Village culture is the origin and soul of Vietnamese culture. Village culture contributes to creating unique and special values for each region. However, today, under the profound impact and influence of the industrialization, modernization and international integration process, the land and people in Ha Nam in particular, in Vietnam in general, are changing every day, every hour; village culture and the perspective on village culture are therefore also changing. So, how to preserve and promote the precious values of village culture in modern life; especially in the construction of new rural areas (NTM) and advanced NTM is an issue that needs attention today.
From the perspective of traditional village and village culture
According to research documents on Vietnamese culture, Vietnamese villages have long been built into certain social organizations. The appearance of these social organizations is formed according to the tasks, stipulated in the village's covenant and customs. The village's covenant is a valuable cultural heritage, playing an important role in the stability and development of the village. In each region of the country, the village has its own characteristics. From there, family culture and human personality are formed in each region, with different features. Due to the need to live, organize production, and cope with natural disasters and enemies, villagers have united together into a strong community. The village is both a place where people live, work, produce and organize all cultural activities, and at the same time, a place to consolidate clan and neighborhood relationships. Village culture is a system of values formed over many generations, a tool and means to organize and maintain all activities of residents. Villagers live with great affection. Neighborhood and neighborly relationships bind people to the lifestyle and discipline of the village.
As Mr. Ngo Thanh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture - Sports and Tourism, Chairman of the Ha Nam Literature and Arts Association said: The typical highlights of traditional village culture must first mention the image: village pagoda, village communal house; religious life, beliefs; customs, habits; behavior... Village covenant is the village's law recorded in writing, which is mandatory for village members to comply with. It regulates the mechanism and method of operation, customs and habits, internal behavioral relationships in the village. Village covenant binds members in a relatively close and voluntary community, dependent on each other, subject to the regulations and management of the village...
According to scholar Tran Quoc Vuong: "Traditional Vietnamese culture is essentially a village culture" (Basis of Vietnamese Culture, Education Publishing House, Hanoi 2007). Researcher Phan Dai Doan emphasized: "Village culture has extremely rich content. Many times the village has dissolved but the village culture continues to exist for a long time" (Vietnamese Village - Some economic-social-cultural issues, Social Science Publishing House, Hanoi 2001). In fact, the elements and components of village culture do not exist separately but blend together to create the identity and characteristics of the village community; at the same time, village culture is always moving and developing, the next generations always have the consciousness to create and promote traditional cultural capital to suit modern life.
Promoting village cultural values in modern life
The industrialization and modernization of the country, along with the trend of international economic integration, has created a clear change in social life, including village culture. Discussing this issue, comrade Le Xuan Huy, Secretary of Binh Luc District Party Committee, commented: Changing village culture to suit modern life is inevitable. That is the movement and change of the village cultural picture as well as the change of elements and aspects in the overall cultural life of the village. In the context of industrialization, modernization and urbanization that are increasingly deep and rapid as today, the changes in the cultural picture of the village are taking place more and more strongly. That is the change from lifestyle, way of living, creating and enjoying culture, to the way of thinking, thinking, value system, customs and practices. A process of cultural structural transformation is taking place due to profound changes in economic and social life, with a tendency to assimilate and interweave old and new elements, agriculture and industry, tradition and modernity...
According to the report of the Provincial People's Committee, in 2023, the urbanization rate will reach 48.1%, an increase of 10% compared to 2022. In the economic structure, the proportion of industry and construction will reach 68.5%, services will reach 24.2%, agriculture, forestry and fishery will reach 7.3%; average income per capita will reach 96.3 million VND, an increase of 11.2% compared to 2022; the poverty rate will decrease to 2.49%; the rate of population participating in health insurance will reach 93.2%; the rate of rural households using clean water and hygienic water according to new criteria will reach 99%; the rate of rural consumers using technology products and digital services with internet connection will reach over 90% and continue to increase. In addition to entertainment activities, people's health care and enjoyment of life are also increasingly being paid attention to.
Looking at the reality of the rural picture of Ha Nam over the past year, it can be affirmed that: As economic life has increasingly improved, people in the villages have more conditions to pay attention to preserving and maintaining relics as well as restoring village festivals. The relics have been invested in, renovated and renewed, playing an important role in the spiritual life of the community. Traditional cultural activities, especially traditional festivals, have been continued and maintained, becoming more and more unique with the funding for organization and human resources participating being constantly enhanced and socialized.
In addition to traditional rituals and games, village festivals are also supplemented with many new activities that breathe contemporary life, entertainment games, sports activities, and unique arts. Along with the effort to continue and preserve the value and meaning of village festivals, people in rural villages are increasingly returning to traditional religious practices when economic conditions and material life have improved significantly compared to before. Changes in administrative boundaries in recent years have created an interweaving and interweaving of village and urban cultures... Many rural villages today have a mixture and interweaving of agriculture and industry, tradition and modernity, rural and urban.
The process of urbanization and economic restructuring in rural areas has been and is strongly changing the landscape of the countryside. However, besides positive factors such as: the appearance of the countryside has become more civilized and modern with the electricity system, roads, schools, and stations being invested in, renovated, and upgraded, the traditional spatial structure of the countryside is being changed arbitrarily. Many cultural heritages in the countryside are at risk of fading away, even disappearing. While new cultural institutions have not really gained a foothold in the minds of the people, traditional cultural institutions have been lost. Therefore, in order to preserve and develop the good traditional cultural values of the village community in modern life, it is necessary to have specific, practical, and appropriate orientations, investment policies, and cultural development mechanisms; the shared responsibility of both the political system and the people.
Minh Thu
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