Bac Son: Preserving and promoting the value of intangible cultural heritages

– Over the years, the government and people of Bac Son district have had good ways and specific measures to preserve and promote intangible cultural heritage values. Thereby, they practically contribute to the conservation, enrichment and promotion of the cultural heritage imbued with the ethnic identity of their homeland.

Bac Son district currently has three national intangible cultural heritages including Na Nhem festival (Tran Yen commune), then singing and cat lion dance; along with other types of heritage such as social practices, local festivals, costumes, speaking and writing languages of the Tay, Dao, Mong, and Nung ethnic groups in the district. The whole district has 4 artisans who were awarded the title of “Excellent Artisan” by the State President.

Ms. Do Thanh Loan, Head of District Culture and Information Division said: “In order to successfully implement Resolution No. 25-NQ/TU dated August 31, 2016 of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee on “Preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage of Lang Son province in the period 2016 – 2020”, over the past time, the division has cooperated with relevant levels and sectors to actively propagate to people about preserving and promoting intangible cultural heritages associated with local tourism development; paid attention to researching, planning to restore the lost intangible cultural heritages; created a healthy cultural space so that traditional art forms such as then and luon singing are preserved, passed down to other generations and developed; paid attention to preserving ethnic cultural villages, traditional craft villages…”

The art performance team of Bac Quynh commune performed then singing at the community tourism village of Bac Quynh commune on April 6, 2021

Specifically, from 2016 up to now, relevant agencies in the district have published over 150 news and articles for propaganda, hung 22 banners; cooperated with the Provincial Radio and Television Station to record 11 programs on intangible cultural heritage; integrated propaganda in conferences, common activities at grassroots cultural institutions for over 20,000 people on the promotion of heritage values; propagated through the district’s website, local radio, and social networks such as Youtube, Facebook, Zalo…

In addition, the district also creates conditions for traditional art forms to be preserved and passed down to other generations. Specifically, more than 50 clubs and art teams were created to preserve and teach heritage. For example, the cultural team of Bac Quynh commune with 15 members, on average, each year, the team performs over 400 performances to serve over 2,500 tourists; builds a pilot model on following a civilized lifestyle in marriage and mourning in Dong Y commune; people maintain traditional crafts such as making yin and yang tiles (Bac Quynh, Long Dong commune); indigo dyeing (Van Thuy commune), making black banh chung (many communes in the district); teaching of then singing, vi singing, luon singing, chau dancing, fairy dancing…

As a teacher of then singing for many young generations, Excellent Artist of the “Folk Art Performance” – Mr. Duong Huu Ca, Tay ethnic, living in Bac Son town said: “I have a deep passion with Then singing. Therefore, from a young age, I researched, learned and preserved the ethnic melodies by meticulously taking notes and opening teaching classes for students in schools of the district.”

Moreover, specialized agencies have paid attention to preserving heritages that are in danger of being lost; to collect and plan to restore the lost festivals and intangible cultural heritages of and introduce intangible cultural heritage into schools… For example, Na Nhem festival in Tran Yen commune (restored in 2012, recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2015) is increasingly invested in terms of quality and scale; students of the Ethnic Minority Boarding Secondary School of the district maintain the habit of wearing ethnic coustume every Monday and Friday…

Encouraging visitors to experience the making of yin and yang tiles, wrapping black banh chung is also one of the ways that Bac Son district applies to promote intangible cultural heritage to friends from all over the world. Mr. Tran Minh Dam, a tourist from Yen Dung district, Bac Giang province shared: “Coming to Bac Son, staying in a traditional stilt house, listening to then singing, trying to plant rice, making tiles, and wrapping banh chung help me to know more about the lives of the people here. These are experiences that I will never forget. “

Through the above measures, the types of intangible cultural heritage in the district have continued to be preserved, passed down to other generations and promoted. Mr. Phan Van Hoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism assessed: “With many effective ways in restoring and preserving the beauty in traditional festivals, writing, speaking languages, costumes of ethnic minorities in the district, Bac Son has become one of the typical units of the province in preserving and promoting well the cultural heritage values, especially the intangible cultural heritage associated with local tourism development. Thereby, it not only improves the level of cultural enjoyment for the people, but also actively contributes to promoting the image of tourism in Xu Lang to friends from all over the world.”