The festival of Lady Chua Xu of Sam Mountain is a cultural heritage of humanity.

(CLO) UNESCO officially listed the Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

At 9:47 a.m. on December 4, 2024, local time (7:47 p.m. Hanoi time), at the 19th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, held at the Conmebol Convention Center, Asunción, Republic of Paraguay, the Vietnamese Heritage of the Festival of Lady Chua Xu of Sam Mountain was officially inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

This is one of 66 proposals considered at this session and is the 16th intangible cultural heritage of Vietnam to be recognized by UNESCO.

Statue of Lady Xu of Sam Mountain. Photo: TL

According to the Department of Cultural Heritage ( Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ), the Intergovernmental Committee acknowledged that Vietnam had prepared the dossier for the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain very well, as well as Vietnam's dossiers up to now. At the same time, it highly appreciated Vietnam's experiences and contributions to the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, especially in the 2022-2026 term.

Ba Chua Xu is a holy mother in the goddess worship belief, always protecting and supporting the people. The custom of worshiping her and participating in the festival is to satisfy the belief and wishes for health, peace and fortune of the ethnic communities in Chau Doc, An Giang as well as the residents of the Southwest region.

The Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain takes place from the 22nd to the 27th day of the 4th lunar month, in the Ba Chua Xu Temple on Sam Mountain and the stone pedestal area on Sam Mountain. The festival includes spiritual rituals and artistic performances, expressing the belief and gratitude to Mother Earth - Mother Land of the Vietnamese, Cham, Khmer and Chinese ethnic communities in Chau Doc, An Giang.

The Sam Mountain Lady Festival is the inheritance, absorption, integration and creation of Vietnamese residents in the process of land reclamation and is the synthesis of the Mother Goddess worship beliefs of the Vietnamese, Cham, Khmer and Chinese ethnic groups.

The festival aims to honor the patron goddess, who bestows wealth, health, and peace on local people. It is also an educational environment for the traditional morality of "remembering the source of water when drinking", reminding the ancestors of their merits in building and defending the country, promoting the role of women, and demonstrating the exchange in creativity, cultural practice, and harmony of ethnic groups sharing the same faith within the same territory.

The procession of the statue of Lady Xu of Sam Mountain. Photo: TL

UNESCO's inscription of the Ba Chua Xu Festival on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity will raise community awareness in jointly organizing, managing and preserving common heritage, connecting ethnic communities in Vietnam; thereby, raising cultural respect in expressing the common aspiration for a peaceful life, favorable weather, human well-being and prosperity.

This UNESCO listing also contributes to sharing the form of Festival practice, affirming the role of rituals that are culturally integrated among communities, reflecting cultural diversity. At the same time, it promotes understanding and dialogue between ethnic communities with goddess worship beliefs in Vietnam, in Southeast Asia and around the world, promoting the spiritual cultural creations of ethnic groups and contributing to identifying cultural similarities among ethnic groups.

Khanh Ngoc

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/le-hoi-via-ba-chua-xu-nui-sam-la-di-san-van-hoa-cua-nhan-loai-post324181.html