(HBO) - Lac Son district, comprising 24 communal-level localities, is home to 34,536 households, 90 percent of which belong to the Muong ethnic minority. As many as 230 of the 270 cultural centres in local hamlets and 10 others at the communal level have met criteria set by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. All the communal-level localities have had land zoned for developing sports centres while 56 sports clubs have also been established in Lac Son.

 

The new cultural centres of hamlets in Tan My commune of Lac Son district are stilt houses made from concrete so as to help keep cultural identities of the Muong ethnic group.

This district is renowned for a number of traditional cultural values of the Muong people still preserved today, from old houses, unique costumes and the Muong language to folk songs, gongs, bronze drums, and epics of this minority.

Over the past years, it is known as the best performer in conserving the Muong people’s housing culture. While there is still a relatively large number of wooden stilt houses in mountainous and remote communes of Lac Son, there are more and more concrete stilt houses in low-lying localities.

Due to the shortage of timber, locals invented a new method for stilt house construction which is using concrete. The method was first used in Tan My commune in 2004 and 2005 and then became popular across the district. Preliminary statistics show that there are more than 7,000 concrete stilt houses, mostly in Tan My, Tan Lap, An Nghia, Yen Nghiep, Xuat Hoa and Dinh Cu.

Aside from preserving the housing culture, authorities of Lac Son have also moved to include the teaching of Muong gongs, folk songs, and costumes in local schools’ curricula. In particular, the Lac Son and Quyet Thang high schools have organised many competitions on performing gongs, folk songs and traditional costumes of the Muong people, attracting the participation of many students.

More than 3,000 gongs are still kept in Lac Son at present. Many communes like Nhan Nghia, An Nghia and Tan Lap have had gong and folk music teams set up in all of their communes, thereby helping to preserve the Muong ethnic group’s culture./.

 


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