Khanh Hoa Province features many intangible cultural heritages

Khanh Hoa Province is home to diverse intangible cultural heritages including folk forms, traditional festivals, literary, music, unique customs, distinct languages, and religious beliefs. These intangible cultural heritages have been preserved and promoted by localities and communities through many activities.

Fishermen in Vinh Nguyen Ward (Nha Trang City) performing ba trao singing at Whale Worship Festival at Truong Tay Communal House

Khanh Hoa has now 1 cultural heritage honored as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity; 4 cultural forms recognized as national intangible cultural heritages; 1 cultural form being prepared to propose UNESCO recognize it as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity; 2 cultural forms being proposed being recognized as national intangible cultural heritages. As stated in Nguyen Van Khanh's book, published by the National Political Publishing House in 2003, the first Vietnamese settlers in Khanh Hoa in 1653 created significant cultural changes. Over centuries, the harmonious coexistence of various ethnic groups has fostered a sense of unity, mutual support and strong bonds. The cultural characteristics in Khanh Hoa bear the common color of Vietnamese culture and the unique and distinct features of the region.

The intangible cultural heritages of Khanh Hoa comprise of folk literature with proverbs, idioms, folk tales, chants, lullabies, couplets about nature, natural resources, social communication, human emotions, and daily life, etc. created by the public to express their thoughts, feelings and their understanding of nature. Folk music has also been formed for a long time in Khanh Hoa with many musical instruments lithophone, ma la, and gongs, as well as epic songs of ethnic groups in mountainous areas; Ba trao singing, Bai Choi singing, Tuong, folk songs of people in lowland areas.

Regarding customs and practices, Khanh Hoa people still maintain the worship of village tutelary gods, ancestors at communal houses; Ong Nam Hai (Whale that is considered as a deity of fishermen) at coastal communal houses and shrines; Thien Y A Na Holy Mother at temples, communal houses; wedding and funeral customs of ethnic groups.

Khanh Hoa's traditional crafts include salangane nest, fishing, aloeswood processing, and pottery.  Whale worship festival, salanganes nest festival, grave-leaving ceremony, new rice ceremony, water wharf ceremony, communal house ceremonies are the typical intangible cultural heritages of Khanh Hoa people. Notably, major traditional festivals like the Ponagar Temple Festival and Am Chua Festival often attract a large number of pilgrims in and outside the province.

Ponagar Temple Festival 2024

According to Le Van Hoa, deputy director of Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, over the past years, the province has implemented many solutions to preserve and promote intangible cultural heritages in the province, such as publishing publications of folk literature, incorporating folk literature into school programs; restoring the practice of traditional festivals; and investing in many projects on preservation and promotion of intangible cultural heritages. In Khanh Hoa, the promotion of intangible cultural heritage values has initially been integrated with tourism activities to enhance effectiveness and promote these heritages.

The national intangible cultural heritages in Khanh Hoa now include Ponagar Temple Festival and tomb-leaving ceremony of Raglai people (recognized in 2012); Whale worship festival (recognized in 2014); and the knowledge of exploiting and processing Khanh Hoa salanganes nests (recognized in 2014). The art of Bai Choi in Khanh Hoa and 8 other provinces and cities in the central region was recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017. 

Currently, the province is preparing documents to propose recognition of the practice of Thien Y A Na Holy Mother worship as intangible cultural heritage of humanity, folk knowledge of aloeswood industry and Khanh Hoa salanganes nest festival as national intangible cultural heritages.

Giang Dinh
Translated by H.N