A cultural event of ethnic groups living in Bac Giang province’s Luc Ngan district. (Photo: mic.gov.vn) Bac Giang (VNA) – The northern province of Bac Giang will carry out a number of projects to preserve and promote the fine traditional cultural values of ethnic minority groups in the locality in 2023, according to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (DoCST).
The province will invest in the conservation of prominent cultural traditions in Bac Hoa village (Tan Son commune, Luc Ngan district), and Mau village (Tay Yen Tu town, Son Dong district), and the restoration of several special national relic sites of ethnic minorities in the province namely Thien Thai cave in Yen The district’s Hong Ky commune, Am Vai pagoda in Luc Ngan district’ Nam Duong commune, Bao Loc communal house in Luc Nam district’s Bao Son commune, and Dong Thinh communal house in Luc Nam district’s Tam Di commune.
There are also plans to assist the building of cultural and sports facilities in ethnic minority villages and mountainous areas, conduct surveys and studies of ethnic minority cultural heritage with a view to building a database.
The province will implement projects to preserve intangible cultural items of ethnic minority groups such as Chua Pagoda Festival of Dao ethnic and Then singing festival of Tay ethnic group in An Lac commune, Son Dong district, to serve tourism.
Training courses will be held to foster professional skills, along with cultural exchanges and folk festivals to highlight the traditional culture of ethnic minority groups.
According to the DoCST, attention will be paid to researching, collecting and optimising folklore values of ethnic minority groups in the locality, including restoring and preserving ethnic languages and scripts, studying and gathering documents and artifacts on ethnic minority cultures, particularly books and ancient documents.
Focus will be on detecting and honouring artisans who have contributed to popularising ethnic literature and cultures through songs, stories, poetry or folk arts such as cheo (traditional opera) or tuong (classical drama).
The province will provide financial assistance to developing tourist attraction in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, including community tourism in Son Dong district’s An Lac commune and Tay Yen Tu town.
Bac Giang is a mountainous province located in the Northeast region, with a terrain combining mountains, midlands and plains. In addition to the Kinh people, Bac Giang is also home to 45 ethnic groups including six main ones namely Nung, Tay, San Diu, Hoa, San Chay and Dao. There are 257,258 ethnic minorities in the locality which made up 14.26% of its population. Four districts with a large number of ethnic minorities are Son Dong, Luc Ngan, Luc Nam, and Yen The.
The province is a land of long history and culture with nearly 800 local festivals, including nine listed as national intangible cultural heritage. They are the Tho Ha festival in Viet Yen district, Yen The festival in the district of the same name, Y Son festival in Hiep Hoa district, Suoi Mo Temple festival in Luc Nam district, Vinh Nghiem Pagoda festival in Yen Dung district, Vong Communal House festival in Tan Yen district, Bo Da Pagoda festival in Viet Yen district, Tien Luc festival in Lang Giang district, and Van village mud ball wrestling festival in Viet Yen district.
The province is also home to many UNESCO-recognised intangible cultural heritages such as ‘quan ho’ (love duet), ‘ca tru’ (ceremonial singing), ‘then’ singing of Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic people, and practices related to the belief in the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms.
In mountainous districts, the cultural identities of local ethnic minority groups are still preserved through various types of traditional folk arts such as the ‘Sinh ca’ singing of Cao Lan ethnic group, ‘Cnang coo’ singing of San Chi ethnic group, ‘Soonghao’ singing of Nung ethnic group, and ‘Soong Co’ singing of San Diu ethnic tribe, of which ‘Sinh ca’ and ‘Cnang coo” have been recognised as national intangible cultural heritage./.
