VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen A is bewitched by the hau dong ritual, where a medium goes into a trance and incarnates as various deities. The photographer has witnessed thousands of these rituals in different parts of the country for more than 10 years, and captured them from as many angles, but his fascination remains even after publishing a new book on Saturday in Hanoi. The launching ceremony was accompanied by an exhibition of select photos from the book. The hau dong (or len dong and hau bong) ritual, a shamanistic worship of the Mother Goddess that has been recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage, can last up to seven hours, during which the practitioner, a medium, incarnates a series of different deities and spirits, changing into a different set of costumes for each incarnation. Once the medium is “possessed,” he or she may perform a dance or imitate an action of the deity, including fencing, rowing a boat and drinking wine. The process is normally aided by chau van (ceremonial singing) performances by musicians and singers, which invoke the deities and induce the trance. A, based in HCM City, is already well-known for his collections on disadvantaged people, soldiers and people living on the Truong Sa (Spratlys) Archipelago and several UNESCO-recognised heritages in Vietnam. He holds the EFIAP title granted by The International Federation of Photographic Art for excellent photographers. “I did not know much about hau dong earlier, because it is rarely performed in the southern region,”… [Read full story]
The Ok Om Bok Festival, a jubilant occasion with a range of traditional rituals and one of the three typical festivals of the Khmer people took place in southern Tra Vinh province on November 28. Moon prayers, said to protect the Khmer people's crops and bring favourable weather conditions and bumper harvests, were performed on stage with a meticulous art performance that was the highlight of the festival. Visitors partook in a ritual releasing flower garlands and coloured lanterns, and marched around Ba Om Pond. Spectators witnessed for the first time the erection of eight common houses at Ba Om…... [read more]
Visitors to the festival were impressed by the beautiful melody of the unique instruments and outstanding performances by Chau Van singers in honour of the gods.Chau Van singing is a traditional folk art of northern Vietnam which combines trance singing and dancing. Its music and poetry are combined with a variety of instruments, rhythms, pauses, and tempos.Originating in the late 19th century, the genre spread quickly and was performed by amateur art troupes in northern villages. Northern Nam Dinh province is considered the birthplace of Chau Van, which has traditionally been performed at temples and pagodas as people believed it…... [read more]
Snapshot: A photo from the collection Genie of Prosperity by Do Manh Cuong, who took part in the I Love My City My People project in HCM City last year. The project has been kicked off in Ha Noi, targeting young photographers. — Photo courtesy of the project HA NOI (VNS)— Young people interested in pursuing photography can enter a 48-hour photo project and work with experienced, professional photographers in Ha Noi.Entitled I Love My City My People, the 48-hour project will offer those between 18 and 27 a chance to improve their photography skills.French photographer Nicolas Cornet, who has…... [read more]
The Ho Chi Minh Cultural Centre will host the Amateur Traditional Music Festival 2011 on September 24 and 25 in order to aid the proposal to get amateur traditional music to be recognised as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. The Music festival will comprise of a series of performances by singers, musicians and artists, as well as clubs, teams and groups of amateur traditional musicians from Ho Chi Minh City who took the final exam. The festival will also bring together diverse provinces in order for them to exchange performances and ideas. In addition, an exhibition will…... [read more]
(VOVworld) - UNESCO has recognized Vietnam's Hung Kings worshiping ritual in Phu Tho province as part of the world's intangible cultural heritage. This is a great honor for Vietnam and Phu Tho province Vietnamese spiritual culture has now been acknowledged globally. For generations, the Vietnamese have considered the Hung Kings the founders of the country and the fathers of the nation. Every year, in the third month of the lunar calendar, Vietnamese people from all over the world gather in Phu Tho to visit the Hung Kings Temple, pray for good weather and peace, and show their gratitude to the…... [read more]
