This year’s International Day of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, observed on October 17, takes on added significance in Viet Nam as the country looks towards the 10th anniversary of the inscription of “Practices related to the Viet beliefs in the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms” on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (December 1, 2016 – December 1, 2026).

Binh Da Festival 2026, a national intangible cultural heritage, held in honour of Lac Long Quan, the legendary ancestor of the country, will take place on April 22, or the sixth day of the third lunar month, with a series of distinctive traditional cultural activities.

The Dong Ho folk painting craft was included in UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in Need of Urgent Safeguarding at the 20th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of ICH on December 9 in New Delhi, India, according to the Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The Ok Om Bok Festival, a traditional cultural event of the Khmer ethnic community and a recognised national intangible cultural heritage, was held on November 5 at the Ao Ba Om national historical and scenic site in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long.

Mo Muong is a heritage containing the values of many types of folklore including literature, performance, music, dance, theatre, rituals, and folk knowledge. In particular, the words of “Mo” (a type of folk rite practised at funerals or rituals) are literary works with a huge capacity, containing human, cultural and historical values as well as the outlook on life and cosmology of the Muong ethnic people. However, Mo Muong is facing many challenges in preservation and promotion of its values.

On November 22, the cultural heritages of Tay, Nung and Dao ethnic minority groups were introduced at an exhibition, which officially opened in the northern mountainous province of Lang Son.

Vietnam will run for a seat in the World Heritage Committee in the 2023-2027 tenure and expects to get support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son said while meeting with UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay in Hanoi on September 5.

A ceremony was held in the northern province of Tuyen Quang on September 3 night to receive a UNESCO certificate accrediting Practices of Then by Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic minority groups in Vietnam as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.