In recent years, Lao Cai province has focused on developing cultural tourism products associated with rural tourism and community tourism. In the process, ethnic minority women have clearly demonstrated their role in preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage associated with tourism development, contributing to job creation and increasing local income.
The Legacy Holders
First of all, it is necessary to recognize that women play an important role in organizing the life of a family, from giving birth, raising children, taking care of the family to participating in economic activities. Cultural heritage is produced from daily life and is accumulated and passed down from generation to generation. Therefore, women are the ones who directly participate in, preserve and pass on the values of cultural heritage in the community such as: folk songs, folk dances, cuisine, embroidery, brocade weaving, collecting and making medicinal leaves, weaving some handicraft products...
Ethnic minority women are also the ones who directly practice cooking to feed the whole family, and prepare offerings in rituals. Therefore, they are the ones who hold the cultural treasure of ethnic cuisine, from ways of finding ingredients, preparing food, and presenting to some cultural practices related to dishes, ethnic concepts about dishes.
Living in mountainous areas, with isolated conditions, ethnic minority women in the past all knew how to weave brocade, embroider patterns, sew clothes, blankets, etc. - essential items for family life. The Tay people in Nghia Do believed that Tay women must know how to weave cloth, embroider brocade blankets and used very harsh sentences to criticize women who did not know how to weave cloth such as "Lazy women make moldy cloth for boats", "Women who do not know how to weave brocade blankets/ Are no different from raising female horses who only know how to carry loads". The Mong people in Sa Pa believed that "A beautiful girl who does not know how to weave linen is also ugly, a pretty girl who does not know how to hold a needle is bad",...
In most ethnic cultures, weaving and embroidering are the criteria for a beautiful girl. Therefore, all ethnic minority women hold the secrets of weaving, indigo dyeing, and embroidering. They make their own clothes for their family members. Nowadays, although ready-made products are quite abundant and convenient, ethnic minorities still take advantage of their free time or idle farming time to make clothes to wear during holidays and Tet. They always carry them with them so they can embroider at any time.
Women are also the ones who keep the folk songs and dances of their ethnic group. Mong women have a whole treasure of lullabies, love songs, singing while working in the fields, etc. For Tay women, it is weak songs, then songs; for Giay women, it is scarf dances, folk songs, etc.
Dao women are familiar with all kinds of medicinal plants. Besides farming, growing rice on terraced fields, weaving, and embroidering, they also go to the forest to collect medicinal leaves to make nutritious dishes for their families and to make medicines to treat illnesses of their relatives and the community.
It can be said that ethnic minority women are the ones who hold a rich treasure of cultural heritage, are both the subjects of that cultural treasure and also the resources and potential to promote in local tourism development.
The core of community tourism
Over the past years, Lao Cai province has focused on building clubs and art troupes in villages and residential groups, aiming to develop grassroots arts, promote the preservation of cultural heritage and develop tourism. To date, there are nearly 1,000 clubs and art troupes in the province. In particular, within the framework of Project No. 6 on preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage associated with tourism development under the Target Program for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas, nearly 20 folk art clubs were established and about 40 art teams were supported to preserve the traditional folk songs and dances of the nation, restore and develop a number of programs to serve local tourism activities.
The members of the clubs are mainly women. The women take advantage of their free time or evenings to practice together. Cuc - a Giay girl - excitedly told me that the women in Ta Van Giay village have practiced and created traditional Giay art performances to serve the village's activities, as well as serve tourists when needed. Cuc is very happy and proud to learn the traditional dances of her people. Meanwhile, the women in Nghia Do (Bao Yen) under the guidance of Ms. San - former President of the Commune Women's Union - have enthusiastically practiced to prepare for the performance program to serve the festival held on April 30 and May 1. Each art performance serving guests costs about 2 million VND.
Women are the main force involved in providing services at Homestay such as cooking for tourists. This is not only a service activity to meet the food and drink needs of tourists when traveling but also an activity to experience the local culture. Coming to the tourist destination in Nghia Do, tourists will experience delicious dishes, imbued with the cultural identity of the Tay people. In addition, women are also skillful in making culinary products to serve the shopping needs of tourists such as: 7-color sticky rice, sticky rice cake, smoked meat, dried buffalo meat, etc.
Coming to Ta Phin, a common image is that of women gathering in groups of 5-7 people, chatting and embroidering patterns. When there are tourists, they will offer to take them to visit the village, and at the end of the trip, they invite them to buy the products they made. In case the guests do not buy, they are still very enthusiastic and happy. Currently, there are many investment projects to develop brocade cooperatives in the Dao ethnic group. Women participate in cooperatives and carry out orders to make scarves, shirts or other souvenirs to supply to souvenir shops. Dao women also have a system of knowledge about medicinal herbs. They go to get medicinal herbs and make medicinal herbs to serve tourists when they visit the village or buy them for their own use.
It can be said that, with the possession of cultural heritages, ethnic minority women in Lao Cai have known how to promote those cultural heritages to serve tourism development. Some women have become owners of Homestay establishments, cooperatives and even business owners. Typical examples include Ms. San - owner of Homestay in Na Khuong (Nghia Do, Bao Yen), Ms. Soi - owner of Homestay in Ta Van (Sa Pa), Ms. Tan Ta May, head of the Red Dao community cooperative, which develops health care products from traditional medicinal plants of the Dao people, Ms. Ly May Cham and the brocade cooperative in Ta Phin, Ms. Tan Thi Su - CEO of a social enterprise in the tourism sector in Sa Pa, ... and many women in all tourist spots and areas in the province.
Developing rural tourism and community tourism associated with new rural development is a correct direction, suitable for the mountainous rural areas of Lao Cai province - where there are rich and unique natural and cultural resources. To effectively implement these models, in addition to investment support policies for households participating in tourism activities, it is necessary to pay attention to the role of women in preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage to serve tourism development.
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