• Land of festivals and cultural heritage
  • Festival identity of ethnic groups - Valuable resources for tourism in Ca Mau
  • Ca Mau honors Khmer culture at Ok Om Bok Festival

Compared to other localities, Ca Mau has a large population of Chinese people and this is truly a valuable resource for tourism development. In particular, folk cultural festivals have created a unique identity and need to be invested in and exploited in depth. As well as, properly assessing the importance of folk festivals for tourism development. Because festivals are a form of cultural activity with a high community character, have an important position, a great influence in social life, and bear a strong mark of traditional identity and culture.

The Chinese community's sacrificial rituals during the Ky Yen festival.

In which, the ceremony is placed first with almost mandatory traditional rituals and after the ceremony is the festival which is an indispensable part of the content. It is a form of community cultural activity with many fun and entertainment activities such as: art performances, dancing Lion and dragon dances, folk games... In particular, the festival reflects the activities, aspirations and talents of the people in many aspects of social life and through the festival the people's intelligence, morality, emotions and aesthetic tendencies are revealed...

The custom of offering paper offerings of the Chinese community shows filial piety.

One of the most unique folk festivals of the Chinese community in Ca Mau that attracts many domestic and international visitors is the Ky Yen festival and the Thanksgiving festival. This festival reflects gratitude to ancestors, conveys the desire for happiness and fun after hard working days, and prays for national peace and prosperity, favorable weather and wind. Or the Thanh Minh festival and Vu Lan festival demonstrate filial piety, community cohesion and deep humanity through the custom of offering ten-body horse offerings, setting up vegetarian altars to save the souls of soldiers, attracting hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign visitors to experience, have fun and practice cultural beliefs...

Praying for the dead in the Vu Lan ceremony of the Chinese community.

In practice, combining tourism development with exploiting cultural values ​​from folk festivals is an inevitable trend. To make a breakthrough, the tourism industry must effectively utilize this unique resource. Among many methods of promoting culture, tourism is considered the shortest and most effective way, because tourism activities help visitors directly experience, immerse themselves in festivals and fully feel the local cultural values.

Traditional musical instrument ensemble during the Lantern Festival of the Chinese community.

As tourism develops, trade and service activities also increase, creating a significant source of revenue for the budget. This is an important basis for the locality to reinvest, preserve and continue to promote the cultural values ​​of folk festivals. At the same time, exploiting festivals associated with tourism contributes to the sustainable preservation of the traditional cultural identity of ethnic groups in Ca Mau in general and the Chinese community in particular.

Lu Lam Hy

Source: https://baocamau.vn/le-hoi-nguoi-hoa-cau-noi-van-hoa-diem-nhan-du-lich-ca-mau-a124035.html