On the evening of March 19, at Sam Mountain National Tourist Area, Chau Doc City, An Giang Province solemnly held a ceremony to receive a UNESCO certificate of recognition of the Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain as a Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Attending the ceremony were Mr. Mai Van Chinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister; Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung - former Politburo member, former Prime Minister; Mr. Le Hong Anh - former Politburo member, former Standing member of the Party Central Committee Secretariat; Ms. Truong My Hoa - former Secretary of the Party Central Committee, former Vice President; Ms. Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh - former member of the Party Central Committee, former Vice President; Mr. Hoang Dao Cuong - Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Deputy Head of the Organizing Committee of the UNESCO Certificate Ceremony; Mr. Ngo Le Van - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs - Organizing the ceremony.
Also attending were Mr. Jonathan Senior - Chief Representative of UNESCO in Vietnam; Ms. Le Thi Hong Van - Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Cultural diplomacy - Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Secretary of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, Deputy Head of the Organizing Committee for the UNESCO Certificate Ceremony, representatives of leaders of Central Departments and Ministries; leaders of Central Party agencies in charge of An Giang province; leaders of provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region and localities associated with Chau Doc City.
The ceremony to receive the certificate from UNESCO to recognize the Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity and to open the Ba Chua Xu Festival in 2025 is not only a great honor for An Giang province, but also a common pride of the whole country.
UNESCO's recognition of the festival as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity is a testament to the unique value of traditional cultural heritage. This event also puts a responsibility in preserving and promoting the value of the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mountain.
Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh affirmed that the Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain not only enriches the culture imbued with the identity of the Vietnamese people, but also contributes to enhancing Vietnam's position on the world cultural map. The Deputy Prime Minister believes and hopes that the government and people will join hands to further promote heritage to make heritage an important endogenous strength, contributing to promoting prosperity and civilization of the country.
Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh also requested the Party Committee, government, ethnic groups of An Giang province and ministries and branches to continuously pay attention to, join hands to preserve and promote the cultural space of heritage in the direction of ensuring harmony between preservation and development, preserving the sacred landscape of Sam Mountain; continue to preserve traditional rituals, ensure that rituals are carried out methodically and solemnly, so that future generations can feel the sacred soul of the Festival.
On December 4, 2024, the 19th Conference of the United Nations Intergovernmental Committee for Education, Science and Culture (UN UNESCO) on the protection of intangible cultural heritage officially issued a Resolution to recognize the "Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain" in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This is a cultural event and an honor and pride for An Giang province (the locality assigned to preside over the construction of the Heritage List submitted to UNESCO) in particular and the Vietnamese ethnic community in general.
