Building a cultural lifestyle in Anh Son: Aiming for practical benefits

(Baonghean) - In many contents of the movement "All people unite to build a cultural life in residential areas", Anh Son mountainous district focuses on directing communes and towns to effectively implement two contents: implementing a new cultural lifestyle in weddings and funerals and maintaining the effectiveness of self-management groups.

Coming to village 8, Tuong Son commune, next to a pot of hot tea, Village Chief Nguyen Ba Tung said: Under the guidance of the steering committee for building the cultural life of the commune, the hamlet has built and implemented a village covenant and a unified convention on weddings and funerals. In the wedding ceremony, the procedures of meeting the bride's parents, engagement, and wedding procession are not formal, not cumbersome, there is no demand for gifts or dowry. In particular, for all weddings in the village, the Executive Committee coordinates with the Commune Police Department to ensure security and order, and strictly implement the district's regulations recorded in the village covenant such as not playing music before 6am and after 10pm, not smoking, limiting alcohol consumption...

For funerals, when someone passes away, the village immediately establishes a Funeral Committee, in addition to paying respects and offering condolences, it also has the task of mobilizing the family to bury the deceased in a timely manner, not to exceed 24 hours, only hanging mourning flags at the funeral location, not scattering money on the funeral procession, and performing rituals briefly during the day and within the family and clan. In particular, the Village Executive Committee stipulates that when someone in the village or hamlet passes away, the families in the village or hamlet contribute an amount of money from 30,000 to 50,000 VND, which is fully recorded in the village's logbook, becoming the funeral money of the whole village, both encouraging the spirit and comforting the homeowner. When organizing a funeral, all households in the village must send representatives to participate in bringing the deceased to their final resting place, helping the family with other tasks. After the funeral, the Village Executive Committee assigned households to regularly visit to encourage and comfort the homeowner. Thanks to that, village and neighborhood ties are strengthened, people unite to implement the policies of the Party and higher-level authorities.

Meeting of self-management group 1, village 8, Linh Son commune (Anh Son).

Mr. Nguyen Huu Van - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Tuong Son Commune added: "Tuong Son Commune has 14 villages and hamlets. Previously, weddings and funerals often lasted for many days, especially in the two ethnic minority villages of O O and Gia Hop. But with the close guidance of the Party Committee and the commune government, currently, in all villages and hamlets, weddings and funerals are shortened, and there is no smoking at weddings. In addition, the commune also focuses on building cultural and sports facilities to serve the entertainment and healthy living needs of the people. Currently, the commune has 12 halls (including the commune hall), standard cultural houses, with halls with 120 seats or more. All villages have art troupes, soccer and volleyball teams. The whole commune has 14 anti-drug and prostitution clubs and 8 youth and juvenile clubs that regularly meet once a month, contributing to limiting and preventing drug and prostitution evils. The construction of a healthy cultural environment has been deployed and implemented in many areas such as: Village roads and alleys are regularly swept and lit at night; each family builds their own garbage pit, sorts garbage and disposes of it according to regulations; sanitary facilities are properly... Up to now, the commune has 10/14 villages and hamlets that meet cultural standards, 79.8% of families are cultural, 26.5% of families are sports families...

Following National Highway 7, arriving at Village 8, Linh Son Commune, the first impression is the spacious village gate, built at a cost of nearly 100 million VND, contributed by local children who have successfully worked far away. The cultural house, spacious volleyball court, village roads and alleys are concreted, spacious, clean and beautiful. Leading me around the village, Hamlet Chief Dinh Viet Sam said: “Hamlet 8, Linh Son commune has more than 120 households with more than 500 people. The village has established 7 self-governing groups, which meet once a month with many rich and practical contents such as exchanging business experiences, disseminating new policies and guidelines of the Party and State as well as of the locality, organizing reconciliation when conflicts arise between households in the group, within each family, propagating and mobilizing people to actively respond to the movement of building new rural areas, implementing well the conventions and village covenants of the hamlet, building and helping each other to develop the economy, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty...

There are cases of conflicts that have lasted for many years, often leading to domestic violence. Thanks to the active and persistent intervention of the self-management group, the family has now returned to peace, the husband and wife are enthusiastic about their work, and actively participate in the activities of the hamlet and the commune. In particular, the people in the self-management group also contribute from 50,000 to 100,000 VND each month to create a fund for households in difficulty to borrow... Mr. Nguyen Van Thu - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Linh Son commune said: "The self-management group model has been deployed in 14/14 villages of the commune for many years and the activities of the self-management groups are linked to the activities of building cultural families. Together with the self-management groups, the commune has launched and built 15 reliable points for preventing and combating domestic violence, consolidated and effectively maintained 14 mediation groups, and since 2007 has reconciled 35 cases of family conflicts and disputes, especially successfully reconciling 12 couples who filed for divorce to reunite... Thanks to that, the rate of Cultural Families in the commune increases by 2-3% annually.

Mr. Nguyen Tat Thanh, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Anh Son district, said: "Currently, the Department of Culture and Information of the district is advising the authorities at all levels to implement some more cultural contents in weddings and funerals such as encouraging the bride, groom and family to place flowers at the martyrs' memorial, martyrs' cemetery, historical and cultural relics; planting souvenir trees in the locality on the wedding day... Regarding the construction of village covenants and the establishment of self-governing groups, up to now, 248/252 blocks, villages and hamlets have village covenants, 100% of blocks, villages and hamlets have established self-governing groups, contributing greatly to ensuring security and order, preventing social evils, preventing domestic violence, helping each other develop the economy... in residential areas. Typical are the communes of Duc Son, Linh Son, Hoa Son...

Currently, 21/21 communes and towns of Anh Son district basically have cultural and sports institutions to meet the daily needs of the people, of which 16 communes have halls and cultural houses that meet standards, 17 communes have cultural post offices, 8 communes have libraries, 10 communes have reading rooms, 10 communes have traditional exhibition rooms; 100% of communes have radio stations. The whole district has 128 football fields, 284 volleyball courts, all communes have art troupes, football and volleyball teams, with a core of 10-15 people, regularly practicing and participating in annual tournaments organized by the district and commune. In particular, from 2012 to now, on the occasion of "National Great Unity Day" (November 18), the district organizes a border cultural festival with many exciting activities: volleyball competitions, tug of war, culinary, cultural exchanges, lam vong dancing, drinking can wine.

From the spread of those activities, up to now, the whole district has 123/252 villages and hamlets recognized as Cultural Villages, of which 42 units maintain the title of Cultural Villages; more than 21,282 households have achieved the title of Cultural Families, accounting for 76.5% of which ethnic minorities have 1,270 households, reaching 70%. To improve the quality of the movement of the whole people uniting to build a cultural life, in the coming time, the district will continue to direct communes to mobilize families to well implement the population policy - family planning; promote the effectiveness of cultural houses in villages and hamlets; improve environmental sanitation on village roads and alleys, and prevent epidemics..."

Minh Quan