Cultural Heritage of Humanity at a meeting of its Inter-Governmental
Committee in Nairobi, Kenya, on November 16.
The Hanoi People’s
Committee reported that it is Hanoi’s third heritage honour presented by
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) in 2010.
The other sites include 82 steles engraved
with names of doctorate holders for centuries in the Van Mieu-Quoc Tu
Giam, Vietnam’s first university, which have been recognised as
Documentary Heritage of the Memory of the World programme. The central
site of the Thang Long Royal Citadel has won the title “World Cultural
Heritage”.
The Giong festival is held annually in several parts
of northern Vietnam, most typically in the Phu Dong and Soc Temples in
Hanoi, to commemorate Saint Giong, one of the immortal quartets in the
Vietnamese legends.
Legend has it that under the sixth King
Hung’s reign (around 500 BC) Vietnam was threatened by the Kingdom of
Yin, to the north of Vietnam.
A little boy, who was unable to
crawl, roll over and say a single word at the age of three, had
surprisingly grown up to a giant man in just several days after getting
news on the foreign invasion. He used local bushes of bamboo to defeat
aggressors and flew into the sky with his iron horse after the final
victory.
In order to show their gratitude to the hero of Giong village, people proclaimed him Saint Giong.
The
festival meets all qualifications for an intangible cultural heritage
of humanity as it has been conserved by the community as part of the
national cultural identity, handed down from generations to generations,
holds creativeness of humanity and represents aspiration for prosperity
by every family and peace for the nation and the world.
The
Giong festival was among 46 candidates from 29 nations that UNESCO
recognised as intangible cultural heritage in 2010 after considering 113
dossiers submitted by 32 member nations./.
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