Preserving traditional cultural heritages

People in the mountainous area of Khanh Son District, Khanh Hoa Province are actively trying to preserve and promote their traditional cultural heritages, especially the ones of Raglai people.

Locals preserving cultural heritages

After doing field work, Bo Bo Xuan Tuyen (Son Hiep Commune) often takes part in music activities in his village. Tuyen has knowledge of and can perform many ritual acts of Ragai people. Therefore, the local authorities invited him to teach young people in the village how to perform the ritual acts of New Rice Ceremony of Raglai people. 

Bo Bo Thu (Ba Cum Bac Commune) is good at singing, and he feels happy joining the music group of Khanh Son District. He is interested in learning how to play traditional musical instruments of the Raglai such as lithophone, chapi, ma la, trumpet, etc. “I am learning to play the lithophone and will continue to learn other musical instruments. I hope that through my performances of singing and musical instruments, I can help to introduce the unique cultural values of Raglai people to people in and outside the province,” said Thu.
 

Raglai people performing ritual acts of New Rice Ceremony at Vietnamese Ethnic Groups’ Culture Day 2022 in Khanh Son District

Over the past years, Khanh Son District’s Culture and Information Bureau has cooperated with the district Culture, Information and Sports Center to organize classes in musical instruments and traditional epic singing in order to restore, preserve and promote the values of traditional cultural characteristics, habits and customs. The district so far has organized six ma la classes, two lithophone classes and three epic singing classes. Besides, the district has actively cooperated with units to collect information and documents of folk music and translated some books about Raglai people’s culture in Khanh Son; completed ten sets of lithophone to distribute to the localities and district Culture, Information and Sports Center.

Creating music playgrounds

Khanh Son District created music playgrounds in order to promote the values of the traditional cultural heritages of Raglai people. For example, the district held music programs for Raglai people; encouraged artisans and created favorable conditions for them to perform traditional music songs namely alau, siri, rutu etc. and musical instruments. The district also collected and preserved traditional culture of Raglai people by recording their folk songs and epics.

In 2023, the district develops a project to restore, preserve and promote the traditional cultural values of Raglai ethnic group in association with tourism development until 2030. In order to involve the public in creating, preserving and promoting the values of traditional culture, the district has taken steps to build basic cultural institutions. Every year, the district organizes from 3 to 5 music programs in the district and music exchange programs with units and localities outside the province.

In the time to come, the district will continue to encourage local people to preserve the good cultural characteristics of the locality; create and maintain at least one form of cultural and art activities in villages; offer financial support for music groups. In addition, the district will focus on collecting and preserving national cultural heritages, in which priority will be given to organizing classes in ma la and epic singing; making traditional musical instruments; and restoring typical cultural festivals of Raglai people.

Giang Dinh
Translated by H.N