Folk culture plays an important role in preserving and promoting the cultural values and traditions of the nation. Over nearly 300 years of formation and development, Vinh Long has produced great and unique values of culture and folk arts that need to be identified, researched, collected, preserved and promoted.
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| Intellectual heritage, folk literature written on palm leaves of Khmer people. |
Care about preserving folk knowledge treasure
According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoanh - former Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, after 1975, Vinh Long folk literature and arts received much attention from writers, journalists, researchers, agencies, universities...
Some of the works include: “Some features of folk culture in Long Ho” by Luong Minh Chau in 1983; “Some features of An Binh island through folk songs and folk songs” by Nguyen Trong Dung, Cuu Long Literature and Arts, 1987; “Uncle Tam Co's funny story” by Ho Tinh Tam in 1997.
A large and elaborate collection and research work on the folk arts of the three ethnic groups Kinh, Chinese, and Khmer in Cuu Long province is the book "Cuu Long Folk Songs" by Lu Nhat Vu, Nguyen Van Hoa, Le Giang, Thach An, Cuu Long Department of Culture and Information, published in 1986. This research work has great resonance and high academic value...
In 2003-2004, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism collected and researched Han-Nom heritage. The project collected many royal decrees, edicts, and inscriptions issued by the royal court over the years. Hundreds of horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences, and funeral orations were preserved and displayed at communal houses, temples, mausoleums, shrines, and private homes in the province.
In particular, there are 3,000 pages of Han-Nom documents preserved at the Minh Huong Hoi Quan relic in Vinh Long City. According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Phung, the custodian of the Minh Huong Hoi Quan, this special collection of documents has been carefully preserved since the Gia Long, Minh Mang, Thieu Tri, Tu Duc, French colonial periods until recent years.
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| 3,000 pages of Han-Nom texts kept at the Minh Huong Assembly Hall relics are of great value. |
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This extremely valuable and reliable source of documents can be used to study the economy , culture and society of not only Vinh Long but also the entire Southern region from the 19th century to the present. More than 3,000 pages of reliable documents are truly priceless treasures, which are not preserved anywhere else in the Mekong Delta.
In 2006, the Literature and Arts Association coordinated to organize a lullaby collection campaign in the province. Through the collection, over 400 works were recorded. Although the works collected in this campaign do not fully reflect the heritage of lullabies still circulating among the people, they have shown the appearance of lullabies; bearing the mark of the Mekong Delta, being a part of the heritage of Vietnamese lullabies, blending into the flow of the art of national lullabies.
In 2010, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoanh conducted research on the cultural heritage of Vietnamese houses in Vinh Long. This is an in-depth research project on house architecture and intangible elements related to traditional fine arts, customs and practices of residents when building, using and preserving traditional houses over the past several hundred years in Vinh Long.
The Vietnamese house is not only a place to live, work, and maintain the race, but also functions as a miniature museum of each family and clan. Therefore, it shows that more than 100 old houses in Vinh Long are tangible and intangible cultural heritages that contribute to the appearance of a land. The work "Traditional wooden houses of Vietnamese people in Vinh Long" was published in 2011.
Most recently, writer and journalist Nguyen Trong Dung published two books, “Stories that few people know” (Thuan Hoa Publishing House, volume 1 released in 2023, volume 2 released in early 2025). This is a work that collects folk stories, anecdotes, legends… of the land of Vinh Long, Mekong Delta from the time of land reclamation, during the resistance wars against foreign invaders and in recent years.
Promoting values in modern life
In 2013-2014, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City organized for lecturers and students of the Faculty of Literature to go on a field trip and collect folk literature in Vinh Long province. Through the collection, the group contacted 1,976 people and collected 2,750 works. The work "Vinh Long Folk Literature" by the group of authors won an award from the Vietnam Folk Literature Association in 2019.
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| Research work of teachers and students of Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Photo: University of Social Sciences and Humanities |
According to the group of authors La Mai Thi Gia, Phan Xuan Dien, Le Thanh Vy, in terms of genre units, among the nearly 3,000 folk literature units collected through fieldwork in Vinh Long, it can be seen that the majority are folk songs, lullabies, proverbs, and riddles, of which the most abundant is the folk song genre with nearly 50% of the total number of works.
The content of Vinh Long folk songs also contains most of the common themes of national folk songs such as love for homeland, love for labor, love for country, people, love for boys and girls, family affection and the thoughts of workers about human issues in life. There are unique folk songs with the appearance of local places or products, expressing "Vinh Long, a beautiful land with beautiful people/ Lush fields and gardens, kind people".
The authors commented that Vinh Long folk literature has also revealed a fairly complete portrait of a traditional literature with all the most basic aspects and genre characteristics. The book can be considered a serious inventory of traditional folk literature in a timely manner and it is also necessary to have more specific plans for collection and research in the future.
Poet Nguyen Khoa Diem once said: “Folklore is the gene that nourishes the national culture”. Folklore is like a colorful picture woven from stories, legends and cultural expressions that both connect people with the past and help them understand the present world around them.
The applicability of folk culture is not only in schools but also in many other areas of life such as culture, tourism, economy... Preserving and honoring folk culture contributes to preserving and preserving the precious spiritual assets that our ancestors have painstakingly created and passed down.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoanh - former Deputy Director of Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism |
Research works over the past 50 years have shown the richness, diversity, and huge reserves of folk literature in Vinh Long. However, it also clearly shows that there is still a lack of more in-depth and comprehensive research works on folk literature in Vinh Long. This shortcoming and delay can lead to the fading of traditional literary and artistic values, especially in the current period of deep integration with world culture and literature. In the coming time, it is necessary to research and collect traditional craft villages; research the skills and valuable assets that folk artisans are holding; collect more intellectual heritage, folk literature written on palm leaves of the Khmer people... |
Article and photos: PHUONG THU
Source: https://baovinhlong.com.vn/van-hoa-giai-tri/202507/giu-gin-va-phat-huy-gia-tri-van-hoa-dan-gian-c4e0477/
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