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The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has recently announced a list of new intangible national cultural heritage items, one of which is the Keng Loong performance art of the Thai people in Mai Chau district, the northern province of Hoa Binh.
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Thai people in Mai Chau perform the Keng Loong dance
during a festive occasion.
'Loong' means a trough (used for pounding rice), and 'keng
loong' refers to the act of pounding rice in a trough with long wooden pestles.
Loong is used in agricultural production as well as in rituals of the Thai
ethnic community. Therefore, Keng Loong is one of the prominent folk cultural
activities in the district, deeply rooted in the lives of Thai people for a
long time.
In 2022, Hoa Binh submitted for national intangible heritage
recognition dossiers of three intangible cultural heritage items, which were
the technique of weaving skirt waistband patterns for the traditional Muong
ethnic costume, the Thuong Rang singing and Meng ceremony of the Muong ethnic
group; and the performance art of Keng Loong of the Thai ethnic group in Mai
Chau.
The inclusion of this unique folk performance in the list of
intangible national cultural heritage not only affirms the distinctive cultural
identity of the province but also provides additional motivation for Mai Chau
to preserve and enhance its value serving tourism development.
With an increasingly vibrant and widespread emulation movement aimed at building cultured residential areas and cultured families, Yen Thuy District has been making steady progress toward improving both the material and spiritual well-being of its people, while fostering a civilized, prosperous, beautiful, and progressive community.
Once lacking recreational spaces and community facilities, Residential Group 2 in Quynh Lam Ward (Hoa Binh City) has recently received attention for the construction of a new, spacious, and fully equipped cultural house. The project followed the model of state support combined with public contributions in both labor and funding.
The "All people unite to build cultural life" movement, which has been effectively integrated with Kim Boi district’s socio-economic development goals, is fostering a lively spirit of emulation across local residential areas, hamlets, villages, public agencies, and enterprises. In addition, through the initiative, traditional cultural values are being preserved and promoted, while community solidarity and mutual support in poverty reduction and economic development are being strengthened.
A working delegation of the Hoa Binh provincial People’s Committee led by its Permanent Vice Chairman Nguyen Van Toan on June 11 inspected the progress of a project to build the Mo Muong Cultural Heritage Conservation Space linked to tourism services in Hop Phong commune, Cao Phong district.
Born and growing in the heroic land of Muong Dong, Dinh Thi Kieu Dung, a resident in Bo town of Kim Boi district, in her childhood was nurtured by the sweet lullabies of her grandmother and mother. These melodies deeply imprinted on her soul, becoming an inseparable part of her love for her ethnic group's culture. For over 20 years, this love for her hometown has driven Dung to research, collect, and pass down the cultural values of the Muong people to future generations.
In the final days of May, the Ethnic Art Troupe of Hoa Binh Province organized performances to serve the people in remote, mountainous, and particularly disadvantaged areas within the province. These were not just ordinary artistic shows, but they were the meaningful journeys aimed at spreading cultural values, enhancing the spiritual life of the people and contributing to the preservation of ethnic minority cultural identities.
