On the afternoon of March 3, the People's Committee of An Giang province held a meeting to review the organization of the ceremony to receive the UNESCO certificate recognizing "Via Ba Chua Xu Nui Sam" as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity and to open the Via Ba Chua Xu festival in 2025.

Accordingly, these two events will take place at 8:00 p.m. on March 19, at Sam Mountain National Tourist Area (Sam Mountain Ward, Chau Doc City, An Giang Province).

The ceremony is expected to last 120 minutes with many cultural and artistic activities carefully staged and prepared, worthy of the stature of a festival recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Specifically, the program includes 3 parts: The ceremony to receive the UNESCO recognition certificate; Opening of the Festival of Lady of Sam Mountain and a special art program. At 6:00 p.m. on the same day, there will be an incense offering ceremony at Thoai Ngoc Hau tomb, Lady of Sam Mountain temple...

The festival of Lady Chua Xu Nui Sam in An Giang is maintained annually according to traditional rituals: Opening the festival; carrying the statue of the Lady from the top of Sam mountain down to the temple; bathing the Lady; inviting the royal decree of Thoai Ngoc Hau and his two wives; rituals: Tuc Yet, Xay Chau; Chanh Te and Hoi Sac.

This festival is imbued with the culture of the people of the Southwest region, demonstrating the identity and continuity of the Vietnamese community in the process of cultural exchange and acculturation with the communities of ethnic groups living together: Hoa, Khmer and Cham.

Previously, the Via Ba Chua Xu Nui Sam Festival was recognized by UNESCO as a Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on December 4, 2024 at the 19th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in Paraguay.

Khanh Ngoc