Along with Con Dao, Tay Ninh is a favorite destination for Vietnamese tourists for pilgrimage trips combined with cultural experiences. With up to 21 ethnic minorities, Tay Ninh is a land of mixed and interwoven cultures. In addition to the dense system of relics, this border province also owns up to 9 national intangible cultural heritages.
These historical and cultural relic values are always preserved and promoted, becoming a "specialty" of Tay Ninh land. At Ba Den Mountain alone - an iconic destination of Tay Ninh, these long-standing cultural heritages are nurtured every day through cultural exchange programs, art performances, or weeks and months honoring heritage.
According to Associate Professor Dr. Dang Van Bai - Vice Chairman of the National Cultural Heritage Council, cultural heritage must have a life in the community and a space for practice and performance. "At Ba Den Mountain Tourist Area, the space for practicing heritage will contribute to spreading heritage values to the public, and at the same time become a driving force to preserve heritage in real life," he said.
The most typical national intangible cultural heritage performed here is the Chhay Dam drum dance. This is a particularly important performance for the Khmer people, requiring harmony between the movements, both graceful and powerful, with the bustling sounds of the drum. On Tet holidays and occasions of bumper harvests, the Khmer people use this drum sound to celebrate in the villages and hamlets. Currently, on holidays, Tet holidays and weekends, visitors to Ba Den mountain can witness this skillful drum dance performed by Khmer artists.
Along with Chhay dam drum dance, pentatonic music is also an intangible cultural heritage of the Khmer people that is regularly performed on Ba Den mountain. For the Khmer people, these musical instruments will bring luck to their people, and also good wishes during festivals. Lam Tipo - pentatonic musician said: "Since pentatonic music was performed on Ba Den mountain, this subject has become more known to the community, more loved by everyone and many people want to learn about traditional musical instruments".
Don ca tai tu, with a history of hundreds of years, is also a typical folk performance of the people of the South, performed on Ba Den Mountain by excellent artisans from Tay Ninh in festivals and exhibitions of Don ca tai tu art.
Another cultural heritage that is unique to any other place in Tay Ninh is vegetarian cuisine, which was formed a long time ago, where Cao Dai followers have the habit of eating vegetarian food (10 days a month). At Ba Den Mountain, vegetarian cuisine is inherited, preserved and created with special flavors so that visitors can feel the long-standing cultural values right on the top of the legendary sacred mountain.
Not only nurturing the cultural heritage in Tay Ninh, Ba Den Mountain also recreates many cultural heritages of many regions both domestically and internationally. Recently, a performance program promoting the heritage of Bac Ninh Quan Ho folk songs and the craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings was held on the top of Ba Den Mountain, where people in the South can immerse themselves in the rustic and graceful melodies that have been passed down for thousands of years in the Kinh Bac region.
This coming December, Ba Den Mountain will enter the heritage month, converging many unique regional cultural heritages. In particular, at the end of November, visitors will be immersed in the space of Vietnamese-Japanese cultural exchange, with countless activities and cultural experiences from the land of the rising sun. An exhibition of hand-painted lanterns by talented artists will also be held throughout December with thousands of lanterns of different shapes, colors, and strokes, creating a shimmering and magical space for the highest mountain in the South.
With unique cultural experiences, Ba Den Mountain tourist area is becoming an attractive cultural tourist destination. According to Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Van Bai, developing tourism on the basis of preserving and promoting cultural heritage is a trend that UNESCO highly encourages to integrate the development process with preservation. "Ba Den Mountain is built and nurtured by cultural heritage values, it has exceeded the framework of a national tourist area, moving towards an international-class tourist area" - he said.
