The festival of Ba Chua Xu of Sam Mountain is honored by UNESCO: Adding more joy to heritage

Sam Mountain Lady Festival (Photo: Thu Hong)

The good news at the end of the year about the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain is even more meaningful as it comes at the right time when the National Assembly has just passed the revised Law on Cultural Heritage and the National Target Program on Cultural Development 2025-2035.

Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu, Chairman of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, assessed that the event has important significance, contributing to enriching the cultural treasure of intangible cultural heritage of humanity in Vietnam, while raising awareness of the responsibility to promote and preserve heritage for future generations.

According to Permanent Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Vu, the newly recognized heritage represents the continuity and cultural exchange between ethnic communities in An Giang province, along with very profound meanings: gratitude, harmonious connection, honoring and using cultural expressions and spiritual festivals for the common goal of the community.

Colors from the Southern Land

Appearing from ancient times and preserved through many generations, the Ba Chua Xu Sam Mountain Festival in Chau Doc City, An Giang carries deep spiritual and cultural values ​​of the people in the Southern river region.

Taking place from April 22-27 (Lunar calendar), the festival is held in the Ba Chua Xu temple on Sam mountain and the stone pedestal area worshiping her on Sam mountain with spiritual rituals and artistic performances, expressing the belief and gratitude to Mother Earth - Mother Land of the Vietnamese, Cham, Khmer and Chinese ethnic communities in Chau Doc, An Giang, as well as residents of the Southwest region.

Ba Chua Xu is the Mother Goddess in the goddess worship, always protecting and supporting the people. Containing vivid data about the historical imprints of the period when Vietnamese people came to An Giang land, the Festival is the inheritance, absorption, integration and creation of Vietnamese residents in the process of land reclamation, is the synthesis of the Mother worship beliefs of the Vietnamese, Cham, Khmer and Chinese ethnic groups with unique cultural identity.

Since 2001, the Festival has been recognized as a national festival by the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism). Since then, in addition to the traditional ceremony, the festival has been organized enthusiastically with stage shows, cultural and sports weeks, folk games, art performances... to serve the people and tourists.

In 2014, the Festival continued to be included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, showing respect for this unique folk festival.

The Vietnamese delegation at the 19th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003 in Asuncion, Paraguay. (Photo: Bao Chi)

The way to world heritage

Since 2020, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has agreed with the proposal of the People's Committee of An Giang province to build a dossier for the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain to submit to UNESCO for inclusion in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and at the same time coordinate with relevant units to plan the construction of the dossier.

After four years, the dossier on the Festival is the result of tireless efforts and close coordination of the community, An Giang provincial government with professional advice from heritage experts, the active and effective direction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the coordinating role of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO in proposing, selecting ideas, completing and implementing the campaign.

As one of 66 candidates approved at the 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Convention 2003), the Via Ba Chua Xu Sam Mountain Festival has overcome strict requirements to become the 16th Intangible Cultural Heritage of Vietnam and the second Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Southern region (along with the Art of Don Ca Tai Tu) to be honored by UNESCO.

According to the assessment of the Intergovernmental Committee for the 2023 Convention, the nomination dossier for the Intangible Cultural Heritage of this Festival meets five criteria: organized by the Kinh, Khmer, Cham and Chinese communities in Chau Doc City; contributing to improving the quality of education, gender equality, comprehensive economic development, as well as promoting actions to sustainably protect the environment and climate, protect peace and social cohesion; the State has proposed protection measures; the nomination dossier has identified the role of establishments, characters, community representatives and heritages included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Inventory List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of An Giang Province.

An Giang Provincial Party Secretary Le Hong Quang still remembers the emotional moment when he heard the hammer sound announcing the voting results recognizing the province's heritage.

He shared: “With the permission of the Prime Minister, when receiving the invitation from the Director General of UNESCO, we prepared ourselves mentally for a long journey to Paraguay to protect our cultural heritage with excitement and high determination to complete the task well.

The Ba Chua Xu Mountain Sam Festival recognized by UNESCO has a special significance, a great honor for the Party Committee, government and people in the province; contributing to widely propagating and promoting to the people and domestic and foreign tourists the typical and unique cultural values ​​of the land and people of An Giang.

Assistant Director General for Culture awarded the Certificate of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity to the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain. (Photo: Bao Chi)

Story of preserving and promoting common assets

The festival of Ba Chua Xu Mountain Sam recognized by UNESCO is not only a source of pride for the people of An Giang or the South but also a common joy for the whole country.

According to Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu, Chairman of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, this is international recognition and appreciation for the beauty of the heritage and Vietnam's efforts in protecting the heritage, contributing to affirming the diversity, value and identity of Vietnamese culture in the common cultural picture of humanity.

At this meeting, the Chairman of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO emphasized that the Ba Chua Xu Festival at Sam Mountain is a testament to the diverse, long-standing, and deeply-identified culture of Vietnam. At the same time, UNESCO's recognition is of great significance, contributing positively to the work of preserving and promoting heritage values ​​at both the national and international levels.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Vu emphasized: "As Vice President of the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 Convention, Vietnam is committed to always making efforts to preserve and promote the value of this heritage as well as other cultural heritages to pass on to future generations."

These days, An Giang people are excited and proud because the new title will create more resources for preserving and promoting heritage values, supporting sustainable socio-economic development in the locality.

The day after the honor, An Giang province is urgently building a plan to preserve and promote the heritage of the Ba Chua Xu Festival at Sam Mountain.

Accordingly, the community is able to participate to the maximum extent in the activities of practice, transmission, heritage protection as well as management. Local authorities will create a policy corridor and mobilize resources to promote the values ​​of heritage.

Recognizing that heritage is the common property of ethnic communities, the province will coordinate with domestic and foreign cultural organizations and researchers to study and collect documents on festivals and beliefs of the Mother Goddess of the Land in order to decode the cultural symbols and symbols of ethnic groups practicing the festival.

On the other hand, according to the Department of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, UNESCO's inscription of the Ba Chua Xu Festival on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity will raise community awareness in jointly organizing, managing and preserving common heritage; promote understanding and dialogue among ethnic communities with goddess worship beliefs in Vietnam, Southeast Asia and the world; promote spiritual and cultural creations of ethnic groups and contribute to identifying cultural similarities between ethnic groups.