Hundred years of folk beliefs
There are many documents and works by domestic and foreign researchers about the origin of Ba Chua Xu of Sam Mountain; there are many different versions about the formation of Ba Chua Xu's temple. The most popular legend among the people of Chau Doc, An Giang is: “… About 200 years ago, a group of border troublemakers came to Sam mountain. Here, they saw the statue of the Lady near the top of the mountain. They were greedy and tried to take it away, but they could only move it a short distance, so they angrily smashed and broke the statue's left arm, then they left. The villagers, with their faith, mobilized hundreds of strong people to bring the statue down the mountain to worship and preserve it, but no matter what they did, they could not move it. At that time, the Lady trampled the bronze for a woman, calling herself the Holy Mother of the Land, and told the villagers that to bring the Lady down the mountain, all they needed was 9 virgin girls to carry the statue. Indeed, when the girls came to carry it, the statue became light and moved easily. When it reached the place where the Lady's temple is located today, the statue suddenly became heavy and could not be lifted anymore. The villagers thought that the Lady wanted to stay here, so they built a temple to worship her. That day, It is the 25th day of the 4th lunar month, the villagers take this day as the Lady's Festival.
Around 1820, the Lady Temple was just a simple bamboo and leaf place, located on the low-lying land northwest of Sam Mountain (in Vinh Te village), its back facing the cliff, the main hall overlooking the village road and the vast fields. After many renovations, the temple became more and more spacious, attracting the trust of the local people. The village council took charge of managing and organizing the Via Festival, which became larger and larger. However, there were two main characters in the festival: the Angel and the human god. The Angel was the Holy Mother of the Land - a spiritual and mysterious character, existing in many legends and in the beliefs of the people. The human god Thoai Ngoc Hau was a real person, a mandarin of the Nguyen Dynasty, who had the merit of organizing the construction of roads, digging canals, expanding hamlets, developing production, protecting the border, bringing peace and prosperity to the people.
The traditional Ba Chua Xu Mountain Sam Festival has been preserved and practiced for many generations in Chau Doc, imbued with the cultural identity of the residents of the Southwest region. The main festival day is the 25th day of the 4th lunar month. Traditional worship rituals include: Ba bathing ceremony (held at 12pm on the 23rd and early morning on the 24th of the 4th lunar month); Thinh Sac ceremony (held at 3pm on the 25th of the 4th lunar month); Tuc Yet and Chau construction ceremony (held at 12pm on the 25th and early morning on the 26th of the 4th lunar month); Chanh Te ceremony (held at 4am on the 27th of the 4th lunar month); Hoi Sac ceremony (held at 3pm on the 27th of the 4th lunar month).
Photo: THANH HUNG
7 years of perseverance and dedication
With its outstanding historical and cultural values, of special significance to the community, in 2014, the Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain was listed as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (VH-TT&DL). In 2024, An Giang province solemnly held the opening ceremony, commemorating the 10th anniversary of this event. Over the past decade, in addition to raising the pride and awareness of the community in preserving and protecting the festival, An Giang province has also contributed to enhancing the value, increasing the attractiveness, attracting tourists, and creating cultural and tourism products from heritage, promoting local economic development.
But that is not the worthy end of the festival. Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Khanh Hiep informed that the construction of the dossier of the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain to submit to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for inclusion in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was raised during a meeting between Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Dang Thi Bich Lien and leaders of An Giang province in mid-2018. In June 2020, the Government Office announced the Deputy Prime Minister's opinion on the plan to prepare a dossier of Vietnam's typical intangible cultural heritage to submit to UNESCO, including the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain.
“From May 2021 to February 2022, the dossier of the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain was carried out in accordance with legal regulations. The People's Committee of An Giang province asked for appraisal opinions from the National Cultural Heritage Council; the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; continuously edited and supplemented the dossier. In December 2024, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of An Giang Provincial Party Committee Le Hong Quang led the provincial delegation to participate in defending the dossier at the 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 Convention (held in the capital Asuncion, Republic of Paraguay). Joy quickly came to An Giang, when the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain was recognized by UNESCO as a representative of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,” informed Mr. Nguyen Khanh Hiep.
Preserving and promoting identity - Connecting the future
This is the first traditional festival of the Mekong Delta region to be honored as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. “To mark this event, the locality solemnly organized the ceremony to receive the UNESCO certificate recognizing the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Festival of Ba Chua Xu in Sam Mountain as a Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; safely and thoughtfully opening the Festival of Ba Chua Xu in 2025, as a premise and an important bridge to introduce the culture, history and identity of An Giang to people at home and abroad. In the coming time, the province will continue to identify the value, research, inventory and document the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Festival of Ba Chua Xu in Sam Mountain; good customs, rituals and traditional festivals associated with the heritage; promote propaganda and education to raise awareness of the whole society, especially the young generation, about protecting and promoting the value of heritage, educating the tradition of patriotism, "When drinking water, remember its source", the spirit of national harmony and respecting the role of women in the community" - Vice Chairwoman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy affirmed.
The transmission of values also lies in creating conditions for the practice, creation and teaching of heritage in the community; honoring, having policies to reward, and conferring honorary titles of the State on individuals and communities that have made many contributions to preserving, practicing, teaching, protecting and promoting the values of festival heritage. The responsibility of the next generation is to strengthen State management, prevent and eliminate bad customs, strictly handle acts of exploiting heritage for profit, distorting heritage, negatively affecting the life of the community and society; protect the originality of rituals, avoid commercialization or distortion of festivals; link cultural heritage conservation with sustainable tourism development.
Today, a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity is registered in An Giang. With strong commitments from the government and the community, we believe that the festival will continue to be protected, promoted, and become an important resource for national and local development, serving as a spiritual and cultural foundation for educating future generations.
GIA KHANH
Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/hanh-trinh-tro-thanh-di-san-nhan-loai-a417212.html
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