Son La has 12 ethnic groups living together, each with a long-standing, rich and unique culture. These are valuable intangible cultural heritages that have been preserved by the people from generation to generation, with special significance, representing beliefs, traditional culture and national origin.
Performance of traditional Thai folk songs and dances.
Mr. Dinh Lien, the Chairman of the Folk Arts Association of the province, shared, "Each ethnic group in Son La has its own unique and distinctive cultural features, which have merged with the flow of history to create a vibrant and colorful cultural tapestry. Within this tapestry, each culture has its own unique highlights and characteristics, forming symbols that represent each ethnic group. Whenever we mention an ethnic group, we immediately think of these unique cultural features.
When mentioning Son La - Northwest, many people immediately think of stilt houses, Com shirts, Pieu scarves, and the xoe dance connecting the community... which are typical features representing the long-standing culture of the Thai people, the majority ethnic group in Son La. When talking about the culture of the highlands, people will think of colorful dresses like spring butterflies, the melodious flute sounds, the resounding panpipes, and the rhythmic tha keng of the Mong people. Or the typical features of the Dao ethnic culture with the vibrant bell dance and the unique art of creating patterns with beeswax. And there is also the Muong mo heritage of the Muong ethnic group, the festivals, the "au eo", "tang bu", "hun may" dances of the Khmu, La Ha, Khang people... Along with many thousand-year-old traditional cultural values of the ethnic groups, the folk songs, folk music, folk dances, beliefs, folk knowledge, languages, and writings have been passed down orally and hand-to-hand until today.
People's Artisan Dieu Van Minh, Muong Giang Commune, Quynh Nhai, shared: The intangible culture of ethnic groups is very diverse, reflecting the formation and development process of each ethnic group. Therefore, preserving heritage is something that we artisans always worry about and strive to do by passing it on to our descendants. Hopefully, we can contribute to preserving and promoting the traditional cultural values that our ancestors left behind.
In recent years, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has implemented many solutions to preserve and promote intangible cultural heritage. Many scientific topics, projects and plans have helped assess the current status of cultural heritage and have effective directions and solutions to preserve and promote the cultural values of ethnic groups in the province. Up to now, the heritage of 9 ethnic minorities has been inventoried according to 7 types of intangible cultural heritage; researched, compiled scientific records, included in the list of intangible cultural heritage; developed projects, plans to preserve and promote the values of heritage.
Research, collection and documentation of traditional cultural forms, such as folk songs, folk music, folk dances, crafts and traditional rituals and festivals... are based on the principle of selecting good customs and practices, gradually eliminating bad customs; researching and restoring festivals, organizing community cultural activities, helping to enrich the spiritual life of the people and forming unique cultural tourism products to attract tourists.
Re-enactment of the Kin Pang Then festival of the Thai ethnic group in Quynh Nhai district.
Mr. Pham Hong Thu, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: The cultural sector focuses on promoting the heritage values that ethnic minorities are holding, to arouse pride in national culture and join hands to preserve and promote the value of existing cultural heritages. Be proactive, flexible, creative, exploit scientific and technological achievements, the development of the digital economy to preserve, maintain and promote the good traditional cultural values, rich in the identity of ethnic groups. At the same time, encourage the exploitation of ethnic folk materials in the creation of contemporary literary and artistic works to honor the value and develop culture in the new era.
Through the assessment and ranking from 2015 to present, Son La province has 16 intangible cultural heritages included in the list of national intangible cultural heritages by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, including: Thai Xoe; the art of decorative patterns on Mong and Dao costumes; the art of Mong ethnic panpipes; Muong mo; ancient Thai ethnic writings and traditional festivals, rituals, social practices and beliefs of ethnic groups living in the province. In particular, Thai Xoe art of Son La and the Northwestern provinces has been recognized by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The province has 2 people's artisans and 34 excellent artisans in the field of intangible cultural heritage who have been awarded titles, who are active factors in teaching culture in the community. Building and maintaining nearly 2,300 mass art troupes, contributing to preserving cultural beauty, widely popularizing culture into tourism products.
The achievements, together with practical solutions that have been and are being implemented, are a solid foundation for preserving and promoting intangible cultural heritage in a sustainable manner; arousing pride and motivation for the ethnic groups of Son La to continue the tradition and preserve the original culture of their people for future generations.
Article and photos: Thanh Dao
Preserving and promoting the value of intangible cultural heritage (baosonla.org.vn)