Striving to make Mo Muong culture a world heritage

Since 2012, the People's Committee of Hoa Binh province has invested funds for the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (VH, TT, DL) to implement the Program of General Inventory of all intangible cultural heritages of ethnic groups in the province.

With local investment, along with investment capital from the Target Program of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the province has organized the implementation of a scientific project to inventory Mo of the Muong ethnic group in Hoa Binh with the aim of reviewing and evaluating the current status of the number of Mo men and the maintenance and performance of Mo songs of the Muong ethnic group in Hoa Binh.

The content of the investigation, inventory and collection is to grasp the number of Mo masters currently practicing in the province; the number of Mo songs in each region; organize filming, taking photos, and recording actual Mo songs through the performances of Mo masters.

After that, the Department organized workshops for each Muong region; organized appraisal, acceptance and prepared scientific records to submit to the relevant levels for decision to include in the conservation data warehouse.

In the inventory product, we filmed 4 Mo performances of 4 funerals in the areas of Tan Lac, Lac Son, Cao Phong, Kim Boi - 4 cradles of 4 ancient big Muongs: Bi, Vang, Thang, Dong. The result was 1,000 photos and nearly 100 video tapes. These documents have been converted into DVDs and VCDs.

Since 2016, the awareness of all levels, sectors and social communities about Mo Muong cultural values ​​has gradually changed, especially after Mo Muong was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.

Directive No. 08, dated January 20, 2016 of the Provincial Party Committee on strengthening the leadership of Party committees at all levels in the work of preserving, conserving and promoting the value of Mo Muong cultural heritage in Hoa Binh province was issued. The Provincial People's Committee directed the establishment of a Steering Committee on Mo Muong cultural heritage.

Accordingly, the work of collecting and compiling documents on Mo Muong has been directed and implemented; the Mo Muong artisans have been counted, reviewed and encouraged in a timely manner. In 2016, the Provincial People's Committee organized a meeting between provincial leaders and 200 Mo Muong artisans who had achieved the title of excellent artisans.

Research and collection of unique values ​​of Mo Muong continue to be promoted, while concretizing the goals and tasks of the Directive into annual socio-economic development programs and plans suitable to the situation of each locality and unit.

In 2018, the Provincial People's Committee approved and issued two projects: the project "Preserving and promoting the typical intangible cultural values ​​of the Muong ethnic group in the period of 2018 - 2030" and the project "Preserving and promoting the values ​​of Mo Muong cultural heritage in Hoa Binh in the period of 2019 - 2025 and the following years".

Also in 2018, with the guidance of the authorities, Mo Muong clubs were established. Here, artisans live, collect, search for ancient rông mo, and compose new mo poems. To date, 115 rông mo have been collected, with more than 44,000 mo poems, and to perform all the mo songs, it takes 23 consecutive days of mo.

Along with that, we are looking for young people who have the ability and enthusiasm to pass on the profession. For the first time in history, the province has built a set of Muong ethnic writing, which is important in recording the Mo and creating the premise for researching and recording ethnic culture.

With that importance, the Resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term set out the task: "Mobilizing resources to preserve, embellish and promote the unique mountainous cultural identity of ethnic minorities in the province associated with tourism development, submitting to UNESCO the dossier of Mo Muong intangible cultural heritage to be listed in the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent protection".

Currently, the relevant departments are collecting and fully recording the values ​​of Mo Muong heritage, compiling the Mo Muong Hoa Binh dictionary; documenting and digitizing Mo Muong cultural heritage.

On that basis, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries, branches and localities to compile a dossier on the Mo Muong Intangible Cultural Heritage (Hoa Binh province) and submit it to the Prime Minister for permission to submit it to UNESCO for recognition as a World Cultural Heritage.

Based on the above guidance, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has developed a Submission requesting the Provincial People's Council to issue a Resolution approving the Project to build a dossier of Mo Muong to submit to UNESCO for inclusion in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage for Urgent Safeguarding; organize preservation and promotion after being listed.

The project is implemented in Hoa Binh province and 6 participating provinces and cities: Hanoi, Son La, Phu Tho, Ninh Binh, Dak Lak, Thanh Hoa. The project is expected to cost a total of about 15.2 billion VND, starting in 2021, and will be implemented in the period 2021 - 2025.

According to the roadmap, after the Provincial People's Council unanimously approves the implementation of the project, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (the presiding agency) will coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and related provinces to organize domestic and international scientific seminars and scientific discussions in localities; organize field surveys of Mo Muong in Hoa Binh province and 6 participating provinces and cities; organize an inventory of Mo Muong heritage, collect commitments from the community that owns the heritage; collect, record audio and video of Mo Muong rituals; organize a working group to protect the Mo Muong dossier at the UNESCO Intergovernmental Conference...

The recognized project will affirm and encourage the creation of oral expressions, traditional folk performing arts, and humanistic values ​​that ensure respect for the cultural diversity of humanity.

Putting Mo Muong on the urgent protection list will raise awareness of local communities and people nationwide about the value of intangible cultural heritage, encourage local communities to actively participate in preserving, conserving and promoting heritage values, contributing to building an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national cultural identity.

According to VTC