Vietnam province to host ethnic minority gong festival
18:38 04/03/2009

      Buon Ma Thout city’s Central Highlands Gong Culture Festival will celebrate traditions surrounding the Vietnamese gong, one of the country’s most purely-Vietnamese cultural items, this November

The “Eternal Talk from Mountains and Jungles” festival will offer visitors the chance to learn more about gong culture, which was recognized by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005.

Aside from a plethora of gong shows, veteran artisans from the Ede, Jrai, Bahnar, Se Dang, and Co Tu ethnic minorities will put on several demonstrations to introduce visitors to their traditional clothing, knitting, weaving, folk games and use of elephants.

Twenty-three gong troupes from ethnic groups in the Central Highlands have registered to take part in the event, which is expected to be attended by five guest troupes from Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

Gongs are an integral part of ethnic minority cultures in the central highlands provinces of Lam Dong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, and Dak Nong.

Different arrangements and rhythms express various highlands traditions, such as ritual sacrifice, blessing of the rice, mourning, or harvest.

The Daklak People’s Committee committee’s VND15 billion (nearly US$928,000) , festival will run November 21-24.

A seminar on gong culture at Dam San Hotel will be hosted by Professor To Ngoc Thanh, a prominent gong culture historian, on November 23.  The talk will focus on devising ways to preserve this culture and its value

Source: Thanh Nien, Tien Phong – Compiled by Thu Thuy

Source : thanhniennews.com