Creating “living space” for heritage

Binh Thuan, like many localities in the country, is affected by the urbanization process and the development of the market economy, so the biggest challenge is that a part of the youth has not yet fully appreciated the value of heritage due to being influenced by new trends, and has little passion for studying and practicing. Therefore, the province has had many effective policies and measures to encourage activities to preserve and promote the value of intangible cultural heritage...

Challenges in conservation work

Cham pottery in Binh Duc village is made entirely by hand, by skillful hands, so although each product has the same general shape, if you look closely, no two are the same. Even the fine art ceramic products have no pre-designed patterns, the craftsman paints them on the body of the product. These are rustic images, everyday life, close, and imbued with Cham ethnic identity. However, according to statistics from the People's Committee of Phan Hiep commune in 2023, there are only 43 households following the profession, out of a total of 408 households in the whole village. The current difficulty is that the source of clay is increasingly scarce, the price of firewood is high, and the firing site is cramped. In addition, the consumption market is spontaneous and unstable, the price of products is not commensurate with the effort and labor time, making the family life of households doing the job low and unstable.

Traditional pottery industry faces difficulties in raw materials and narrow firing grounds.

As for folk art genres, they all depend on the community; while the artisans practicing folk art forms in the community are getting older, many dedicated elders have passed away. In addition, intangible cultural heritage is a type of culture that is mainly transmitted orally, so collecting and practicing heritage at the grassroots level still faces many difficulties.

Like a picture with contrasting light and dark colors, there are many heritages that are at risk of being lost and have been lost. For example, the Raglai ethnic group, the Hari, Xitit, Kathon, and love duet singing... which were considered popular in the community in the past, now the number of people who know how to sing these songs is very small and only a few people remain. Dances in rituals, beliefs, community activities and production work also only retain a few basic movements.

Similarly, with the Coho ethnic group, in the past, musical instruments were very rich, but now the Coho people in Binh Thuan only preserve the main musical instruments such as Gongs, Chieng, Sagơr drums, Bau trumpets, and lacquered bells. These instruments are often performed with melodies in family and clan ceremonies and festivals and happy days of the community. In the past half century, due to many factors and causes, most of the major festivals of the clan and community have almost disappeared, and occasionally they organize buffalo stabbing festivals to sacrifice to the gods. This situation raises the issue that if the locality does not have a preservation plan, the original cultural elements and traditional culture will gradually be lost over time.

Preserve for future generations

Among the 117 intangible cultural heritages in the province, belonging to 7 categories: language - writing, folk literature, folk performing arts, social customs, traditional festivals, traditional crafts, folk knowledge, 5 traditional festivals and typical cultures of ethnic groups were selected by the province to serve tourism development, including the Kate Festival of the Cham people at Po Sah Inu tower, the Cau Ngu Festival at Thuy Tu village, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Nghinh Ong Festival of the Chinese people (Phan Thiet), and the Dinh Thay Thim Festival (La Gi) all promote their values, attract people and domestic and foreign tourists, contributing to the development of the province's "smokeless industry".

Cau Ngu Festival has attracted many tourists to Phan Thiet City.

The good news is that as the owners of heritage, artisans are considered living “treasures”, the ones who preserve and practice the heritage, and at the same time, they are also the ones who pass on the heritage to the next generation, they are gradually becoming more aware of teaching and propagating. Right in Binh Duc pottery village, in the family of Mr. Lam Hung Soi, the experience of the profession is being continued by his two children. Or in the family of Ms. Dang Thi Hong - one of the artisans making fine art pottery here, her 15-year-old daughter is being “fueled”.

Not only that, in Bac Binh, many clubs and art troupes have been established and operate effectively. We can mention the Cham dance group (Phan Hiep, Phan Hoa), the pottery women's group (Phan Hiep), the Dong La group (Phan Dien), and the rice pounding sound model (Phan Son). It is this proactive and positive attitude in villages and communes that is contributing to introducing folk songs and traditional crafts to the public, raising awareness and pride of the people in preserving and promoting the unique cultural values of the community.

Cultural festivals recreate rituals and culture of ethnic minorities

To mobilize the entire community and the political system to participate in protecting and promoting heritage values, many central and local policies have been issued and provided funding. In particular, the Provincial People's Committee has implemented the program "Preserving and sustainably promoting the values of Vietnamese cultural heritage in the period of 2021 - 2025 in Binh Thuan province". Next is the plan to implement the program to preserve and develop craft villages in the province in the period of 2021 - 2030. With the goal of striving to restore and preserve 1 - 2 traditional occupations and 1 - 2 traditional craft villages at risk of fading and being lost; develop 2 - 3 craft villages associated with tourism. 50% of craft villages and traditional craft villages have products classified according to the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program...

In addition to the local cultural festival, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism continuously organizes activities with the theme "Preserving and promoting the cultural identity of ethnic groups in Binh Thuan province in the period of innovation and integration"; performing street cultural festivals...

Preserving traditional cultural activities will contribute to the development of local tourism.

In particular, to concretize the Project "Preserving and promoting the fine traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities associated with tourism development" under the National Target Program on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2021 - 2030, in 2023, the Department plans to organize performance activities, reenacting the Kate Festival of the Cham people in Binh Thuan province at 4 temples and towers of Po Sah Inu (Phan Thiet city), Po Tam temple (Ham Thuan Bac), Po Nit temple (Bac Binh) and Po Nrop temple (Tuy Phong). In addition, support funding for purchasing musical instruments, costumes for men and women of the Cham ethnic group to perform on the occasion of the Kate Festival taking place at 4 temples and towers.

In addition, propaganda and introduction activities of Kate Festival to the people and tourists will be carried out through many channels. Classes teaching traditional pottery techniques; teaching and supporting loudspeakers, buying performance costumes for the Coho folk art troupe in Dong Giang and La Da communes will create an environment for artisans and people to practice and perform.

With carefully prepared and specific plans, the quintessence distilled from thousands of years of humanistic traditions, creating the cultural identity of ethnic groups will continue to live in the community in a sustainable way. This is also a way to concretize one of the five key tasks that the 14th Congress of the Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee, term 2020 - 2025, has identified, which is to focus on improving the cultural and spiritual life of the people.

BOX: Cultural heritage is a resource for tourism to exploit and vice versa, tourism contributes to promoting heritage, making heritage live in the community, creating economic resources to reinvest in heritage protection work.

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