Hai An - A bright spot in building grassroots cultural life

From the awareness that culture is an important driving force to promote socio-economic development, in recent years, the Party Committee and People's Committee of Hai An commune (Hai Hau) have focused on leading and directing the promotion of movements and campaigns to build advanced new rural areas (NTM), model NTM "bright - green - clean - beautiful for sustainable development" in the period of 2020-2025; in which, focusing on the work of building grassroots cultural life, promoting the effectiveness of the cultural - sports institution system, developing models of "Culture, arts (VHVN), physical education and sports (TDTT)".

Promoting cultural traditions, in the construction of advanced new rural areas and model new rural areas, the Party Committee and the Hai An commune government have chosen culture as an outstanding field to implement. The development of models of "Vietnamese culture, grassroots sports", the establishment of art and sports teams and clubs for the masses have achieved positive results; the Vietnamese culture, sports movements of the commune are increasingly developing in the community, contributing to improving the health and cultural and spiritual life of the people. The unique feature in the traditional culture of Hai An commune is the development of art forms such as: Cheo singing club, An Trach Temple drum festival; An Dao parish gong team; men's and women's brass bands of An Dao and An Nghia parishes..., attracting a large number of people to participate in activities. On the occasions of commemorating important historical events of the homeland, the country, the New Year, the songs and singing of amateur "artists" resound, blending with the sound of drums, gongs, and vibrant music, making the whole countryside bustling, creating a joyful and exciting atmosphere among the people. On average, every year, there are hundreds of performances from far away, to the villages, serving thousands of viewers.

Appearance of the new rural cultural residential area of Hai An commune (Hai Hau).

In Hai An, the art of Cheo singing has long become an indispensable spiritual "food" for the people. Every time the locality organizes the traditional festival of An Trach Temple, in the ancient and sacred space, the Cheo Club performs folk dances and Cheo singing, conveying in folk songs the love for the homeland, the country, and national pride. With a passion for art, in addition to Cheo singing, the club members also stage performances of ancient Cheo stories such as: "Quan Am Thi Kinh", "Thi Mau goes to the pagoda", "Truong Vien", "Tam Cam", "Gieo gio reap bao", "Quai dy en bien" ... and some Cheo scenes telling about historical events and cultural traditions of the land and people of Hai Hau homeland. Together with the Cheo Club, An Trach Temple has established a drum association of 25 members. The drum association of An Trach Temple always participates in cultural and sports events of the commune. The drum dance performances of the festival all combine beautiful costumes, synchronized and skillful movements, and majestic and vibrant sound quality. Therefore, the drum performances in Hai An always attract viewers, with many movements of drumstick dancing, turning around, changing drum positions, etc. skillfully and beautifully performed like professionals. January and August of the lunar calendar are the times when the An Trach Temple drum festival actively practices to prepare for cultural and religious activities taking place at the relic; in which, the highlight is the traditional festival at the Temple to celebrate the death anniversary of Saint Tran (August 20 of the lunar calendar). On this occasion, along with drum performances and Cheo singing, many rituals of worship, incense offering, palanquin processions and folk games such as cockfighting, climbing corn bridge, to tom diem, etc. take place at the relic such as: cockfighting, climbing corn bridge, to tom diem, etc.

The strong development of the Vietnamese Cultural Movement in Hai An is thanks to the attention of the local Party Committee and government in mobilizing resources to invest in building and perfecting the system of cultural and sports institutions in the area. The commune has built a cultural and sports center with a total area of 3,750m2; of which, the communal cultural house has an area of 620m2, the communal sports area is planned to be 3,130m2. The communal cultural house has functional rooms, auxiliary works, and synchronous and modern equipment such as: radio room, traditional room, makeup room, management room, toilet area, flower garden, garage, tables, chairs, bookcases, sound and lighting systems, outdoor sports training equipment, etc. The commune is completing the construction of an artificial turf football stadium to serve the people. From socialized funding sources, all 10 hamlets in the commune have cultural houses, and the grounds of the cultural houses are equipped with outdoor sports training equipment of 5 or more tools. The commune's cultural and sports center regularly maintains 8 cultural and sports clubs including: men's volleyball club, women's volleyball club, art club, health club, happy family club, chess club, badminton club, table tennis club with nearly 800 members participating in activities. Each year, the center organizes 6-8 performances, Vietnamese cultural festivals, and mass sports competitions. In the hamlets, the sports movement has developed with the following subjects: men's volleyball, women's volleyball, badminton, table tennis, chess, folk dance, health care, walking, cycling... attracting over 60% of the population to participate in daily practice. The establishment and maintenance of sports clubs has gathered people who love sports and actively exercise. In addition to participating in training, sports clubs are also places for people to relax and chat, thereby increasing solidarity in residential areas. Along with enthusiastically participating in sports activities, club members and residents of the hamlets also actively support the sports movement. On average, each hamlet has mobilized contributions of 20-30 million VND each year to organize exchange activities and sports competitions.

In addition to developing and replicating the models of "VHVN, TDTT", the success in building a grassroots cultural life in Hai An commune also comes from mobilizing people to carry out the movement of building "Model cultural hamlets", building advanced and model new rural areas to ensure a bright - green - clean - beautiful landscape. Notably, the commune has mobilized social resources to build a mural road of more than 1km long (from Hai An stone bridge - An Dong road to the cultural house of hamlet 5 - a model cultural construction hamlet). The mural road was carried out by more than 20 painters and art teachers inside and outside the commune with a total cost of more than 100 million VND. The themes of the murals are historical traditions, beautiful cultural festivals, relics, customs and practices of the land and people of the coastal homeland of Hai Hau. Not only recreating historical events, the simple life of the villagers, slogans promoting the construction of new rural areas, environmental protection are integrated into the content of the murals or typical landscapes of the country, which have a profound impact on each person... After many months of construction, the mural road project has been completed, contributing to encouraging and motivating people to have awareness and responsibility to join hands to build their homeland to develop more and more and convey aspirations for a new, peaceful and bright life. This is proof of the creativity of Hai An commune in building hamlet 5 into a typical "model cultural hamlet" of the district, from which it can be replicated to other hamlets in the whole commune.

To maintain and promote the achievements in building cultural life, Hai An commune continues to set goals for cultural development in parallel with socio-economic development associated with building a model new rural area. With the high determination of the entire political system and the solidarity of the people, Hai An commune strives to become a commune meeting the model new rural area standards before 2025./.

Article and photos: Khanh Dung

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