Preserving the cultural values ​​of Mo Muong

Mo Muong is a folk performance activity expressed in rituals associated with the spiritual life of the Muong people. The space for organizing performance activities and Mo words takes place in community life and each family organizes a ritual. Over time, the opportunity to practice and preserve the unique cultural values ​​of Mo Muong is gradually narrowing, and solutions are needed to preserve and promote them soon.

Shaman Bui Van Minh in a house cooling ceremony of the Muong people. (Photo: Archive)

Preserving Mo Muong heritage

According to the artist and shaman Bui Van Minh, in Man hamlet, Van Son commune, Lac Son district, Hoa Binh province, Mo Muong is a folk performance activity expressed in rituals associated with the spiritual life of the Muong people. The space for organizing performance activities and mo words takes place in community life and each family organizes a ritual.

The subjects practicing Mo Muong are the shamans, these are the people who keep the mo knowledge, know thousands of mo verses by heart and are proficient in rituals and customs, are prestigious people trusted by the community. When practicing the ritual, the shaman is the person who speaks, reads, and sings the mo verses during the ceremony.

The Muong people do not have their own written language, so the Muong's mo (prayer) songs are passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth, and are preserved and maintained through Muong folk rituals.

Mo Muong consists of three main components: mo lyrics, performance, performance environment and people performing mo, in which mo lyrics associated with the performer occupy the most important position.

Muong Mo includes many mo songs and mo passages used in specific rituals. Muong Mo has 9 genres: Mo in Funeral (Mo ma), Mo via (Mo Voai), Mo giai han, Mo xin so, Mo ngay Tet, Mo Tho cong tho dia, Mo doi chopsticks, Mo Mat nha, Mo Mu.

Nowadays, Mo Muong is mainly used in funerals or rituals to pray for health and peace of the Muong people.

Muong people often use Mo in rituals.

According to statistics from the Department of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mo Muong heritage is currently present in 7 provinces and cities: Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, Phu Tho, Son La, Dak Lak and Hanoi.

Hoa Binh is considered the "cradle" of Muong culture. In recent years, Hoa Binh province has issued many important documents in the field of culture, in which Mo Muong is identified as one of the heritages that need to be preserved, maintained and promoted in community life, such as Directive No. 08-CT/TU, dated January 20, 2016 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee on strengthening the leadership of Party committees at all levels in the work of preserving, conserving and promoting the values ​​of Mo Muong cultural heritage (DSVH) in the province. The Provincial People's Committee has established the Mo Muong Hoa Binh Steering Committee. In 2018, the Provincial People's Committee approved and issued the Project "Preserving and promoting the values ​​of Mo Muong Hoa Binh DSVH for the period 2019 - 2025 and the following years". The province issued the Project "Protecting and Promoting the Cultural Values ​​of the Muong Ethnic Group and Hoa Binh Culture in the period of 2023 - 2030 in the province. Since then, the awareness of all levels, sectors and the social community about the cultural values ​​of Mo Muong has had many positive changes.

Ms. Quach Thi Kieu, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hoa Binh province, said: Hoa Binh province always pays attention to promoting and raising awareness of Party committees and authorities at all levels, especially leaders at all levels, sectors, localities, units and people of all walks of life about the role and profound humanistic significance of Mo Muong cultural heritage. Develop propaganda documents on the unique and typical values ​​of Mo Muong heritage to widely propagate and promote on mass media, social networks... Produce films promoting the image of Mo Muong cultural heritage to broadcast on television channels, electronic information portals, and Youtube channels to promote the value of the heritage.

In addition, Hoa Binh province encourages Mo Muong artisans to continue practicing and teaching Mo Muong heritage regularly. Consider, select and propose to recognize Mo Muong artisans as excellent artisans according to regulations; develop and promulgate appropriate mechanisms and policies to treat and honor those who have contributed to preserving, maintaining, teaching and learning Mo Muong to promptly encourage and motivate Mo artisans to pay more attention to training and building a team of successor artisans.

The Mo masters are performing Mo Muong rituals.

Currently, the Mo songs of the Muong people are passed down from one generation of Mo masters to another by word of mouth and are preserved and maintained through the folk rituals of the Muong people. Therefore, in the process of transmission, the number of Mo verses and Mo songs is no longer as complete as it was originally. In addition, the number of books and publications researching the culture of the Muong people in general and the Mo Muong cultural heritage in particular is not much. Therefore, the process of researching, disseminating and teaching the cultural heritage also encounters many difficulties.

On the other hand, the problem with Mo Muong today is the people practicing the heritage. Because, according to Meritorious Artisan, Muong ethnic culture researcher Bui Huy Vong, the number of Mo masters in the villages is decreasing, many of whom are over 80 years old. The number of people who want and are able to learn Mo is not much, because they have to memorize a large amount of Mo sentences, especially the learner must have qualities, deep understanding of Muong culture, ethics, prestige and have enough props, offerings (from the generations of fathers and grandfathers who used to practice the profession)...

Construction of Mo Muong Cultural Heritage Conservation Area

Good news for Muong cultural researchers and the Muong ethnic community, recently, the Mo Muong Cultural Heritage Conservation Space Project with an area of ​​36.02 hectares, a total investment of 50 billion VND from the Hoa Binh provincial budget for the period 2021-2025, has just been held by the People's Committee of Cao Phong district (Hoa Binh) at the groundbreaking ceremony in early January 2025.

Construction of Mo Muong Cultural Heritage Conservation Area started in Cao Phong district, Hoa Binh province.

This is an extremely necessary and urgent project, aiming to continue to preserve and promote the value of Mo Muong heritage; fully preserve the values ​​of the national cultural origin, the national spiritual cultural foundation, and overcome the risk of losing the value of the national intangible cultural heritage Mo Muong Hoa Binh.

Thereby, contributing to enhancing resources for socio-economic development, making Mo Muong heritage a unique and typical tourism product associated with exploiting the potential and developing tourism in Cao Phong district in particular and Hoa Binh province in general.

The establishment of the Mo Muong Cultural Heritage Conservation Area associated with tourism services in Hop Phong commune is one of the indispensable conditions to include Mo Muong heritage in the list submitted to the Government and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to be recorded in the list of intangible cultural heritage representing humanity.

The project will become an important step in preserving traditional culture and opening up opportunities for tourism development, promoting the unique image of Hoa Binh./.

Thanh Phong (Ethnic Newspaper)

Source: https://baophutho.vn/gin-giu-gia-tri-van-hoa-cua-mo-muong-229663.htm