The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Jan. 22 launched a national action plan to preserve and develop the value of the Giong festival, which has been recognised as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO.

The plan was announced at a ceremony held in Phu Dong commune, Gia Lam district of Hanoi to receive the certificate of recognition of the UNESCO title.

At the ceremony, UNESCO Chief Representative in Hanoi Katherine Muller-Marin stressed that the Giong festival has been deeply impressed in the life of residents in the Red river delta as a part of their characteristics, passing from generations to generations. The recognition of the festival as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity is expected to accelerate humans’ creativeness and dialogues between cultures.

The ceremony was held in an open air of a northern countryside with an incense offering to Saint Giong at the beginning and then, the performances of ceremonies of the festival.

UNESCO officially honoured Vietnam’s Giong festival as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at a meeting of its Inter-Governmental Committee in Nairobi, Kenya, on November 16, 2010.

The festival was Hanoi’s third heritage honour presented by the UNESCO in 2010.

The other sites include 82 steles engraved with names of doctorate holders for centuries in the Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam, Vietnam’s first university, which have been recognised as Documentary Heritage of the Memory of the World programme. The central site of the Thang Long Royal Citadel has won the title “World Cultural Heritage”.

The Giong festival is held annually in several parts of northern Vietnam, most typically in the Phu Dong and Soc Temples in Hanoi, to commemorate Saint Giong, one of the immortal quartets in the Vietnamese legends.

Legend has it that under the sixth King Hung’s reign (around 500 BC) Vietnam was threatened by the Kingdom of Yin, to the north of Vietnam.

A little boy, who was unable to crawl, roll over and say a single word at the age of three, had surprisingly grown up to a giant man in just several days after getting news on the foreign invasion. He used local bushes of bamboo to defeat aggressors and flew into the sky with his iron horse after the final victory.

In order to show their gratitude to the hero of Giong village, people proclaimed him Saint Giong.

The festival meets all qualifications for an intangible cultural heritage of humanity as it has been conserved by the community as part of the national cultural identity, handed down from generations to generations, holds creativeness of humanity and represents aspiration for prosperity by every family and peace for the nation and the world.

Collecting ideas about Vietnam’s national flower

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has collected ideas about Vietnam’s national flower from visitors to the festival of spring flowers and drinkings for Tet opened on January 2nd at No 2, Hoa Lu street, Hanoi.

In April 2010, the national flower project was established with many proposals for flowers such as apricot, peach and lotus. Discussion showed that each flower has its own beauty and meaning.

According to Vi Kien Thanh, Chief of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s (MoCST) Art, Photography and Exhibition Department, in an interview with an online newspaper on January 20, there are six standards considered as criteria set by by the MoCST to select the national flower of Vietnam. They are: must be indigenous to Vietnam or has been planted throughout Vietnam for a very long time; represents the character, culture or the spirit of the nation; be beautiful and scented; be frequently used and highly valued in art, literature, sculpture and architecture; and be loved and respected by many people.

The MoCST held a selection for national flower on the Internet. Up to December 2010, 40.3% voted for pink lotus, 33.6% for apricot, 8.2 for peach and 0.6% for nenuphar.

Culture of Tay ethnic group featured in a new book

A new book about Tay ethnic minority group compiled by Dr. La Cong Y, a Tay person from the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, was published by the Social Science Publisher in late 2010.

The book sytematically features economic, cultural and social life of Tay ethnic people and specific characteristics of clans in several localities.

There are also 150 photos and illustrated drawings and a map of ethnic minority groups using the Tay-Thai language in northern moutainous provinces.

Dr. Y compiled the book based on his field trips over the past 30 years and acquired knowledge from former ethnologists.

With a population of about 1,500,000 inhabitants, the Tay is the largest group in the community of ethnic minorities in Vietnam.

Ancestor worship is the religious rite of the Tay. The ancestral altar is placed in a central and grand place of the house. Guests are not allowed to sit on the bed in front of the altar. They ought to refrain from steping on the firewood in the fireplace. After giving birth, women are not permitted to come near the ancestor altar.

The Tay possess a rich traditional folklore with all kinds of poems, songs, dances and music. There are many proverbs and folksongs.