Hanoi will build a national dossier for Mo Muong to be included in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, heard a conference held in the capital city on October 3.
Mo Muong is a job and also a performance practiced at funerals, religious festivals, and life cycle rituals by the Muong ethnic group. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi will build a nationaldossier for Mo Muong to be included in the UNESCO List of Intangible CulturalHeritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, heard a conference held in the capitalcity on October 3.
Mo Muong is a job and also a performance practiced atfunerals, religious festivals, and life cycle rituals by the Muong ethnicgroup. The art consists of Mo prayers and performances, by Mo practitioners, orMo artisans.
Through generations, Mo prayers have been passeddown verbally in the community. When they’re collected, translated, andpublished in books, however, they begin to exist separately from people.
These days, most Mo prayers are called Mo Muong.They are a collection of verses recited at traditional Muong funerals. They aredivided into "cat Mo” and "roong Mo”, similar to chapters inliterature. Each Mo chapter has its own theme and purposes for each item in afuneral ritual. The chapters may tell folk epics, customs or lessons.
Each Muong community has its own version of Mo, butthey are all fairly similar. The existence of various versions of Mo has helpedexpand the heritage and spiritual life of the Muong people.
Mo Muong has a long life, spanning centuries, as ithas always helped to nurture the characteristics and the souls of the Muongpeople.
It is the essence of labour, production, culturalbehaviour and the philosophy of the Muong people, reflecting their love of lifeand home villages.
At the conference (Photo: VNA)
Mo Muong has been practised in the northernmountainous provinces of Ninh Binh, Phu Tho and Son La, the north central province ofThanh Hoa, the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak and Hanoi.
Muong ethnic people live in all 30 districts inHanoi, mostly in Thach That and Ba Vi. There are seven Mo prayers in the city,with the oldest 86 years old, and the youngest 28 years old.
The municipal Department of Culture and Sports iscoordinating with agencies and localities to build the national dossier.
Experts at the conference spoke of methods to reviewMo Muong in accordance with viewpoints and requirements of UNESCO.
The conference has also helped to raise theawareness among officials about Mo Muong, thus better preserving and upholdingits values./.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to work with relevant agencies on the preparation of dossiers on two of Vietnam’s intangible cultural heritages for UNESCO recognition.
The secrets of spiritual culture and life of the Muong ethnic minority in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa will be revealed at an exhibition titled Mo Muong to be held later this week.
The Vietnamese team will gather on June 26 in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, where they will train until July 14 before departing for Indonesia for the ASEAN U23 Championship 2025, which runs from July 15 to 29. Vietnam will face Laos on July 19 and Cambodia on July 22 in the group stage.
The exhibition showcases more than 100 valuable documents and artifacts, divided into two main parts: “Journalist Nguyen Ai Quoc – Ho Chi Minh” and “President Ho Chi Minh – Founder and Mentor of Vietnamese Revolutionary Press.” This is an opportunity to recall the late leader’s journalism journey and affirm his exceptional role in founding and guiding the revolutionary press in Vietnam.
For the first time, the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) has granted Vietnam hosting rights for the two championships, including the Asian women’s solo category, which debuts this year as an officially recognised event.
Eight teams will join the tournament, divided into two groups. Group A features Vietnam, the Philippines, Sichuan Club (China), and Australia, while Group B consists of Vietnam U21, Korabelka Club (Russia), Taiwan (China), and U21 Thailand.
Despite strong home support and high expectations, Vietnam were unable to overcome the defending champions, who secured their third consecutive win over Vietnam in a regional final, following previous victories in 2014 and 2023.
The event, part of Vietnam’s cultural diplomacy strategy through 2030, was jointly organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in Venezuela and USM’s Faculty of International Relations. It attracted thousands of students from universities across Venezuela.
For the first time, Vietnamese audiences will have the opportunity to experience the ballet masterpiece "Don Quixote" in its original version by renowned choreographer Marius Petipa.
The contest carried deep meaning as it was the first time the life of Vietnamese women abroad had been highlighted as the central theme, said poet and writer Nguyen Quang Thieu, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers’ Association.
The event formed part of Vietnam’s ongoing campaign to seek UNESCO World Heritage status for the complex at the 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, scheduled to take place in Paris in July.
Creative cultural festivals are fast emerging as a new catalyst for tourism development in Vietnam, as localities increasingly invest in these vibrant events on a more systematic and larger scale.
This marks the first time Vietnam has hosted a continental-level Muay event which will feature competitions across 28 weight categories in combat and eight performance categories.
Coming to the Vietnamese booth, visitors had the chance to take part in a bamboo dance, a workshop on painting woven bamboo or rattan, or quizzes about Vietnam.
These are impressive achievements, not only showing the efforts and prowess of Vietnamese paddlers but also serving as proof of the sports sector’s strategic and systematic investment.
The cultural event in Canberra not only fostered cultural exchanges between Vietnam and Australia but also contributed to promoting Vietnam’s image internationally
The U23 competition will run from June 16 to 22, followed by the U17 event from June 23 to 28, while athletes competing in the U23 category will undergo weight and skill checks ahead of the matches starting June 18, while similar checks for U17 athletes will take place before June 23.
Vietnam continues to sit just behind continental powerhouses Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, China, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Mo Muong is a job and also a performance practiced at funerals, religious festivals, and life cycle rituals by the Muong ethnic group. (Photo: VNA) 
At the conference (Photo: VNA) 
