Revitalization of heritage - The original and variant traditional integration of the Het Cha festival in Ang village in Moc Chau, Vietnam (Study in Ang village, Moc Chau, Son La)

169 HNUE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE DOI: 10.18173/2354-1067.2018-0062 Social Sciences, 2018, Volume 63, Issue 7, pp. 169-179 This paper is available online at REVITALIZATION OF HERITAGE - THE ORIGINAL AND VARIANT TRADITIONAL INTEGRATION OF THE HET CHA FESTIVAL IN ANG VILLAGE IN MOC CHAU, VIETNAM (STUDY IN ANG VILLAGE, MOC CHAU, SON LA) Do Thi Thu Ha and Pham Dang Xuan Huong Faculty of Philology, Hanoi National University of Education Abstract. Het Cha festival organised by Tai people (in Ang village, Dong Sang, Moc Chau, Son La) is celebrated each year during Ban flower season. Ban flowers are unique flowers found in the North of Vietnam and they bloom annually at the end of March. This is a thanksgiving ceremony to send thankfulness to the shaman - the magician, the physician of the village, and for the shaman to send thankfulness to his gods. During festival time, in addition to the ritual of the worshipers expressing gratitude to the shaman for curing their diseases, there are entertaining performances around the sacred flowers (xang bok). After being suspended for nearly 40 years, Het Cha festival has been celebrated in recent years, and expanded in scale. It is now heavily promoted as a form of cultural tourism, which attracts hundreds of tourists and participants. Through the analysis of the process of re-establishing Het Cha festival, the article helps to point out the following arguments: 1. Het Cha festival - a hybrid folklore phenomenon in which the original traditional integration (first hand) and the variant traditional integration (second hand) have merged in many ways. 2. The negotiation between tradition and ethnic mentality as a solution for Het Cha festival - a folklorimus which solves the religious problems occuring during daily life of local people. Keywords: Het Cha festival, revitalization of heritage, applied folklore. 1. Introduction The ceremony of thanksgiving for one type of Thai shaman (called mo mun) is one of the common rituals of the Thai community in Vietnam. This festival, whether it is called Het Cha, Lau No, or Xang Khan, is a festival where the worshipers bring gifts to the mo to thank him for healing them, and where the mo sends thanks and honors to his gods. Het Cha - the name of the original festival is Mo mua - Kin chuong lieng - Kin chieng boac ma – Boac ban, was previously conducted for a few days, and the mo personally invited a handful of mo (the Lam) to help, thenhe invited several young, teenage couples (bao sao) to dance. During the festival the main mo’s soul travels to the spirit world and invites his master (the phi mun) to attend the ceremony. The phi Mun posesses the Lam to check the xang bok flower (Thai ceremonial flowers, see more Vo Thi Thuong [1], Do Thi Thu Ha [2]) to perform the folk plays, and the phi mun also possesses the mo mun to receive gifts from worshipers. According to the records, Het Cha festival had begun in the Ang village atn the early nineteenth century and was celebrated annually until 1963. The festival was suspended until 2005 Received December 17, 2017. Accepted July 9, 2018. Contact Do Thi Thu Ha/ Pham Dang Xuan Huong, e-mail address: [email protected]/ [email protected] Do Thi Thu Ha and Pham Dang Xuan Huong 170 when it was revived. The opportunity of Het Cha, comes from the implementation of Resolution No. 5/1998 of Party committee of the 1st edition on "preserving the cultural identity of the White Thai ethnic group in Moc Chau" in 2005, and The Elderly Group in the Village is the main unit, which is responsible for collecting and selecting for revitalization (this reconstruction process can show partly through the following milestones: 1) 2005: first performance in the village; 2) September 2rd, 2007: official performance at Pine forest Lake in Ang village; 3) March 2008: Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism of Son La province censors and films saved at the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Son La province; 4) March 2009: Son La People's Committee was invited to participate in the "Tay Bac Ethnic Minority Culture Festival" in Lai Chau province organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, thenwon the second prize; 5) From September 2rd 2009 to March 2016: Het Cha is assigned by Moc Chau District People's Committee to perform twice each year on March 26 (Spring Festival) and September 2 (Independence’s day - Tay Bac ethnic culture festival); 6) June 8, 2015: Het Cha is decided by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to be included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage; 7) March 26, 2016: Het Cha and the reception of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Certificate of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; 8) March 26, 2017: Het Cha festival is held in the foot of sacred banyan tree of Ang village, where it is considered to have taken place before the original Het Cha festival by the reason: ensuring the original elements and increasing sacred for rituals). The process of restoration of Het Cha goes in line with the changes in concsiousness of the cultural role of the Commusist Party and the Government (Resolution No. 5/1998) with the principle of "building and developing the advanced Vietnamese culture, with a bold national identity". The above-mentioned conditions have allowed the restoration and displaying of the cutural factors of the locals. The revitalization of Het Cha is subjected to satisfy the needs of the local authorities in the process of seeking and promoting the cutural practices, which carry out the representative traits of the minorities living in Son La province. Those traits are exclusively performed in the annual festivals targeting at cultural exchanges and ethic reconciliation. With the revitalization of the festivals as well as the demands of the locals in seeking within the tradition the cutural practices of the Thai for identifying who they really are. Het Cha does not only take place in Ang village every year during the Ban flower season, but the festival is also carried out in many places - as a demonstration of Thai identity. The revitalizartion of heritages is attached to a process of restoration and labelling of heritages for cultural practices. This process requires a meticulous collection to warrantee the authenticity for a cutural phenomenon, which has been interrupted. And this process of revitalization and labelling of heritages is also a reason, which causes the threats for the existences of the heritages. Regarding the threats in more details, the first one refers to the community and the role of the subjects of the community in the process of heritage revitalization and promotion of their own (Salemink [3]; Nguyen Chi Ben [4]; Ngo Duc Thinh [5]; Nguyen Van Huy [6]; Luong Hong Quang [7]); especially, the community subjects, which have been empowered or merginalization in the practicing heritages (Salemink [8]). The second one related to invention of tradition (Hobsbawm & Ranger [9]), folklorization (Salemink [8]), commercialization (Evans [10]; Le Hong Ly & Nguyen Phuong Cham [11]). From a theoretical point of view, Het Cha is a successful case of heritage revitilization, with the host community being empowered and tasked of staying true to tradition and fusing it with modern practices to ensure that the festival is celebrated in a meaningful way. With this festival, it can be said first hand and second hand have merged in many aspects. But, since being revitalized in the context of community tourism that re-establishes traditional cultural elements as a 'cultural branding', in 2018 Het Cha has become a 'spiritual problem' for which the community still cannot find a reasonable solution. Based on the case study ralated to revitalization of religious heritages Revitalization of heritage - the original and variant traditional integration of the Het Cha 171 (Het Cha festival), this paper aims at three issues. The first one is how the contemporary life has put new cover and functions on the traditions and heritages after the revitalization. The second is how to solve the religious problems caused after the revitalization of the religion-related heritages. The third one is about the heritage and how to maintain the practices of the heritages when the religious problems are occuring promptly at the moment. 2. Content 2.1. Revitalization of heritage type associated with spirituality - opportunity, risk and consequence Ritual and festive studies in Vietnam since the 1990s have shown a pattern of revitalization and development of traditional culture, particularly traditional festivals and religious beliefs (Malarney [12]; Endres [12]; Nguyen Thi Hien [13]; Truong Huyen Chi & Luong Van Hy [14]; Le Hong Ly & Nguyen Thi Phuong Cham [11]). In addition to portraying a particular aspect of Vietnam's context after renovation, these studies also pointed out the advantages, challenges, successes, and failures of revitalization and conservation of heritage. From a cultural point of view, Vietnamese Renovation (1986) opens up opportunities for national culture, especially for the ethnic minority communities. After a long period of vitality gathering for the wars of national independence and unification, after a short period of time for the find-and-test-fail and change of policies on both economy and culture, Vietnam after renovation became a vibrant market in all respects. Together with the program "A decade of the world for cultural development 1988-1997" of Unesco (Unesco's "World Decade for Cultural Development 1988-1997" has four goals: recognise the cultural dimension of development; affirm and enrich cultural identity; increase participation in cultural activities; promote international cooperation on culture" (Declaration of the International Decade for Cultural Development, A/RES/41/187, 8/12/1986, 100th Plenary Session of the General Assembly United Nations) (Do Thi Minh Thuy [16; p.8-9]), contemporary ideas on culture are "institutionalized in state documents" (Nguyen Chi Ben [17; p.6]), about the peak is Resolution No. 5/1998 with the principle of "building and developing the advanced Vietnamese culture, with a bold national identity" " (see Do Thi Minh Thuy [18]; Nguyen Chi Ben [17]); has provided a great opportunity for the resurgence and development of cultural heritage that has been interrupted or non-existed publically. Tradition is reborn and preserved, not only for "strengthening the common sense of national identity" (Endres [13]), which is more rational and macroscopic, calculates to "find a place for the Vietnam on the world stage" (Meeker [19; p.535]). In addition, when the Kinh ethnic’s culture policies were applied, ethnic minority communities reveal more and more significant consequenses, in addition to the risk of losing cultural diversity among ethnic groups, the efforts to restore and preserve the heritage are stronger than ever. However, the revitalization, preservation of what, andwho is the decider in the process, and how to create a relatively original environment for cultural practices are always problems in all circumstances. According to Le Hong Ly et al. [20], the risk and consequences of revitalization and preservation of heritage associated with selective conservation perspectives in Vietnam are manifested through two universal approaches, which are the "invention the tradition" and the "folklorization". This point of view has led some folklore practices to get seperation from the traditional media environment. Thus, this leads to the change or lost of culture (Salemink [3]). In addition, there is a strong impact of the market economy (Nguyen Thi Phuong Cham [21]); changes on natural environment and the structure of plants that promote the ritual of traditional rituals (Salemink [3]); the effects of tourism on the "commercialization" of cultural practices, Do Thi Thu Ha and Pham Dang Xuan Huong 172 which threaten cultural destruction if it was developed solely on the basis of pure commercial interests (Evans [10]) (Le Hong Ly et al., [20; p.14-15]). 2.2. Revitalizing of Het Cha - empowerment and increasing power to the cultural subject The process of revitalizing as well as the organization model, the management of the Het Cha festival in Ang village is a product of a group of of indigenous artists, the "living treasures" of Ang village in Dong Sang. District cultural officers are always accompanied by local experts during the process of revitalization, and there are absolutely no forced or adjusted scripts for personal or government purposes. Cultural subjects are given autonomous rights to practice their own traditional culture. Like the revitalization of other festivals, Het Cha revitalization requires elaborate and thorough research to have a "relatively substantial" appearance. After having been suspended for nearly 40 years, the revitalization of the festival was very difficult, with the main mo (Vi Van Hon) and the assistant mo died. It all relied on the memory of those who have participated in this festival (still very young at that moment), and the verification, connected with the memories of the elders who participated in the festival in various villages the past. From the handwritten manuscripts, it is possible to visualize the progress of the recovery process of Het Cha: collecting (recording from retrospective documents of old people, mo) - revitalizing (rehearsing the festival in front of experts and the mo, noting the procedures and rituals that are necessary in order to re-introduce it to the village whereas staying true to tradition) – add to, edit - gradually improve (please note that this process is still ongoing, after 12 years of performance, since the first performance in the village). The biggest challenge with revitalization is that Het Cha is a spiritual festival. This festival is associated with the mo work, thesacred work assigned by the Tai spirits. It is also associated with the mo mun, who specializes in treating souls, preserving souls of Tai people; with rituals related to the spirit world to sponsor the village (in the Thai community of Moc Chau, there are three kinds of mo: mo mương (worshiping the village, praying for the rain, the peace bridge); mo hieu (offerings dead souls); mo mun (healing treatment). Rehearsing rituals, carrying out the standard process of rituals, standardizing/documenting the offerings/prayers, searching for and using sacred objects... are not easy tasks. Revitalization is only possible amongst those with Thai blood, as they have a desire ingrained in them for their religious practices to be restored. Typical example is artisan Hoang Van Xuyen, who is responsible for the collection, revitalization of the Het Cha. He is also the third generation of the most famous artisan in the area; Mr. Hoang Van Chom; Ms. Lu Thi Phan, the grandchildren of Phang Cha, who have been selected as maids of honor for many years in the house of their grandfather, should have belonged and still remember many ceremonial and ceremonial songs. They also take pride in a "tradition belonging to themselves"; and in the profession. Finally, they have the passion of a mo muong who owns a unique musical flute (mo pi). Mo muong is also the only one with skill to play it. The flute is the soul of the festival, and without the flute, there is no Het Cha festival. The flute is the soul of the Het Cha Festival, because it is spiritual music, shaman music invited gods to enter, the music to heal. Blowing this flute is very difficult because it is a flute of the reed. It could not be blown outside but need to be played by using the breath in the mouth, then the flute inserts into the new mouth blown. This flute has a very special sound, almost like the sound of the flute, but louder. The flute is a special way for Tai people to communicate with the divine world. (Interviewed documentation on 27/12/2017) Revitalization of heritage - the original and variant traditional integration of the Het Cha 173 This particular "soul" brings a unique character to Het Cha. Only the flute, with different rhythms according to a convention of the content of each class, is enough to ensure that Het Cha has a distinctive style, carrying the spirit of community and sacred characteristics, which was created out of the "air of pure faith" (Malinowski, 1954) towards the divine Thai world. The District cultural officers who have cooperated with the host community for the revitalization of this festival help the government officers to understand the need to respect traditional practices and heritage of Thai people. Without this respect, the heritage of the Thai people might not be accurately represented and the future of the festival will be in difficulty. The district cultural officers understand the ceremony, recognize each wrong verse, and each flute beat, and they make suggestions for correction, never impose their opinions on Thai people, because "Het Cha is theirs". The way and story from these culturists also shows a spiritual belief in the Tai spirits and gravity from the Thai worldview. Those working towards revitalization, and even the district cultural officers involved in the process, are all chosen by Thai spirits to do this work. Het Cha exists as it is today as a result of the desire and efforts of Thai people themselves coupled with the support of the government to preserve the culture, embrace and showcase its identity with an effort to develop strong community tourism. The past memory revitalization and revitalization work has been handed over to those whom the culture belongs to. As Salemink already said: the people who live in that culture are the real experts on their cultures (Salemink [3; p.211]). The reproduction is closest to the origin when placed in the original cultural environment; operated with your own rhythm inside the space itself, not somewhere else, or by outsiders who have no ownership but claim to the culture. 2.3. The consequences of desacridization and negotiation-oriented changes After the official performance from 2007 until now, the festival was held every year on stage in Ang village. It has even been celebrated at more locations than just at Ang village. There was a team of artisans to make Cha/ xoe Cha in Ang village to carry out these tasks. Theoretically, it is possible to call it a simulated folklore phenomenon; it means a "folklore out of context" phenomenon, or a "fake folklore" (Bendix, 1989, cited by Ngo Duc Thinh and Frank Proschan [22]). This term (folklorismus) is used to refer to folk material that impresses with visual and auditory or aesthetic delight such as costumes, festivals, music or art (including dishes). Appropriate materials that can be separated from their original context and used in a new way for other public groups, (usually larger) in line with the context of contemporary life (Moser, 1962; Bendix, 1989, cited by Ngo Duc Thinh and Frank Proschan [22]) all fall under the label of simulated folklore. According to some researchers, the current trend of festival revitalization of tourism festivals is taking place everywhere based on the material of simulated folklore. Therefore, this is a special type of culture that plays an important role in the spiritual life of people, especially in the mountainous areas (Tran Huu Son [23]). However, this approach has changed the style of expression into simplifying the meaning and aesthetics of cultural heritage (Salemink [3]); even creating a "desacralized" heritage, breaki