The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai will host the 2018 Gong Cultural Festival. The event aims to promote the unity of local ethnic communities in preserving the cultural space of Gong.

The festival is scheduled to take place in this year’s mid-November in the province, with the unity of local ethnic communities as its main theme.

Numerous activities will be jointly held by five Central Highlands provinces, namely a street festival featuring gong performances, re-enactment of some traditional rituals and festivals of 11 ethnic groups of the region.

The art of wood sculpture and brocade weaving will be introduced during the festival, along with seminars on the conservation of gong cultural values and exhibitions on ethnic costumes.

The Cultural Space of Gong of Tay Nguyen was recognised by the UNESCO as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of the humanity in 2005. 

It is closely linked to the daily life of local people. Their belief systems form a mystical world where the gongs produce a privileged language between men, divinities and the supernatural world.-VNA