According to Lai Duc Dai, Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the province will take the lead and collaborate with other Central Highlands provinces in working on this dossier.
The initiative is among broader effort of Dak Lak Province and Central Highlands localities in protecting this national intangible cultural heritage.
Believed to be practiced around the 16th century, epics have played an important role in the cultural life of the Central Highlands people for many generations.
Epics are a unique form of folk literature characteristic of the ethnic communities in the Central Highlands, containing profound historical, cultural, and scientific values. They are transmitted through oral performances and storytelling in daily life.
Epics usually describe the socio-economic process that formed and developed the community of ethnic groups or tell stories about strong and admirable heroes in the mythology of locals.
In 2014, four types of epics were recognised as national cultural heritages by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, including the oral recitation of the Ede ethnic community in Dak Lak Province, the Ot Ndrong epic of the M’Nong people in Dak Nong Province, the Homon epic of the Banah ethnic group in Gia Lai Province, and another Homon epic of the Rongao in Kon Tum Province.
Since the first epic of the E De people, ‘The Song of Dam San’ was announced in 1927, the research, collection, recording, and translation of Central Highlands epics have not yet fully covered the magnitude of this treasure trove.
Epic storytelling is not formally taught; instead, younger generations learn by listening to elderly storytellers in their villages and memorising the stories.
Currently, the storytellers are aging, and the space for epic storytelling has changed, including the artists, audience, and settings.
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Fieldwork and epic collection have been conducted since the 1980s, contributing valuable epics to the country's literary and artistic heritage. (Photo: Ha Duong) |
Since 2013, Kon Tum Province has developed a project to preserve epics, while speeding up the collection, research, translation, and publication of epics from the Ba Na and Xo Dang ethnic groups, and reviving the art of epic storytelling.
However, there are still very few artists who are involved in the preservation of epics, and much of the collected material remains untranslated and unpublished due to a lack of people capable of transcribing and interpreting them.
Meanwhile in Kon Tum Province, local authorities plan to integrate epics into the curriculum of ethnic boarding schools as part of local education.
In Dak Lak Province, fieldwork and epic collection have been conducted since the 1980s, contributing valuable epics to the country's literary and artistic heritage.
However, Dak Lak is currently facing a shortage of artists to teach epic storytelling, while young people have been showing less interest in this traditional practice.
Therefore, Dak Lak Province's initiative to compile a dossier on Central Highlands epics for UNESCO’s recognition is seen as a solution to effectively preserve and promote the value of epics in contemporary life.
Other provinces can also consider effective methods such as organising song writing contests that incorporate the distinctive values of epics to promote the unique culture of the Central Highlands.
