Cultural heritage is a priceless asset.

Among those cultural heritages, we cannot fail to mention the Kate Festival cultural heritage of the Cham people, which has existed for a long time and is the most unique of the Cham people following Brahmanism.

With the meaning of remembering the gods and praying for favorable weather, good crops, harmonious couples, and the growth of people and all things, on the morning of October 14, the Kate Festival 2023 of the Cham people following Brahmanism in the province was solemnly held at Po Sha Inu Tower, Phan Thiet city with the participation of a large number of Cham communities in localities in the province. The Kate Festival is not only celebrated by Cham people in Binh Thuan but also by Cham people living and working everywhere who return to reunite and gather with their families, friends and relatives. The Kate Festival has been restored by Binh Thuan province at Po Sah Inu Tower, Phu Hai ward, Phan Thiet city since 2005 and has become one of the 6 typical festivals chosen by the province to develop tourism. Not only meeting the spiritual and emotional needs of the Cham people, the Kate Festival also contributes to promoting the culture and image of Binh Thuan to domestic and international tourists. On April 4, 2022, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism decided to include the Kate Festival of the Cham people in Binh Thuan province in the list of national intangible cultural heritage. This is an important and necessary legal basis to improve the effectiveness of state management of the conservation and promotion of intangible cultural heritage values in the province in general and the Kate Festival of the Cham people in particular. At the same time, it protects the legitimate rights and interests of the Cham community in Binh Thuan province as well as organizations and individuals when researching and participating in the practice of the Kate Festival intangible cultural heritage of the Cham people, contributing to tourism development and promoting local economic - cultural - social development.

In a constantly developing society, cultural heritage in general and intangible cultural heritage in particular are places to preserve the beauty and traditional values of previous generations, and are the foundation for a nation to approach other cultures in the world without losing its national identity. In the process of cultural assimilation, many major religions in the world have entered our country in many different stages, but in our country there are still typical indigenous beliefs such as the Kate Festival, an example. These are authentic material evidences of the process of creative labor, spirituality, conquering nature, the process of building and defending the country of the entire Vietnamese people for thousands of years.

Faced with the current rapid urbanization trend along with the policy of opening up, integrating and exchanging culture with friends around the world, our country's culture has many opportunities for development but also many challenges in absorbing the quintessence of human culture on the basis of preserving and promoting traditional cultural values of the nation. With the impact of time, heritage is at risk of being lost. Faced with this situation, the problem now is the need for specific policies and actions to protect cultural heritages that have existed for generations, while at the same time nurturing, preserving, transmitting, and practicing rituals in festivals to educate future generations about awareness and responsibility in inheriting, continuing, and recognizing traditional cultural values in religious and belief activities of the community where they live. From there, we know how to appreciate, preserve and promote the good cultural values that our grandparents and ancestors have worked hard to cultivate and leave for future generations.

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