Launching of the Vietnamese epic - The Descendant of Mon Man - in Ho Chi Minh City

After being launched in Hanoi in November, 2008, the Vietnamese Epic "Con Chau Mon Man" - The Descendant of Mon Man- was brought to readers in Ho Chi Minh City. The launching was made in the Institute d'Echanges Cultures avec la France (IDECAF) on 9 March, 2009. This is a cultural cooperation project between Finland and Vietnam and is a traditional oriented epic like Kalevala of Finland compiled on the basis of the different epics and folklore literature sources of ethnic groups in Vietnam.

 The author, Ms. Bui Viet Hoa said it took her and her colleagues, Artist Dang Thu Huong and Ph.D Vo Xuan Que six years to complete the project with many visits to different places to meet with artists of different ethnic groups through out Vietnam. The author has applied the same methodology which the author of Kalevala Elias Lönnrot used when writing Kalevala. The author, besides the role of a collector and a note taker, he/she should take the role of a narrator and an artisan as well. It means that poems and their topics should be integrated in the best possible way.

The epic includes a mythological part that tells about the birth of earth, the birth of rice and buffalos, and others. The second part is a hero epic where the descendant of Mon Man defeated the natural enemy and common enemy.

The compilation of Vietnamese epic - The Descendant of Mon Man - is a good example of cultural cooperation between Finnish and Vietnamese experts, a sector which was highlighted by the President of the Republic of Finland during the State Official visit to Vietnam in February 2008. And as said by the Ambassador of Finland to Vietnam, Mr. Pekka Hyvönen, it is considered the most important achievement of the Finland - Vietnam cultural cooperation so far.

 Illustrative paintings for the epic made by Dang Thu Huong were displayed at the launching as well.

 The collection of illustrative paintings and epic books are displayed at IDECAF until 27 March, 2009.

Juminkeko Foundation's Webpage about the Epic