Binh Thuan exploits folk culture for tourism development

01/02/2021, 16:25

BTO - Besides the natural resources for resort tourism development, Binh Thuan also possesses attractive and rich resources of human civilization, including folklore towards diverse types of tourism image, attracting more visitors to visit, learn and experience.

Worshiping fish custom of the Binh Thuan people

Unique marine culture

According to folk culture researchers, Binh Thuan is one of the coastal localities with a “dense” coastal folk culture with many types of unique marine cultural heritages that can be exploited for tourism. Those are folk beliefs, traditional craft, and marine cuisine.

The most prominent folk belief in Binh Thuan is the Whale-worshiping belief with the system of 26 tombs, temples, fishing villages (most in the southern central provinces), of which only Phu Quy island district has 9 tombs of Nam Hai god. The island district has the highest density of Whale mausoleum in the country. In terms of age, there are some mausoleums, fishing villages established long time ago such as: Thuy Tu temple (1762) ranked at national historical-cultural relics in 1996; An Thanh Tomb - Phu Quy (1781), Thach Long Tomb - Phan Thiet (1795). Among them, Van Thuy Tu, where has 24 royal decrees conferred by the Nguyen dynasty, is keeping nearly 100 Whale skeletons and many others which are dating from 100 to 150 years.

On ​​Phu Quy island district, besides the sacrifices referring to deities such as teacher Nai, Ban Tranh Princess, Ngoc Queen or supporting god of the profession like Mrs. Tam.There are still many Sino-scriptures folklore such as Nam Hai Van, Nam Hai, an obligation to sign documents, Thua grace of Nam Hai Van, The former god of Nam Hai's fox entered the new office. At Hon Tranh, there is a legend of the Buddha pool and ten thousand worships that worship 77 whale skeletons and other exotic fish species that people collectively call the Nam Hai god. On the island of Ba (La Gi), since the beginning of the 18th century, the Cham people built a temple to worship Goddess Thien Y A Na - mother of the land, the god who sponsors people to do business on the sea and is a spiritual anchor of residents' generations.

Currently, Binh Thuan still retains a number of traditional occupations, the most famous being the profession of making fish sauce with the once called "capital of fish sauce". Besides fish sauce, the fishing also creates a number of traditional professions such as basket-making, boat-making, boat-building and now fish-raising in cages. This is one of the seafood farming for export with high economic value such as mackerel, grouper, lobster associated with the homestay tourism model on the sea, attracting more and more tourists to visit and experience. In addition, associated with traditional jobs, there are also practices related to the profession such as worshiping the profession of making fish sauce, abstinence related to the custom of Whale-worshiping, etc.

Rich and flavorful coastal cuisine is a unique feature that lure visitors by delicious dishes that many tourists love such as squid, scallop, king crab, snail salad, opaque fish salad, sour fish soup, curry fish. Moreover, the potential of Cham folklore is another strength to develop tourism. Along with Po Sah Inu Cham Tower Temple (Phan Thiet), there is Po Dam temple tower associated with many Cham villages in Bac Binh, or open warehouse of the Cham Royal and Cham king temples. These relics combined with folk festivals such as Kate, Ramuwan or pottery village, traditional weaving also contribute to the unique identity of Binh Thuan tourism.

Profession of making traditional fish sauce

The unique characteristics of Binh Thuan tourism

Along with sightseeing, entertainment and relaxation, a newly-emerged trend of tourism associated with learning and experiencing the folk culture is also attracting many customers. With the aim of exploiting the unique advantages of coastal folklore for tourism development, Binh Thuan tourism needs a 'long-term' study on its folk cultural heritages. Through the program of inventory and evaluation of the types of tangible and intangible cultures as a basis for selection, building into tourism products experiencing culinary experiences, craft villages, and traditional festivals.

In addition to adding more seafood specialties (and folk dishes such as crumb cake, crumb cake, rice cake, banh can, banh xeo ...) on the tour menu, Binh Thuan tourism need introduce more local craft villages to visitors, such as Phan Thiet fish sauce, Phu Quy seafood raft cage, Ham Thuan Nam dragon fruit garden, Tuy Phong night squid fishing. At the same time, it should connect local traditional festivals to the sightseeing route, especially festivals with cultural features such as Cau Ngu festival, boat racing on Ca Ty river, Thay Thim palace, Nghinh Ong, Trung Thu, Kate.

Visitors do not only experience the unique features of the festival, but also enjoy the arts associated with festivals such as cheering and Cham folk dancing.

Although there is a Fish Sauce Museum, it is necessary to have an additional Marine Culture Museum to store and introduce to travellers the cultural heritages of the coastal area, physical culture (relics, boats, fishing gears, etc) and intangible culture (festivals, folk performances, customs, cuisine and so on). The display and introduction of these precious possession do not only have long-term benefits in tourism promotion, but also preserve and promote cultural heritage, increase income for people, educate about folk culture in particular and national culture in general.

Folklore is the real-life experience from rural people. It can be actually perceived and experienced by tourists as community-based tourism in associated with traditional culture learning. Along with the attraction of the "sea resort paradise", It should boost the introduction and promotion of unique features of coastal folklore  to welcome many more.  Particularly, it also targets at becoming an attractive destination from the vibrancy of the sea - sand - sunshine to the wonder of folk culture of the sea. The brand name of Mui Ne - Binh Thuan will become more and more popular, affirming the path of green and sustainable development in the new year of 2021 and the following years.

Translated by Uyen Linh (Source: Dulichbinhthuan.gov.vn)


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