Vietnamese Country Report DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM 51 Ngo Quyen St., Hoan Kiem Dist., Ha Noi, Vietnam Tel: 84-4 39438025; Fax: 84-4 39439929; Email:
[email protected] project of INTANGIBLE cultural heritage inventory of the gongs (central highlands region of Vietnam) Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, MA Officer Introduction of the tagret ICH The space of Gong culture spreads throughout the five provinces of Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong in Vietnam. The owners of this precious and unique cultural heritage are 17 ethnic groups of Austro-Asian and Austronesian living in the central highlands region of Vietnam. Mainstream beliefs of the residents here came from the ancestor worship, sacred animal worship and shaman animism. This belief has formed a mystical world where the gongs are a bridge between the human and supernatural world. Contained in each of the gong, the gong is a god. The older the Gong is getting, the more power and sacredness it has*. Almost families in the communities have gongs, even some of the families have several group of gongs. This represents wealth, power and shielding material for protecting the family. Gongs attached to the community as a vital part of every human life cycle, and they appear in almost important s of the community, from the ceremony for babies, wedding ceremony, farewell deaths ceremony, buffalo stabbing festival, celebration of the new rice, warehouse closing ceremony, the celebration of building the new house, etc. ... and all the gongs are used as a tool to communicate with god.