The Then Ceremony and Thanh Tuyen Festival 2022 in Tuyen Quang province
WVR - The ceremony to receive the UNESCO's Certificate accrediting Practices of Then by Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic minority groups in Vietnam as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity and the 2022 Thanh Tuyen Festival took place on September 3-4 in Tuyen Quang city, Tuyen Quang province.
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| Artisans perform Then, an essential ritual practice in the spiritual life of the Tay, Nung, and Thai ethnic groups in Vietnam, at the ceremony to receive UNESCO’s certificate on September 3, 2022. (Photo: Vinh Ha) |
Then practice is an indispensable ritual in the spiritual life of the Tay, Nung and Thai people in Vietnam, reflecting the concepts of man, the natural world and the universe. Then ceremonies describe the journey of the Then Master (Mr Then, Mrs. Then) leading the sound army to go from Muong Dat to Muong Troi to offer offerings and make requests during the ceremony: Praying for peace, healing, praying for crops, and sending good wishes for the new year.
In 2019, the “Practices of Then by Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic minority groups in Vietnam” received the UNESCO certificate for Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Ceremony to receive the Certificate of Registration took place on the evening of September 3 at Nguyen Tat Thanh Square (Tuyen Quang city), with the participation of 11 provinces with heritage of Then practices, including: Tuyen Quang, Bac Giang, Bac Kan, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Dien Bien, Lai Chau and Lao Cai.
The ceremony honored the intangible cultural heritage “Practices of Then by Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic minority groups in Vietnam”, affirming the rich cultural identity of the Vietnamese ethnic community in general, and the Tay, Nung and Thai in particular, and at the same time promoted the value and meaning of the heritage as well as tourism development potentials and strengths of each locality with Then heritage.
Thanh Tuyen Festival is not only a unique cultural feature every Mid-Autumn Festival in Tuyen Quang province, attracting a large number of old and young people, men and women, and ethnic groups to participate, but is also the largest Mid-Autumn Festival in the country, with many records confirmed by the Vietnam Guinness Book of Records such as: The festival with the most unique and largest Mid-Autumn lantern models in Vietnam, The largest Mid-Autumn Festival tray in Vietnam, The largest pair of lanterns in Vietnam.
Since 2015, Thanh Tuyen Festival has been organized in association with many cultural, artistic, sports and tourism activities. After 2 years of absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tuyen Thanh Festival in 2022 was re-organized on a provincial scale, with the participation of districts and cities in the province, a number of foreign localities with friendly cooperative relations with the province and a number of agencies, organizations and businesses inside and outside the province.
The most exciting and attractive activity of the Festival was Thanh Tuyen Night held at Nguyen Tat Thanh Square at 8 pm on September 4.
