Indigenous culture - the "key" to promoting sustainable tourism (Part 1): Unique indigenous culture

The indigenous culture of the ethnic groups in Thanh Hoa has been condensed through many successive generations and is likened to an alluvial stream that accumulates the most quintessential things. Then, through the test of time, those cultural values ​​are increasingly cherished, respected and promoted to become attractive tourism products for visitors.

Le Nien Glamping eco-tourism site in Xuan Thai commune (Nhu Thanh) attracts tourists. Photo: Nguyen Dat

Each nation has its own culture

Thanh Hoa - a land where 7 ethnic groups live together. Kinh, Muong, Thai, Dao, Mong, Tho, Kho Mu people together create an extremely rich and unique indigenous culture, vividly expressed through customs, costumes, festivals, folk games, crafts, cuisine... Each type of culture in each ethnic group has its own way of expression, with its own color. If the Muong ethnic group is famous for the Pon Pong festival, or the melodious singing of xuong, the sound of gongs and cymbals echoing in the mountains and forests; the Thai ethnic group is graceful in the xoe dance, or bustling in the sound of bamboo jumping; for coastal residents, it is bustling in the space of fishing festivals, banh chung - banh giay festivals... It is this uniqueness and diversity that has created the attraction for tourists to explore, experience, and learn about the traditional culture of the ethnic groups in the area.

Thach Lap Commune (Ngoc Lac) - the land where the majority of Muong ethnic people are "deeply rooted". In Lap Thang village of the commune, the ancient stilt house hundreds of years old is still preserved and promoted by Mr. Pham Van Canh's family, becoming a familiar community tourism "address" for tourists to visit and experience. Mr. Canh said: "For the Muong ethnic people here, traditional cultural values ​​have permeated their blood and flesh and are an indispensable part of daily life. Therefore, the village still preserves folk performances, Muong ethnic performing arts, lullabies, charms, Muong mo, gong playing... The most prominent feature in the cultural picture here is the presence of many traditional ancient stilt houses located close together, creating an extremely peaceful and rustic beauty that makes anyone who comes here want to explore".

In many other villages in the commune such as Luong Ngo, Tan Thanh..., the presence of Muong ethnic culture in life is still relatively intact. However, that is not by chance, it is a process of efforts by the local government, as well as the Front Working Committee in the villages in promoting propaganda in the style of "slow and steady", "going to every alley, knocking on every door" so that people know, appreciate and preserve the cultural heritages they themselves created. The commune also actively established gong, cultural and artistic clubs and mobilized people to participate. In addition, encouraging households in Lap Thang village to renovate stilt houses, decorate their gardens, fences, gates, and alleys for community tourism, in order to effectively implement the Project "Preserving and developing traditional stilt houses of Muong ethnic people associated with developing community tourism in the period 2021-2025" of Ngoc Lac district, is also promoted.

Mr. Pham Dinh Cuong, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Ngoc Lac district, said: It is not too much to say that Ngoc Lac is the "cradle of heritage", because over the long history, previous generations have worked hard to create for this land many unique, distinctive and valuable intangible cultural heritages. The proof is that in recent years, many intangible cultural heritages have been continuously honored in the national cultural heritage category. These are the Pon Pong performance; the art of Xuong giao duyen singing; the art of performing folk singing Sac Bua; the social customs and beliefs of the Nhang Chap Dao (Jumping Festival) ritual of the Dao Quan Chet people; the social customs and beliefs of the Mo Muong (common to the Muong ethnic group in 11 mountainous districts in the province). This achievement is the result of the tireless efforts of the district and the people in preserving and promoting the value of heritage, thereby "turning heritage into assets", contributing positively to the development of tourism as well as the local socio-economy.

For people in coastal communes of Thanh Hoa, due to the nature of their work, they are stuck at sea all year round, drifting on the river, facing big waves and strong winds, which has formed extremely unique customs and beliefs, such as the worship of Whale, organizing traditional festivals, folk games... expressing the desire to pray for the god of the sea to protect people, keep the sky and sea calm, and catch a lot of seafood. Among them, the most typical is the Cau An - Cau Ngu festival in Hoang Truong commune (Hoang Hoa), held annually on a large scale, attracting a large number of people and tourists from all over the country to attend. At the festival, in addition to the ceremony and festival, there are many exciting activities such as chess, tug of war, singing songs, and cultural exchanges. Organizing the festival is not only a bond of solidarity in the community but also creates a tourist product that attracts tourists.

The cultural beauties of the ethnic groups in the province are the quintessence distilled from thousands of years that our ancestors have painstakingly cultivated and built, and are the spiritual cultural "products" of the countryside, closely connected and accompanying life. And until today, the next generation of descendants still cherish, take pride in, and join hands to preserve and promote these cultural values ​​so that they can spread and permeate deeply into life.

Indigenous culture - the "fulcrum" for tourism to "take off"

In mid-July, temporarily leaving the hustle and bustle of the city, we went up to Xuan Thai commune (Nhu Thanh) to find a bit of peace in the mountains and forests. Welcoming us was the gentle sunlight running along the mountainside, stretching across the lush green terraced fields. Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee Le Trung Nguyen led us to visit some eco-tourism spots in the area and excitedly said: The locality is a place with fresh and cool natural landscapes. Moreover, the majority of the Thai and Muong ethnic groups live there, so many traditional cultural features are still preserved such as gongs, bamboo flutes, Thai drums, etc. and traditional stilt houses. Therefore, the commune always identifies indigenous cultural values ​​as "room" in creating unique tourism products, attracting tourists to visit and experience. In recent times, to encourage people in the commune to take advantage of cultural identity to develop community tourism and eco-tourism, the commune has coordinated with relevant sectors to open many training courses on tourism behavior culture, cooking classes...; propagandize for people to actively clean up and maintain environmental hygiene; establish art troupes to perform for tourists. Up to now, the commune has 7 community tourism spots, notably Hoa mua Camping, Le Nien Glamping... At these tourist spots, there are beautiful spaces like a small island and tents are set up to serve tourists. Visitors coming here can participate in many activities such as cultural and artistic exchanges; rowing on the Muc River; or immerse themselves in nature, admire the terraced fields, enjoy mountainous cuisine such as grilled chicken, roasted pork... Thanks to the methodical investment, since the beginning of the year, the whole commune has attracted about 8,000 visitors.

As one of the districts that is quite responsive and successful in promoting indigenous culture to create a "fulcrum" for tourism to "take off", Ms. Le Thi Huong, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Thach Thanh district emphasized: "Using materials from indigenous cultural values ​​in a creative way is an issue that has been promoted in tourism activities in the district. From there, to establish a foundation for unique tourism products, with depth and touching kindness in tourism services. On that basis, the district has formed many tourism products closely related to the lives of the people such as eco-tourism, community tourism, experiential tourism... From there, attracting tourists to visit and experience. In the first 6 months of the year alone, the whole district welcomed nearly 27 thousand visitors, with estimated revenue of 15.4 billion VND".

Mr. Pham Tien Hai, Permanent Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa City Tourism Association, said: Taking advantage of and exploiting cultural heritages, turning cultural heritages into tourism resources is the right and correct direction. Because, it not only makes local residents more responsible in preserving and managing heritage, but also contributes to shifting the local economic structure towards tourism - services. In fact, currently, there are quite a lot of tourists choosing this tourism product, so many travel businesses have also designed and built creative tours and heritage experience tourism programs to attract tourists.

In the orientation and tourism development goals of the province, indigenous culture is also identified as the "key" and "magnet" to attract tourists all four seasons. In recent times, Thanh Hoa province has paid attention to and issued many tourism development projects associated with exploiting indigenous cultural values; including 10 projects to develop community tourism based on exploiting the unique natural and cultural values ​​of ethnic minorities in mountainous areas. At the same time, localities are encouraged to actively exploit the unique values ​​from the traditional cultural identity of ethnic groups and consider this as one of the factors to attract tourists, thereby soon turning the province's tourism into a spearhead economic sector.

Nguyen Dat - Hoai Anh

Lesson 2: Why are products still monotonous and repetitive?!

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/van-hoa-ban-dia-chia-khoa-thuc-day-du-lich-ben-vung-bai-1-nen-van-hoa-ban-dia-dac-sac-220144.htm