CULTURAL VALUES OF THE VEGTETARIAN FESTIVAL IN TAM VU TOWN, CHAU THANH DISTRICT, LONG AN PROVINCE

Abstract

The Vegetarian Festival in Tam Vu Town, Chau Thanh District, Long An Province was born more than 100 years ago. The festival is organized by the local community to commemorate the heroic heroes, pray for the
dead spirits and for the peace of local residents. With the spirit of chiseling and opening up, the Vegetarian Festival maintains and develops beautiful cultural values that demonstrate the tradition of “being grateful to ancestors”, the patriotism, the solidarity, the community connection and the noble humanistic spirit, contributing to cultural goals for the socio-economic development of the locality. By combining two basic methods: (1) synthesizing, analyzing the written documents of relevant predecessors and (2) filed surveys,
expert and community interviews, this article focuses on evaluating the nature and value of the Vegetarian Festival from 2014 to present. The research initially shows that, despite the strong effects of the current industrialization and urbanization, the Vegetarian Festival in Tam Vu basically retains the tradition of decades ago, becoming a "cultural dialogue" channel between the current Tam Vu community and past traditions, between the people and local authorities, and between the local people. It is the value of “cultural dialogue” that is the resource and driving force to help this festival be preserved and developed until today.