Hi Hiver,
How are you today? Another lovely Christmas coming, are you have a plan for that?
Today I want to share with you about my lovely job in the beautiful city - Hoi An.
I work as a receptionist at the Precious Heritage Art Gallery Museum of a French photographer. Here we exhibit traditional costumes of more than 50 ethnic groups in Vietnam.
The Museum is located on a small corner near the banks of the Hoai River in the beautiful city of Hoi An.
He traveled to more than 37 countries around the world before stopping with his family in Hoi An, Vietnam. For more than 10 years living in Vietnam, he has traveled to all parts of the country to take pictures, exchange, and learn about the culture of the ethnic groups in Vietnam.
There are many questions as to why a foreigner is so eager to learn about the culture of another country, he said that each ethnic group of Vietnam has its own unique beauty, from language to culture, to costumes or traditional craft villages. If we are not discovered and preserved, they may one day be destroyed by the development of industrialization.
These traditional costumes are souvenirs of the people where he has the opportunity to meet and interact with them. There are costumes that are the final set, but when they heard about the museum project to preserve the national culture, they agreed to give it away.
Behind each costume is a cultural story of the nation and passed down through generations in the family. Sometimes we are welcome family members (the real owners of the relic) to come to visit and review the relics of their grandparents.
Meeting ethnic minorities are not easy. Especially foreigners like him. They live mainly in the deep mountains, there are areas with only a few houses. And they can't speak Vietnamese.
During his travels, the photographer has the help of Vietnamese friends.
To get each meeting with the character, he takes several months to prepare from the paperwork to the other procedures.
Not to mention the weather factor, especially in the northern regions of Vietnam.
Each trip is about a week to half a month, they come to get to know each other. In the early days, the people here were still not open and ready to talk about their traditions, but after a few days of sharing many things together, they gradually opened up.
There are ethnic groups that are gradually losing their own writing because nowadays young people go to the city to live, they gradually don't use their own writing anymore. While the elderly in the village is gradually disappearing, that is what we are deeply concerned about.
Like the O Du ethnic group (living in the deep mountains of Nghe An province) the population is just over 270 people.
Learning and preserving a culture is something to be cherished and never easy. It was a whole journey.
We work here, have the opportunity to meet friends from many parts of the world. Before covid, every day the museum welcomed about 80 visitors, both on tour and alone.
Visitors come here mainly to explore, learn about the culture of ethnic groups in Vietnam, and admire the photographer's photos. The photos are taken with the permission of the character, which is the process of meeting, getting to know, sharing, and trusting each other. The photos are displayed in the first room of the Museum.
Sometimes after taking pictures, the photographer tries to return to visit the characters, to give them the photos taken, or books about the Museum so that they can pass on to their children and grandchildren.
The sad thing is that there are many cases where he can't find them again, some people move to another place, can't be contacted, some people pass away. So every time they meet, it's a fate that they will never know when they can meet each other again.
We have learned many skills, improved foreign languages, and learned many interesting things in such a cultural and artistic environment. In addition to preserving, preserving, and displaying the items on display, we have a mission to share information and help visitors learn about different cultures.
There are guests who come here, to share their travels, their collections, about other cultures around the world.
That enriches our knowledge, not only stories in books and newspapers but also heard by real people, we appreciate that. Working at the Museum is one of the things that makes me feel the most fortunate.
If you have the opportunity to visit Hoi An, I would be happy to be your guide to visit that invaluable cultural heritage Museum.
Photos were taken by me and my friends
Thanks for reading my post,
From Vietnam with love <3