Van Ho - the land of fragrant flowers and sweet fruits all year round. This place is home to many ethnic groups with their own unique cultures. In particular, the Mong people are preserving their unique culture with the "Tha Khenh" dance, also known as "Nhanh Khen" which is always bustling, passionate, and inviting to visitors from near and far.
Khen is an indispensable musical instrument and an important part of the unique cultural life of the Mong people. In the past, the Mong people often danced with the Khen at funerals, death anniversaries, and sent the deceased to their resting place. Nowadays, Khen dancing is also used to perform in festivals, cultural and artistic activities in the locality. The sound of the Khen carries the sound of the vast and majestic highlands, the simplicity, purity and openness deeply penetrate the souls of the Mong people, familiar and attached to them from birth to death.
Mr. Trang A Lu, Head of the Hua Tat Village Panpipe Dance Club, Van Ho Commune, 66 years old this year, is a person with a lot of knowledge about Mong Panpipes. Mr. Lu shared: In the past, young men who were good at making Panpipes, blowing Panpipes and dancing beautifully would have many girls who loved them. Panpipe dancers are required to have jumping steps, flipping steps, and turning steps to create beautiful choreography. Panpipe dancing includes many movements, such as: Jumping with the feet, turning and changing places, turning in place. However, the basics are bending the back, turning and tossing the heels in place... The faster the panpipe dancer spins, the more skillful he is. The sound of the panpipe makes people forget the difficulties and hardships after a year of hard work, contributing to strengthening friendship, love, and neighborly love.
Mr. Trang A Lu (the person on the stage) performs the panpipe dance.
Along with the cheerful sound of the flute, the dancing steps of the boys and girls are indispensable. The flute player will play songs with cheerful melodies, reflecting the life of labor, production, praising love between couples, and close friendship. The participants join together in an inner and outer circle; they dance around the flute players, each step bouncing and turning to the rhythm of the flute. The graceful girls hold thin veils or small colorful umbrellas and join in the dance, their floral skirts fluttering to the rhythm of their steps...
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lu, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Van Ho district, said: The district always pays attention to preserving and promoting the traditional cultural values of ethnic groups in general and preserving and developing the art of the Mong panpipe in particular. In particular, it focuses on promoting the role of artisans, village elders, and village chiefs in spreading cultural features to their descendants, contributing to the preservation of traditional cultural features. Every year, the district maintains the organization of ethnic cultural festivals, Mong panpipe dancing competitions, and opens classes to teach Mong panpipe art to students... Thereby, creating a playground for generations to have the opportunity to express, exchange, learn, and preserve panpipe dances.
Panpipe dance performance at Chieng Di 2 market, Van Ho commune.
It is even more joyful when the traditional cultural values of the Mong ethnic group in Van Ho are becoming tourism products serving tourists. Notably, "A Chu Homestay" of the Mong ethnic group Trang A Chu - a pioneer in community tourism in Hua Tat village, Van Ho commune, has a modern and unique style but still imbued with the unique culture of the Mong ethnic group in the Northwest highlands. Tourists like "A Chu Homestay" because when coming here, they can immerse themselves in a cultural space with strong identity, participate in activities to experience the daily life of the Mong ethnic group.
Mr. Trang A Chu shared: To help tourists better understand the life of the Mong ethnic group in Van Ho, we organize many activities, such as: Painting beeswax on fabric, pounding rice cakes, pounding rice, playing traditional games... Especially, introducing and performing the Khen playing and Khen dancing organized by the villagers themselves, both preserving and promoting the artistic value of the Mong Khen and creating unique products to serve tourists.
Preserving and promoting traditional cultural values associated with tourism is an effective direction in Van Ho. Along with that, Mong ethnic people, especially the younger generations, need to actively study, preserve and promote the unique and special values of the art of Khen, so that the sound of the Mong Khen will live forever.
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