(HBO) – The Muong Cultural Heritage Museum, located in Thai Binh ward of Hoa Binh city (Hoa Binh province), is managed by Meritorious Artisan Bui Thanh Binh. Covering more than 4,000 sq.m., it features six main stilt houses displaying nearly 6,000 objects arranged according to different periods of the Muong ethnic group’s culture. The museum has become an attractive destination for Vietnamese and foreign visitors over the past years.
Meritorious Artisan Bui Thanh Binh, Director of the Muong Cultural Heritage Museum, shows students from the Hoang Van Thu High School for the Gifted how to make "banh uoi”, a traditional dish of the Muong people.
Binh said the Muong Cultural Heritage Museum, opened in 2014, is the second non-public in Hoa Binh province and the 24th private in Vietnam. It came as a result of his over-30-year efforts to collect antiquities of the Muong ethnic group from across Vietnam.
With six main stilt houses each of which has a different function, the museum meets diverse demand for exhibiting objects and performing arts of the ethnic minority. It showcases not only the items used in the daily life such as working tools, traditional costumes, and musical instruments, but also rare antiquities like bronze drums, gongs, and ceramics dating back thousands of years. Notably, the exhibits include a collection of more than 100 Muong gongs.
To bring the Muong cultural values closer to the public, Binh has been working hard to reform exhibition methods and activities of the museum. He has made museum presentation more interesting while holding a wide range of activities, including opening an outdoor area for displaying folk toys; organising folk games like "nem con”, "danh mang”, walking on stilts, and pole pushing; and instructing visitors in cooking traditional dishes of Muong people.
As head of the Muong village in the Hanoi-based Vietnamese National Village for Culture and Tourism, he has also been striving to spread the values of the Muong people’s culture far and wide.
In particular, Binh has directly taught how to play the Muong gongs to natives of Hoa Binh province such as the districts of Kim Boi, Tan Lac, and Lac Son, and Hoa Binh City. He has also been invited to teach the playing in other localities, including Hoa Thang commune of Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province; and Quoc Oai, Thach That, and Ba Vi districts of Hanoi. With his enthusiasm, he has inspired the interest in the traditional cultural heritage among generations of learners.
Binh has also assisted with Hoa Binh artisans’ reenactment and performance of Muong people’s festivals and epics on the rice culture at an event held in Bangkok; the exhibition of the Muong cultural heritage in the Vietnamese National Village for Culture and Tourism; and programmes introducing the ethnic group’s traditional music and cuisine in many provinces like Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai, Phu Tho, and Son La.
Thanks to those efforts, the Muong Cultural Heritage Museum has become a place for preserving the essence of the Muong culture and also an attractive destination for visitors once setting foot in Hoa Binh province./.
Gongs hold a special place in the cultural and spiritual life of the Muong ethnic people in Hoa Binh province. More than musical instruments, they are an indispensable part of community rituals and collective memory, echoing through generations as a spiritual thread linking the past, present, and future.
Preserving and promoting the cultural values of the Muong ethnic group has become an urgent task in the current context, as many traditional values face the risk of fading away. This effort requires not only protecting the cultural identity but also eliminating outdated customs and developing a modern cultural lifestyle, contributing to sustainable values for the Muong community in Hoa Binh province.
The Muong ethnic culture, deeply rooted in Vietnam’s mountainous north, continues to be preserved and revitalised by dedicated individuals and communities determined to safeguard their ancestral identity.
The Muong group is one of the largest ethnic minorities in Vietnam, primarily found in Hoa Binh province. The Muong people in Hoa Binh boast a rich and diverse cultural treasure that reflects the unique identity of this ethnic group. Accounting for over 63% of the province's population, they have created and preserved numerous distinctive cultural values, contributing to their unique identity. Their cultural heritage is an invaluable asset, at the heart of their national identity, and represents a vibrant spiritual life that must be preserved and promoted in today’s modern world.
For generations, the ethnic communities of Hoa Binh province, particularly the Muong people, have preserved vibrant festivals deeply intertwined with the region’s geography, nature, and social traditions. These celebrations enrich Hoa Binh’s spiritual life and cultural identity, reflecting both folk beliefs and the intermingling of ethnic customs. Many of these festivals have endured the test of time, passed down through generations and continuing to thrive today. Among them, the Khai Ha (Going Down to the Field) festival stands out as one of the most significant events of the Muong ethnic group.
Muong calendar, known as sach doi, is an ancient folk knowledge system developed through observations of the movement of the pleiades star. This unique calendar consists of 12 bamboo sticks, each representing a lunar month. Specific days within each month are marked with distinct symbols, guiding locals in determining auspicious and inauspicious days for important activities.
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