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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.
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.
Phong Phu commune, Tan Lac district of Hoa Binh province, is widely regarded as the cultural heartland of the Muong ethnic group. Among its many traditional communities, Luy Ai hamlet (formerly Ai hamlet) stands out as a rare location where the customs and way of life of the Muong Bi people remain largely intact.
The Truong Kha temple festival, a distinctive cultural event held every three years in Vu Ban township, Lac Son district, returned recently with vibrant rituals and folk traditions of the Muong people. Located next to the Buoi River in the Muong Trao fields, the Truong Kha Temple is dedicated to the three Kun Dol deities, revered for teaching farming techniques, irrigation, weaving, and protecting the harvest.
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