Performing daily life activities of Mong ethnic group in Sa Pa. 

The festival-themed ‘Connecting Green Aspiration’ was organized from August 28 to 26 in Lao Cai City and Sa Pa Town. The festival highlight was a new tourism product named ‘Sa Pa Lang Le Yeu’ – ‘The Ethnic Mong Show’ held at 8 pm on August 27 at Sa Pa's Tourism Information and Promotion Centre at 2 Fansipan Street.

Performed by local Mong residents and artisans in Sa Pa, the show was held for the first time with an aim to help tourists engage themselves in the cultural space of the people. Tourists will feel the tranquility of local life, the mystery of spiritual life, forging and casting techniques, silver carving, handloom weaving, brocade weaving, home-brew winemaking, and stewed horse meat cooking. Visitors will also understand Mong people's ways of behavior in the family and community, romantic relationships, traditional musical instruments, and folk love songs.

People of the Mong ethnic group perform folk love singing. 

Hoang Van Thang, director of Lao Cai Province Department of Tourism, said the new tourism product held great significance for local tourism.

“The show will bring visitors back to Sa Pa in the past with unique cultural and daily life of Mong ethnic group.

“We have made careful preparations with the desire to bring a truly impressive tourism product showcasing cultural identity to domestic and international tourists,” he said.

The organizers have collaborated with many artists, cultural researchers, and others to create products, tools, and utensils relevant to the culture, customs, and habits of local people. The daily life of the Mong ethnic group was showcased in the most vivid way. Every person from Mong ethnic group in Sa Pa wants to introduce to visitors their daily activities with the hope that tourists will appreciate the traditional cultural values of the group so that they will make more efforts in inheriting and promoting these values.

Hands of a Mong teenage girl turn indigo while dyeing fabric. 

Chau Thi Sung, from the Mong ethnic group living in Sa Pa Ward, one of the performers, said “We felt touched as we have introduced the culture of our group to visitors. Daily activities such as flax weaving, corn wine cooking, the traditional Thang Co dish cooking, or folk singing will be showcased to the audience.”

The show ‘Sa Pa Lang Le Yeu’ – ‘The Ethnic Mong Show’ has attracted tourists to this land on this occasion. Everything performed in the show reflected the cultural life of the Mong group vividly.

Hoang Thi Huyen, a tourist from Ninh Binh Province, said “I was impressed by not only the sound and light but also details such as the way locals bring water to the village or simple and touching folk sings".

Performing daily activities of the Mong ethnic group. 

Hoang Van Thang, director of Lao Cai Province Department of Tourism, said everything in the show must be quiet. Within a radius of 500 m, all noisy sounds must be stopped, while all electric lights will be turned off. There will only be lights from the stove, oil lamps, and sound from the show's props.

This event has connected the tranquil old time and the presence of Sa Pa where the Mong ethnic group people account for over 50 percent of the population.

‘The Mong Show’ will be one of five plays to be performed every month besides the shows of the Dao, Tay, Giay, and Xa Pho groups. The shows will be held alternately with the hope that visitors will feel and reminisce about a rustic, quiet, mysterious, and romantic town in the old time -something that they can hardly find or feel in Sa Pa today. The show is expected to bring new experiences to visitors./.

Q.Lien