Ky Yen Festival at Tan An communal house recognized

On 21 July, Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a solemn ceremony to announce the National Intangible Cultural Heritage "Ky Yen Festival at Tan An communal house". This is a cultural event has a special significance to the province as well as the provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism branch; to show the Recognition and Honor of the State for the protection of the communal house, and the practice, preservation and transmission of traditional rituals in Tan An of Binh Duong.

Ky Yen Festival at Tan An communal house plays a very important role in the spiritual life of local community.

Binh Duong has one more national intangible cultural heritage

Ky Yen (Pray for Peace) Festival at Tan An communal house is one of the major annual festival of Tan An communal house (quarter 1, Tan An ward, Thu Dau Mot City), and has been included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism under Decision No. 60/QD-BVHTTDL dated January 12th 2022. Thus, up to this time, Binh Duong province has had 4 national intangible cultural heritages (previously there were 3 national intangible cultural heritages recognized, including: "Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer industry", "Binh Duong pottery" and "Tan Khanh Ba Tra Martial Arts"). This recognition has shown the honor of the State for the valuable intangible cultural heritage of the nation.

Le Van Phuoc, Director of the Provincial Museum, said that Tan An communal house (also known as Ben The communal house) was originally a temple called Tuong An Temple, which was born along with the process of village land reclaiming of Vietnamese people on this land in the early 19th century; was the public religious establishment of four communes in the ancient Binh An district, including: Tuong Hiep, Tuong An, Tuong Hoa and Cau Dinh. After that, the communes of Tuong Hiep, Tuong Binh, Cau Dinh in turn built their own temples, Tuong An temple became a communal house of Tuong An commune (now Tan An ward).

With precious values that this house still retains, in 2014, Tan An communal house was ranked a national monument in terms of art architecture by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Then, in early 2022, Ky Yen Festival at Tan An communal house continued to be included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture and Culture. This proves that the intangible and physical cultural values of Tan An communal house are great, expresses the local cultural identity, reflects the cultural diversity and creativity of people passing generations to generations.

Throughout the nation timeline of Fatherland building and protection, generations of Vietnamese people in general and Binh Duong in particular have constantly created, fostered, practiced, preserved and created a culture imbued with national identity. This accomplishment has left a treasure of diverse and invaluable intangible cultural heritage, including Ky Yen Festival at Tan An communal house. Up to now, Tan An communal house is more than 200 years old, has developed and witnessed many changes of the country, local land and local people, but rituals of the communal house are still preserved and conducted regularly by the local population in accordance with old customs.  

The value of Ky Yen Festival at Tan An communal house

Ky Yen Festival is an opportunity for people to express their gratitude to the gods who have protected their village; this is an opportunity for local folks to meet, exchange, share happy and sad things in their lives. The festival also expresses the solidarity and responsibility of local folks towards common works of the village, helps to strengthen the community cohesion; at the same time, contributing to educating the population, especially young people, on the patriotism, the tradition of "drinking water remembering its source" and the traditional culture of the locality and the nation.

Currently, worshipping rituals of Ky Yen Festival at Tan An communal house are still preserved by local folks. Every year, during Ky Yen festival, Tan An communal house attracts thousands of visitors coming from inside and outside the commune. In particular, many locals living and working far away often return home to join the festival.

Due to its values preserved, practiced regularly, Ky Yen Festival at Tan An communal house plays a very important role in local community life. It is a place to express spiritual cultural life, the desire for a good life, express the solidarity, the mind and gratitude to ancestors, and especially the national cultural identity. Thereby, people can easily be self-aware of the love of the homeland, the country, the pride of his father's traditions, and preserve the good identity of Vietnamese national culture.

Le Van Phuoc added: Ky Yen Festival at Tan An communal house shows us the good moral tradition of the Vietnamese people, "drinking water remembering its source”. During the festival, people expressed their gratitude to the gods who have protected and blessed the village, thanked the ancestors, sages, heroic soldiers, martyrs who protected this land and the country. Ky Yen Festival is not only a place of spiritual practice, beliefs, but also a cultural living space of local folks. In the socio-economic development process of the locality, the nearly-200-year existence of Ky Yen Festival shows a strong Vietnamese identity, contributing to enriching the spiritual and cultural life of local folks".

Reported by Hong Thuan – Translated by Ngoc Huynh