Tay Ninh youth and the 'treasure' of folk culture

After the country's reunification, the movement of cultural research, collection of historical documents, people in many localities and folk culture (VHDG) expanded throughout Vietnam. By the 90s of the 20th century, books on geography, research and collection of VHDG, and projects to preserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage were increasingly focused on.

In the 50-year flow of culture and folk arts, there are many works, research projects, collection results, and cultural and artistic projects worth mentioning, such as Tay Ninh Geography (2006), the book Tay Ninh Land and People (2020) with many authors in Tay Ninh participating in writing articles; 3 books on culture and people in Tay Ninh by researcher Duong Cong Duc: Gia Binh Xua (2010), Trang Bang Phuong Chi (2014), Tay Ninh along the Southern history (volume 1, 2019), recording and researching the Duong clan and the formation of Gia Binh village, history, culture of the land and people of Southern Tay Ninh. The book Tay Ninh Folk Songs (2005) stands out with 45/327 folk songs of the Cham, Khmer and Ta Mun ethnic minorities living in Tay Ninh; The two books Khmer Culture of Tay Ninh (2023) and Tay Ninh Call a Little This to Note (2024) by researcher Dao Thai Son have contributed to clarifying the cultural life of ethnic minorities in Tay Ninh.

Activities at the Folk Culture Festival

At the National Scientific Conference on Vietnamese Folk Culture and Arts after the Reunification of the Country (1975-2025), taking place in Hanoi from October 17 to 19, 2025, Tay Ninh had 3 presentations: Tay Ninh Folk Culture and Arts - Looking Back at 50 Years (Ms. Le Ngoc Hoa); Bringing Folk Culture and Arts Closer to Young People in Tay Ninh (Phi Thanh Phat); Bordering the Countryside Rivers (Ms. Vuong Thu Hong) outlined the cultural appearance, land and people of Tay Ninh.

Implementing the Party's guidelines and the State's policies on "Preserving and promoting national culture", Resolution No. 23-NQ/TW, dated June 16, 2008 of the Politburo on continuing to build and develop literature and art in the new period and Resolution of the 12th National Youth Union Congress on providing solutions for union members and youth to have more opportunities to access knowledge about history and national culture, the youth of Tay Ninh province have had many initiatives and good models to help young people access and learn about traditional culture of the nation, typically the model of Bringing VHDG into the work of the Youth Union and youth movement at Gia Binh ward Youth Union (now Go Dau ward, Tay Ninh province) through various forms of folk performances integrated into art programs, Youth Union, Association, Team activities, Mid-Autumn Festival programs, summer activities for children, etc. A characteristic feature in the process of developing this model is a series of programs called The VHDG Festival runs throughout the 2023-2025 period with many different themes such as Young people with VHDG; VHDG associated with local education for students and youth and From the culture of the Vam Co Dong River (Tay Ninh) to Vietnamese marine culture with the desire to get closer to the young generation, union members, and youth so that gradually everyone can access the image of VHDG in Tay Ninh.

Mr. Phi Thanh Phat (2nd from left) attended the National Scientific Conference on Vietnamese Folk Culture and Arts after the country's reunification (1975-2025)

Not stopping there, the model of Bringing VHDG into the work of the Youth Union and the youth movement also organized and maintained the Gia Binh Children's class to teach Don Ca Tai Tu to children in the summer, attracting many children to participate. All of them grasped the theory, the songs, sang Don Ca Tai Tu melodies, the lyrics, Cai Luong excerpts, and used traditional musical instruments. In addition to studying, children also learned about the formation process, the application of Don Ca Tai Tu, and ritual music in life, beliefs, and religions and participated in performances at seminars: Sowing seeds of good soil, Bringing national cultural pride to the stage on the day of class summary. At the Workshop on Characteristics of Literature and Arts of the Southeast region, it was stated that "The Gia Binh Children's class is a pioneering step to spread traditional arts to young people, contributing to preserving, conserving and promoting the art of Don Ca Tai Tu in Tay Ninh".

In particular, the model has created a movement for scientific research on VHDG among young people. By using the method of reading books, researching documents combined with fieldwork, young people have had many research articles on VHDG in Tay Ninh and the South. A typical example is Phi Thanh Phat, currently a member of the Vietnam Folk Arts Association, who has had many scientific research articles published at international, national, and ministerial scientific conferences and many scientific research articles on VHDG in Tay Ninh and the South in prestigious books, newspapers, magazines, journals, and industry journals. With his research on the art of bong roi, Phi Thanh Phat has pioneered in bringing this type of folk performance into the activities of the Union and local art performance programs, together with artisans in Tay Ninh to introduce and perform the art of bong roi in Hanoi, in the program of launching the book Do Ma Viet Nam, the exhibition of Do The Art at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum and many performances in and outside Tay Ninh. From the above actions, many people have understood, eliminated incorrect prejudices and appreciated a type of folk art associated with the residents since the early days of opening up the land, contributing to preserving and promoting the art of performing bong roi in Tay Ninh.

Gia Binh Children's Amateur Music Class

Along with Phi Thanh Phat, Vo Thi Thanh Thuy, Do Nguyen Tu Quynh,... in the process of researching Tay Ninh's folk culture, young Pham Ngo Minh Tri is a new writer on the folk culture of the province. Minh Tri has had many research articles published in Tay Ninh Newspaper, such as From the glass painting to Thanh An palace; An Hoa communal house in Ky Yen festival; Preserving traditions in the village communal house; The mark of the Pham family in the process of opening up the land in Tay Ninh; An Phu rice paper; Mid-Autumn lanterns; Folk performances in the worship of goddesses in Tay Ninh; Golden trays in the art of ball dancing; Memories of the basket and tray making profession in An Duoc; Bustling bonsai pot making profession near Tet; Unique collection of Ong Dia of a young man; Spring At Ty talks about snakes in folklore; Visiting communal houses and temples to understand more about Long An's history;...

The young generation of Tay Ninh has been very creative in spreading, promoting, preserving and developing local cultural heritage. We can mention young people Nguyen Hoang Kim and Dien Quoc Bao teaching amateur music to children of Gia Binh class. In the set of documents on amateur music compiled by Quoc Bao, many songs with content suitable for the age group were included to create closeness and help children absorb easily.

Young Pham Minh Sang (stage name Ngoc Trinh) began learning about bong roi at the age of 8. Ngoc Trinh was taught by her grandmother how to cut the golden tray, starting from simple details to stylized, lively motifs, along with personal creativity, creating many new shapes. Although the art of bong roi performance and dancing to offer the golden tray was once equated with superstitious customs, thanks to the efforts of young artists, it has been preserved and developed.

Young artist Ngoc Trinh dances with a golden tray at the Forum "Aspiration to contribute - the way of life of youth"

The young people of Tay Ninh Folk Arts Association have built a Facebook channel “Tay Ninh Folk Arts” to inform about activities of collecting, researching, popularizing and teaching folk culture and arts in Tay Ninh. The posts have rich and vivid content, images and reports, reflecting the reality of culture and arts in Tay Ninh.

From July 1, 2025, Tay Ninh and other provinces and cities across the country will be re-established, opening up a larger space for cultural research for young people in Tay Ninh. Faced with technological breakthroughs, young people face many new challenges, so when participating in cultural research and folk arts, it is necessary to find the right direction, applying information technology to activities to preserve, conserve and develop folk culture and arts as young people in Tay Ninh have applied./.

Minh Tri

Source: https://baolongan.vn/tuoi-tre-tay-ninh-va-kho-bau-van-hoa-dan-gian-a205046.html