing the historical and cultural process of the locality from the early 19th century to the present.

This is also the first time in Gia Lai that an exhibition of Han Nom documentary heritage has taken place - an activity under the scientific topic "Preserving and promoting the value of Han Nom heritage in Gia Lai province" chaired by Dr. Luu Hong Son.

The Han Nom documentary heritage is not actually a dead heritage. They are always present in human life in different ways and aspects. From parallel sentences hung in communal houses and temples, to funeral orations read in rituals; from genealogies in clans to tombstones in cemeteries; from altars to the God of Wealth and the Kitchen God to flower pots, teapots, and antiques displayed in every family...

It is this liveliness that makes Han Nom heritage not only valuable for preservation but also the key to decoding the history of residents, cultural beliefs, village establishment models, customs, beliefs as well as the traditional social structure of the Kinh people in the new land.

Currently, many localities are merging and renaming villages and communes in the direction of restoring old place names as a way to return to the roots. Here, the Han Nom heritage is historical evidence with scientific and high reliability, helping us consider when choosing new names for places. Because a place name is not only a name but also a place to preserve cultural memories, history, and traditions of a land, a community.

Over the centuries, these place names, besides existing on maps or administrative documents, are also deeply imprinted in people's minds.

Sourcehttps://baogialai.com.vn/di-san-han-nom-khai-mo-lich-su-van-hoa-gia-lai-post320346.html