National heritage: Lo Lo people’s ancestral worship

The Lo Lo ethnic minority group’s ancestral worship was recently recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage. It is also the special cultural identity of ethnic people inhabiting Dong Van Stone Plateau in mountainous northern Ha Giang province.  The ancestral worship, which aims to acknowledge ancestors, is a beautiful spiritual custom passed down from generation to generation. It is practised by the Lo Lo people only during the Lunar New Year festival and on the 15 th day of July of the lunar calendar. Offerings to ancestors include one cow, one pig, one chicken, steamed glutinous rice, alcohol and votive papers. A pair of bronze drums, with one representing the male and the other exemplifying the female, is indispensable to the Lo Lo people. The drums symbolise the universe and human beings, and are the embodiment of gods. The solemn worship lasts for two and a half days. Young people wearing traditional costumes perform ritual dances to the rhythm of the bronze drums.  At the end of the worship, the food offerings will be served to thank neighbours for their help. The Lo Lo people believe that through this practice, their ancestors will be happy in the after life and give them health and prosperity.  Duong Thanh Huong, Deputy Director of Ha Giang Museum, said the Lo Lo people’s ancestral worship is a unique custom, connecting family members and enhancing solidarity among the community.  The Lo Lo population in Ha Giang numbers 1,506, residing mostly in Lung Cu, Lung Tao, and Sung La communes of Dong Van district and Thuong Phung and Xin Cai communes of Meo Vac district.

Source: VNA

Muong dance teacher embraces rhythm of life

Muong dance teacher embraces rhythm of life

"If you haven't eaten grilled chicken or watched Thai dancing, you haven't been to Son La," said one indigenous man in this quiet mountain town. His sentence summed up the foggy night. In the flickering flames, everyone was a bit intoxicated.    Xoe dances are a unique custom of the Thai people, especially in the Northwest region. There are approximately 30 dances, which serve to express unity, friendship and sharing. All the Thai know how to dance xoe.  Each dance has its own unique features, but they are very simple and easy to learn, so anyone can join the dance.  Lo Van Pien, a local Thai dance master, says the Thai usually perform five xoe dances during each festival. "Some require just a few dancers, while others call for a dozen or more performers," he said. The first dance is “kham khan moi lau,” an invitation to neighbours to drink rice wine. Women dance around a large jar of alcohol, holding handkerchiefs to demonstrate the family's hospitality to their guests.  The “pha xi” is a dance about the four corners of the Earth. The music becomes more powerful and animated and men take their places at the corners to pray for happiness and luck. The dance means "We'll miss each other when we're separated, but we'll always meet again."  Both men and women perform the “lon hon”, which means, "Life is full of ups and downs, but brothers cannot be separated."  Women perform the “nhom khan”, a joyful dance also popular at housewarming parties and weddings. Everyone holds hands in a circle and claps at intervals during the om lom top mu, a dance about the universe and the solidarity of the community.  The dances have become a specialty of the northwestern province of Son La, used frequently to welcome visitors. This is due in large part to the work of Excellent Artist Dinh Cong Pon, a dancing teacher born in Phu Yen District in the Son La mountains.    Pon, who has been a mentor to many generations of students in the region and also choreographs traditional dances in many local events, has made efforts to preserve the custom. Although he is a member of the Muong ethnic group, his love for the Thai people's dances penetrated into him so gradually that he was not even aware of it happening - like groundwater seeping into land, or the river's silt absorbing water.    Although the traditional dances of the Thai are mostly for women, who attract viewers with their flexible bodies, Pon has known how to dance since he was a schoolboy.  "I saw people dancing, then I took an interest and learned how to dance on my own, without teachers or classes like young people have today," said Pon.  When the teachers of the Vietnam Dance School arrived in Son La to recruit trainees, Pon was a seventh-grader. His friends took the test for the dancing school, and he decided to go along as well. "I was just following my friends for fun," he said.  Yet in a twist of fate, Pon was the only candidate who was admitted.  When he told his family he planned to go to school in Hanoi, they were both happy and worried. "Hanoi is so far," he recalled his mother saying. "Do you know the way to come back home to our mountainous village?"  His own mind was also confused. But when several teachers came to encourage him to go to school so that he could later help the Thai people preserve their folk dances for future generations, Pon decided to go to Hanoi.  In his early days in the capital city, everything was unfamiliar. But with help from teachers and friends, Pon completed the course.  After graduating, many of his friends wanted to settle in southern Vietnam because they thought it was the best place to develop a career. They asked Pon to go with them, but he refused and instead returned to his mountain homeland. His family lived there; moreover, he was still determined to preserve the Thai dances.  Pon joined the Ethnic Singing, Dancing and Music Troupe of Son La. The troupe travelled to many remote villages to create dance teams. They met elders who knew about Thai dances and helped them make the traditional art come alive again in the hearts of local people.  Thanks to these contributions, Pon's reputation spread widely. He was sent by the provincial authorities to attend the World Festival in the former Soviet Union, where he performed at the Vietnamese-Russian cultural exchange along with other Vietnamese artists.  He also danced for the soldiers protecting the northern border in the 1980s and gave many performances in Laos.  In 2001, Pon went to work at the High School for Culture, Arts and Tourism in Son La as head of the dance group of the school's Faculty of Arts.  "Although my art has turned in a new direction, my love for the Thai dances is still in my heart. In fact, this position gives me more chances to pass on my passion to students," he said.

Source: VNA

Russian news agency highlights VN’s Tet

Russian news agency ITAR-TASS on February 9 published an article on the Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tet) festival written by correspondent Yuri Denisovich from Hanoi.

The article said that similar to Asian countries, Tet is regarded as the nation’s most important event. Vietnamese people welcome Tet by preparing offerings for the dead to remember them.

During Tet, Vietnamese people often go to pagodas to pray for the souls of the dead, and wish every member of the family health, security and prosperity in the New Year, the article added.

It mentioned the legend of the green Chung cake, a food that is ubiquitous during Tet, and described the customs of using peach, apricot, kumquat and bonsai trees to decorate homes on this occasion.

The article concluded that Tet is the occasion for Vietnamese people to visit each other and wish for good things in the 2013 Year of the Snake.
Source: VNA

Bonanza for tourism industry

This year’s nine-day Lunar New Year holiday has helped drive large numbers of local and foreign visitors to tourist destinations across the country, raising hopes of a successful year for the tourism industry.

Foreigners learn how to make Banh Chung - a typical type of Vietnamese cakes during the Tet holiday (Photo:VNE)

Big profits

Vietravel tourism company has served nearly 35,000 visitors, rising 25 percent from last year’s Tet holiday figure. The first two days of the Lunar New Year (February 10-11) saw a record high of more than 7,000 arrivals. 

Ta Thi Tu Uyen, a Vietravel official, said the company had organised more than 300 inbound and outbound tours before the Tet holiday, catering to various tastes. 

Tours of the northern, central and southern regions were very popular, especially those of cultural and historical relic sites in Hanoi, North-western provinces, Danang, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue, Da Lat, Ho Chi Minh City, and South-western provinces, said Uyen. 

Saigontourist, the country’s leading tour operator, kick-started the long holiday with a swathe of impressive tours, attracting over 68,000 local and foreign visitors. 

It served more than 46,000 foreign holiday-makers, up 43 percent from a year ago, ran 255 inbound tours, up 30 percent, and held 196 outbound tours, up 50 percent. 

The company deployed all its available buses on route shuttling between hundreds of scheduled local and overseas destinations. 

Major tourist destinations have attracted a high influx of visitors these days. The Quang Ninh provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism reported that as many as 350,000 people have visited the World Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay over the past nine days, a year-on-year increase of 17 percent. 

The former imperial city of Hue attracted nearly 32,000 visitors during the first three days of the Lunar New Year, 8,000 of whom were foreigners from France, the US and Australia. 

The central city of Danang’s promotional successes have created expectations of welcoming more than 143,000 local and foreign visitors, up 10.4 percent. 

Tet for foreigners

The traditional Tet holiday’s culture and customs are becoming intangible assets for the tourism industry. Increasing numbers of foreigners are choosing Vietnam as their long-term holiday destination. Tourist resorts, trading centres and tour operations are capitalising the golden opportunity by providing traditional Tet welcoming ceremonies to attract visitors. 

Vietravel representative Nguyen Minh Man said the Tet tours offer foreign visitors the chance to shop, visit and share traditional Tet dishes with Vietnamese families, assemble Banh Chung (square cake made from sticky rice, green beans and pork) and observe ancestor worship. 

Saigontourist’s Foreigners Enjoy Vietnamese Tet programme, started since 2003, has helped promote Vietnam’s traditional cultural values during the Tet holiday. Its two varieties of 2013 Tet tours Tet in the Mekong Delta and Tet with Saigonese, saw a 40-percent rise in the number of foreign tourists participating in.  

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism expects that international arrivals in the city are likely to increase 8 percent during this year’s Tet holiday. 

 

Major tour operators enjoying the boon in potential customer numbers include JTB (up 30 percent, most from Japan), and Saigontourist (up 14 percent from France and Germany).

Other operators include Vietravel, Ben Thanh, Fiditour, Hoa Binh, Vietnam, and Apex, have seen average increases of between 5 and 10 percent. Revenue is predicted to rise by 7 percent. 

Quality services

Tour operators make the most of the long Tet holiday to bolster profits and promote the country’s international profile. Providing the best possible services is essential to attracting more holiday-makers. 

This year’s Vietravel guides have been sent to tourist hotspots in northern and central regions, and overseas destinations in Thailand Cambodia, Singapore and Malaysia. The guides have completed training courses to ensure safety and maximise visitor convenience. 

Under the Vietravel programme For a Clean Tourism Environment, all customers on its inbound and outbound tours are provided with biodegradable nylon bags to encourage maintaining a clean and green environment.  

The large numbers of Tet holiday-makers have laid the foundations for the tourism industry’s lucrative 2013.

Source: VOV

Dong Van old market back in business

The old Dong Van Market in the Dong Van Karst Plateau of Ha Giang Province has reopened for tourism after a new market was built for locals 500m away, vice chairwoman of the People's Committee of Dong Van District Ly Thi Kien told Viet Nam News yesterday.

The old market, built in 1908, was a rendezvous for ethnic groups during market days on Saturdays and Sundays.

Last year, the district people's committee decided to preserve the old market as a weekend destination for tourists and proposed a new market for local people at the nearby site.

Kien said: "We have opened the market to serve tourists on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The old market will be a destination for souvenir-hunters and thang co (a soup of horse, goat or buffalo meat) stalls, while the new market will feature butchers, grocery stalls, poultry and livestock sellers."

She said the resettlement aimed to create a clean and fresh market for tourists, but retain the traditional market spirit which has inspired over the past 100 years.

Bui Thi Thai, a resident in the district, said she had expected the old market to open again because the crowded market on weekends was a definitive image of the district.

"It used to be crowded on weekends. The famed weekly market covers a cross-section of ethnic Mong group life with their traditional cuisine of thang co and rice wine," Thai said.

The 44-year-old, whose father is from the Tay ethnic people and mother was from the Mong people, added that the old market has become quieter as people flock to the new market, with only thang co, men men (maize powder cake) and souvenir stalls being allowed to stay at the previous market.

The Dong Van Karst Plateau, situated 1,000m above sea level, was recognised as UNESCO Karst Plateau - Viet Nam's first Global Geopark in 2010.

A row of 20th-old houses, situated opposite the market, also offer old Mong cuisine.

Dong Van District, which lies 150km northeast of Ha Giang City and 500km north of Ha Noi, is only accessible by bus or off-road motorbikes.

Mr Do street

Spring flowers blossoming around Hanoi Lake