Mother Goddess Worship Heritage Enters Young Creativity

The project “Mother Goddess Worship Heritage” implemented by a group of students in Ho Chi Minh City is opening a new approach to the Mother Goddess Worship belief - a heritage recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Through music, technology and contemporary art, the group of young people bring the national heritage closer to Gen Z with multi-sensory, standard and easy-to-understand experiences.

Talk show "Where does it come from?" with Dr. - artisan Nguyen Duc Hien (second from right)

Touching tradition

Sharing the reason for choosing the Mother Goddess Worship belief for the project, Ta Hieu Lam (representative of the project team with members Tran Phuong Thao, Nguyen Nhat Gia Han, Dinh Mai Khanh, all students majoring in Multimedia Communication Management,FPT University, Ho Chi Minh City) said that the team wanted to introduce a heritage with cultural depth but there is a gap with young people in Ho Chi Minh City. "Many young people know but do not understand, have seen images but have not really contacted with emotions," Hieu Lam said.

Mother Goddess Worship - the Vietnamese people's internal belief, honoring women, promoting gratitude and roots, is a rich cultural material but not easy to access if only looking through fragmented images on the internet. Young people have made efforts to create a space where young people can understand correctly and fully feel the heritage in the way of their generation.

The project's series of activities is designed according to an experiential journey: the exhibition "Upstream, who else?" (recently held at PARC MALL, No. 547 - 549 Ta Quang Buu, Chanh Hung Ward). Using light, incense scent, newly processed Chau Van sounds, and 2D mapping technology to create a simulated space, recreating the feeling of standing in front of the altar - the tranquility, warmth and humanity, which is the core of Mother Worship; the conversation "Where did it come from?", where young people dialogue with experts, decoding the cultural and historical aspects of the belief in a proper and easy-to-understand way.

Here, young people can also experience a set of souvenir products inspired by familiar symbols of the Mother Goddess Worship heritage associated with everyday items such as key chains, lanyards, accessory scarves, etc. And especially, the MV Buoc, combining Chau Van material with modern music, conveys the message of inner light and faith supporting people on the journey of maturity, the humanistic spirit throughout Mother Goddess Worship.

Creativity and responsibility

Working on a project about beliefs, the young people determined from the beginning that creativity must go hand in hand with responsibility. Mother Goddess Worship is a sacred space, with strict rules, structures and symbols. Therefore, the group always adheres to three principles: correct - sufficient - not wrong in essence.

The group was directly advised by Dr. Nguyen Duc Hien, an artist with over 20 years of research on Mother Goddess Worship. All academic information is based on official sources from UNESCO, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and field data. Just one substandard detail, from costumes, lighting layout to descriptive words, can create a misunderstanding about the heritage. Therefore, every element in the project is compared and verified with experts.

“Mother worship is not just a ritual or a brilliant image. The core is gratitude to ancestors, gratitude to saints and the spirit of elevating women. You have innovated to suit young people, but do not let those values ​​deviate,” Dr. - artisan Nguyen Duc Hien reminded.

During the implementation process, the group conducted many online surveys, conducted direct interviews and recorded typical misunderstandings of young people of the same generation. The most prominent is the belief that Mother Goddess Worship only worships female goddesses (the Tam Phu - Tu Phu system also worships many male gods such as Duc Thanh Tran or high-ranking officials); the belief that Mother Goddess Worship only exists in the Northern region, misunderstandings about the ritual of spirit mediumship... "These misunderstandings clearly reflect the group's concerns: young people do not lack interest, they just lack the right access channels", the group members shared.

Heritage, whether hundreds of years old or thousands of years old, also originates from people's lives. For heritage to continue its journey with contemporary life, it requires the understanding and care of the community above all... The journey of the Mother Goddess Heritage project group has just begun, but the efforts show that young people are not just "hyphens" - they are the ones who continue to write the story of the nation's heritage.

“Gen Z possesses many advantages: aesthetic sensitivity, creativity, technological thinking and open-mindedness. Therefore, when we started, we chose the phrase “Understand heritage - live values” as the spiritual slogan for the project. Because only when understood correctly, heritage can continue to be lit up in the lives of young people today,” said Ta Hieu Lam, representative of the Mother Goddess Heritage project group.

HONG DUONG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/di-san-tho-mau-buoc-vao-sang-tao-tre-post827181.html