The worship of King Hung becomes a world heritage
At exactly 12:10 (Paris time - 18:10 Vietnam time), on December 6, at the 7th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage taking place in Paris (France), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially approved the decision to recognize the Hung King worship ritual in Phu Tho as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
At exactly 12:10 (Paris time - 18:10 Vietnam time), on December 6, at the 7th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage taking place in Paris (France), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially approved the decision to recognize the Hung King worship ritual in Phu Tho as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Immediately after the session chairman Arley Gill, who
Hung Kings' Commemoration Ceremony. (Photo: VNA)
Unable to hide his emotion, Ambassador Duong Van Quang, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Vietnam to UNESCO, said this was good news and an honor for the Vietnamese people in general and the people of Phu Tho province in particular.
This joy for Phu Tho province is doubled, because last year the province's Xoan singing dossier was also recognized as an intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent protection.
The fact that the Hung King worship in Phu Tho was recognized by UNESCO shows that the world highly appreciates and also acknowledges the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people, which has existed for thousands of years.
According to Ambassador Duong Van Quang, in the context of cultural integration and cultural diversity, the recognition of Hung King worship in Phu Tho demonstrates the vitality of Vietnamese culture, associated with the flow of cultural integration into the world.
Immediately after the Hung King worship ritual in Phu Tho was recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Mr. Hoang Dan Mac, Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Tho province, had a quick interview with Vietnamplus reporters at UNESCO headquarters about this new joy.
Mr. Hoang Dan Mac shared that the Hung King worship in Phu Tho represents the foundation of national solidarity and community cohesion, creating the strength of the Vietnamese people, always overcoming difficulties and challenges in the process of building and developing the country, fighting against foreign invaders. To preserve and promote the cultural value of this heritage, Phu Tho will have a lot of work to do and in the immediate future, it is necessary to immediately start drafting an action program with many contents, including the restoration and embellishment, linking intangible cultural heritage with tangible cultural heritage at the Hung King Temple.
Expressing pride that Vietnam has another heritage recognized by UNESCO, Dr. Le Thi Minh Ly, member of the National Heritage Council, said that to have today's joy, Vietnam had encountered many difficulties in the process of building the dossier to submit to the Secretariat of the 2003 UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Ms. Le Thi Minh Ly affirmed that in recent years, the State has paid much attention to intangible cultural heritages and has had a long-term strategy to protect and promote the value of cultural heritages in general, especially the heritage of ethnic minorities.
Previously, at the press conference on November 28, Ms. Cécile Duvelle, Head of the Secretariat of the 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, highly appreciated Vietnam's careful, complete and specific preparation of the dossier on the Hung King Worship in Phu Tho.
During the research and review of the nomination dossier, the dossier of Hung King Worship in Phu Tho was well evaluated by UNESCO experts and met the criteria including: The custom of worshipping Hung Kings shows respect for ancestors, increases national pride and solidarity; This belief, when recognized, will encourage awareness of gratitude to ancestors in many countries around the world as well as general awareness of respect for cultural diversity in the community.
Measures to preserve and promote the value of beliefs are guaranteed by the State budget and local authorities. These measures aim to ensure the maintenance and development of beliefs, while still maintaining the sacredness and other regulations of beliefs.
Representatives of villages and communes, as well as members of the festival organizing committee, actively contributed to the preparation of the dossier and expressed their consensus; "Hung King worship in Phu Tho" was reviewed by the Institute of Culture and Arts under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam, based on the opinions of communities in 13 districts in Phu Tho./.
(According to VNA)-LH
