Preserving and promoting cultural identity through skillful mass mobilization

The fishing festival is a space that brings together many unique traditional cultural and artistic values, expressing the spirituality and beliefs of the coastal fishing community. Photo: DAC MANH

At the beginning of the year, many localities in Da Nang organize fishing festivals. Among them, the fishing festival in Son Tra district, directed by Mr. Cao Van Minh, Chairman of the Nai Hien Dong Ward Fisheries Union, is always considered a large-scale and well-organized festival. As someone who has been involved in traditional festival activities for many years, Mr. Minh collects, researches, and directly participates in organizing fishing festivals.

From practice, he realized that the fishing festival is a space that converges many unique traditional cultural and artistic values, expressing the spirituality and beliefs of the coastal fishing community. Those values need to be systematized to pass on to the next generation. With that passion, Mr. Minh compiled and completed the book "Nai Hien Dong coastal village culture", fully recording the rituals and ceremonies in the fishing festival; funeral orations, parallel sentences, cheo plays, ba trao singing, coastal folk songs, etc.

“Each ritual in the festival must be performed precisely and in the right order to show the fishermen’s respect for the sea and to ‘understand’ their prayers,” Mr. Minh shared. According to him, it is necessary to invest properly and have a team of scriptwriters and directors who understand marine culture to gradually professionalize the fishing festival, both preserving spiritual values and connecting with the tourism industry to attract domestic and foreign tourists. The festival is not only a space for cultural activities, but also an opportunity to promote folk art forms such as hat ba trao, bai choi, tuong, ho khoan, traditional boat racing, etc. This is also a great source of encouragement for fishermen to confidently go out to sea and stick to the sea. Vice Chairman of Son Tra District People’s Committee Huynh Van Hung acknowledged that fisherman Cao Van Minh, although not yet an elder, has a lot of experience and is a person who understands and is passionate about the cultural identity of the fishing village.

In Hoa Vang district, village culture has long been the foundationfor educating traditions, ethics, and lifestyles for the younger generation. Many village festivals are maintained and held in early spring every year, such as Tuy Loan village festival, Cam Ne village festival, Qua Giang village festival, etc. At the same time, typical festivals of the Co Tu ethnic group such as the oath-taking ceremony and the new rice celebration are also restored and held annually, creating a space for cultural activities to connect the community.

In Hoa Chau commune, the Phong Nam village shepherd procession festival is a typical example of the successful restoration of traditional festivals. These activities attract a large number of people to participate, contributing to the dissemination of cultural values and educating the younger generation about traditions, ethics and village lifestyle. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Quang,

Head of the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department of Hoa Vang District Party Committee, said: “The participation of the community creates conditions for cultural values to not only be preserved but also spread widely. Traditional occupations and folk performances are also being restored, becoming unique features that create attraction for community tourism.” In particular, the district is implementing a project to build a “Characteristic Cultural Village” in Bo Ban village (Hoa Phong commune) and Phong Nam village (Hoa Chau commune), aiming to link cultural preservation with new rural development and sustainable tourism.

According to Mr. Quang, this is not only a model of socio -economic development, but also a solution to preserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage associated with the indigenous community. The role of the people is a key factor. They are not only cultural subjects but also those who implement and spread values. To promote effectiveness, Party committees and authorities at all levels need to strengthen community education, raise awareness of the significance of preserving culture, protecting the living environment and developing the economy in a sustainable direction.

“Cultural education and communication programs need to be organized regularly, while encouraging people to participate in planning and managing cultural spaces. This not only ensures compliance with reality but also improves monitoring effectiveness, contributing to increasing consensus and self-awareness in implementing cultural development policies at the grassroots level,” said Mr. Quang.

The above practices show that skillful mass mobilization has become one of the effective methods to preserve and promote traditional cultural values in the context of rapid and sustainable urban development. By mobilizing the active and voluntary participation of the people, festivals, relics, folk arts and traditional craft villages are preserved vividly, deeply, and closely associated with daily life. Skillful mass mobilization also contributes to promoting the harmonious integration of traditional cultural values into modern life. This is a sustainable solution, creating a foundation for the city's cultural and social development in an inclusive, humane and sustainable direction.

STRONG

Source: https://baodanang.vn/channel/5414/202505/giu-gin-phat-huy-ban-sac-van-hoa-bang-dan-van-kheo-4006446/