At the invitation of the Director General of UNESCO, in early December 2024, the An Giang Provincial Delegation led by Mr. Le Hong Quang - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the An Giang Provincial Party Committee, went to the Republic of Paraguay to attend the 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Convention 2003) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). During this session, An Giang Province submitted the nomination dossier for the Festival of Ba Chua Xu of Sam Mountain to UNESCO. The session will end on December 7, 2024.
The Via Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain, held at the Ba Chua Xu Temple of Sam Mountain, located on the slopes of Sam Mountain (Chau Doc City), is a traditional festival that has been preserved and practiced for many generations in Chau Doc, An Giang. This is an intangible cultural heritage of special value, not only for the people of An Giang, associated with the 192-year history of the formation and development of An Giang province (November 22, 1832 - November 22, 2024), but also an asset of the Southern community.
The festival takes place from April 22 to April 27 (lunar calendar) every year, following traditional rituals: Opening the festival; Resurrection and procession of the Lady's statue from the top of Sam mountain to the temple; Bathing the Lady; Inviting the decree of the god Thoai Ngoc Hau and his two wives; Tuc Yet; Building the court; Chanh Te and Hoi Sac. This is considered a festival imbued with the culture of the residents of the Southwest region, demonstrating the identity and continuity of the Kinh community in the process of cultural exchange with the Chinese, Khmer, Cham people...
Because of these particularly important values, the Prime Minister has allowed the submission of a dossier to UNESCO to recognize this Festival as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. If recognized, this will be the second heritage in the Southern region to be included in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity after Southern amateur music (2013), and also the first traditional festival of the Southern region to receive this honor.
It is known that with its historical, cultural, artistic values, functions and significance to the community, the Ba Chua Xu Sam Mountain Festival was recognized as a national festival in 2001 and was included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2015.
