VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES NGUYEN VAN TUAN RESEARCHING THE THEN CẤP SẮC DOCUMENTS STORED AT INSTITUTE OF HAN NOM STUDIES Specialization: Han-Nom Code: 22 01 04 THE SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS IN SINO-NOM HA NOI - 2019 The dissertation completed at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences Supervisor: Prof PhD Nguyen Ta Nhi Reviewer 1: Associate Prof PhD Đinh Khac Thuan Reviewer 2: Associate Prof PhD Ha Van Minh Reviewer 3: PhD Trinh Ngoc Anh The dissertation will be defended at Graduate Academy Level Council of dissertation assessment at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences Time: ………… date ……… month …… …year 2019 The dissertation may be found at: - Vietnam National Library; Graduate Academy of Social Sciences Library INTRODUCTION Rationale In addition to a large population, Tay ethnic minority also have a rich heritage of unique cultural materials preserved until today which contains poems and tales, luon coi, phong slu and Then singing These materials are usually documented in Nom script of Tay people (Tay Nom) and among which, we pay special attention to “Then cấp sắc” documents The study of Then cấp sắc documents recorded in Nom script not only help to clarify contents of such documents, but also contribute to preserving and promoting values of local culture The Institute of Han Nom Studies currently stores a total of 06 Tay Nom written documents of Then cấp sắc Although the quantity is not significant, the available documents can provide an overall picture of Then cấp sắc Tay once surveyed and studied For the above-mentioned reasons, we select "Researching the Then cấp sắc documents stored at The Institute of Han Nom Studies" as the topic for doctoral thesis in Han Nom Purpose and objective 2.1 Purpose The results of this study contributes to the introduction, conservation and promotion of Then cấp sắc documents written in Tay Nom in particular and Tay Nom texts in general 2.2 Objective Based on the established research purpose, we accordingly set objectives for the thesis as follows: - Systematize Then cấp sắc documents currently stored at the Institute - Study the characteristics and structure of texts, Nom scripts; determine the number of chapters and songs in the documents based on which define the concept of "Đường Then" and "đường then cấp sắc" recorded in Then cấp sắc documents - Present values of Then cấp sắc documents in ancient-time Tay culture, thereby propose measures to preserve and promote which values in contemporary cultural life Object and scope of research 3.1 Research object This thesis studies a group of Then cấp sắc documents written in Tay Nom and currently stored at the institute coded: NVB.1; VNv.671; NC.50; ST.2227; ST.2201; ST557 These are documents that have never been translated and published 3.2 Scope of research This study focuses on textual issues of Then cấp sắc documents, the issue of using Nom in texts, the concept of " đường then cấp sắc" and values of Then cấp sắc contents in the cultural and religious life of Tay people Research methodology and methods of research 4.1 Research methodology Knowledge of Han Nom Literature, textual studies, cultural studies, studies of ancient documents and interdisciplinary research will be applied in each chapter of the thesis 4.2 Methods of research This study employs the following methods of research: - Textual studies - Hermeneutics - Ancient documents studies - Quanlitative method - Interdisciplinary method Contribution - Introduce and analyze the concept of Then and Then cấp sắc in a broad and narrow sense - Introduce characteristics of Then cấp sắc documents of Tay people; identify reliable documents for research and introduction - Provide reliable data on the number of song and song chapters in Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc documents of three main branches of Then in three provinces of Cao Bang, Bac Kan and Lang Son - Use analysis and evaluation to demonstrate content and art values of Then cấp sắc documents - Provide phonetic transcription, translation, annotation and introduction of Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc documents Significance - Studying and analyzing documents; identifying reliable sources for translation, introduction and publishing of Then cấp sắc documents; studying Nom scripts in selected documents, contributing to the study of Nom script system of Tay people - Present an overall picture of “đường then cấp sắc”of Tay people, including: the journey of Then travelling from the mortal world to heaven to meet the Jade Emperor (king of heaven), the number of chapters and songs recorded in Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc documents stored at the Institute - The thesis paves the way for further studies of Then cấp sắc documents in particular and ritual folk songs of Tay people in general Hopefully, this thesis will contribute to the preservation, research and promotion of cultural values of Tay people Chapter AN OVERVIEW OF RESEACH 1.1 Overview of Tay people and their Then and Then cấp sắc 1.1.1 Tay people and their culture Among ethnic groups in Vietnam, Tay has the second largest population, coming after Kinh‟s Tay people mainly resides in mountainous areas to the North of the country and provinces in Central Highlands such as Dak Lak and Lam Dong In terms of historical origins, Tay ethnic "belongs to the same group of Au Viet within the Bach Viet bloc whose residence set in Northern Vietnam and Southern States of China” In terms of language and writing, Tay language belongs to the Tay Thai language group (Thai - Ka Dai language family) which is widely used in communication In terms of production activities, Tay people are farmers of rice agriculture who have been able to cultivate farmland and use irrigational system since the early days Regarding traditional customs and beliefs, Tay people have plenty of distinguished customs that express their own unique culture such as: Family acceptance, child adoption, “ket tong ket dam” and weddings Regarding folk religion, Tay people are polytheists 1.1.2 Then and Then cấp sắc 1.1.2.1 Fundamental concepts * Concepts of “Then” and “Then cấp sắc” Based on findings of predecessor researchers, the concept of "Then" is understood in broad and narrow sense In narrow sense, "Then" is the name of a form of worship that originates from the worship of heaven (pha) of Tay and Thai residents in and is generally referred to as Then, Put religion (as explained by Nguyen Thi Yen) In broad sense, "Then" is the name of a specific aspect related to Then religion Regarding the concept of "Then cấp sắc", Nguyen Thi Yen stated "It is a ceremony to recognize a Then master's practice status which belongs to great ceremony category of Then with a larger organization scope and links to the worship of Then‟s forefather Thus, "Then cấp sắc" is the name of a Then ritual, an extended concept deriving from the broad concept of "Then" which indicates a form of religious activities of Tay people * Concepts of “Then documents” and “Then cấp sắc documents” Accordingly, "Then documents" in general and "Then cấp sắc documents " in particular may include documents written in ancient Tay Nom and texts written in Latin language that are transcribed from Tay Nom or recorded by field voice recording and videoing That being said, we limit Then cấp sắc documents used in this thesis to lyrics of Then cấp sắc songs written in Tay Nom which are studied from textual studies perspective Other forms of art (music, performance, etc) are not applicable in this case 1.1.2.2 Origin of Then, Then masters and rituals system - Origin of Then: From our viewpoint, nowadays‟ Then Tay was born in a period of developed Vietnamese feudalism when, in Tay‟s society, there were distinct class divisions and intellects of Confucianism plus, cultural exchange with that of other ethnic groups - Then masters: All Then masters are capable of using dan tinh Their mission is to practice worship rituals that convey messages of the mortal world to the gods through playing musical instruments and singing - Rituals system: According to our initial survey over Then documents written in Tay Nom, there are only typical rituals divided into basic types by Trinh Khac Manh: /Blessing Then used in rituals such as new year, house building and prosperous business; 2/ Then that prays for peace and relieves one‟s run of bad luck including peace praying and bad luck relief; 3/ Festive Then is used in ceremonies such as seasonal farming praying and “cấp sắc” 1.1.2.3 Overview of cấp sắc ceremony - Purpose of a cấp sắc ceremony: This is a ceremony that recognizes that apprentices become official Then masters and qualified professionals - Location of a ceremony: A cấp sắc ceremony is performed at the apprentice‟s home - Duration and details of a ceremony: Duration of a ceremony depends on the host family's economic capacity and normally extends four days and three nights 1.2 Overview of existing collection and study related to the thesis’s topic 1.2.1 Research works from the perspective of cultural beliefs 1.2.1.1 The research works from the perspective of cultural beliefs about Then 1.2.1.2 The research works from the perspective of Then Grant excellent cultural beliefs 1.2.2 Research works from an art culture perspective 1.2.2.1 Research works from the perspective of art culture on Then 1.2.2.2 The research works from the perspective of art and cultural aspects of Then level 1.2.3 Collection and introduction of Then documents 1.2.3.1 The collection and introduction of Then song lyrics 1.2.3.2 The collection and introduction text of Then grant excellent singing 1.2.4 Overview of relevant studies Due to different research circumstances and purposes, most of the studies only manage to scope out, with little content analysis of specific Tay Nom documents Especially for Then cấp sắc, we have not seen any projects that use Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc documents to execute a systematically comprehensive research 1.3 Orientation of research - Conduct a comprehensive research and surveying of 06 Then cấp sắc documents available at the Institute - Study “đường Then” in Then cấp sắc documents to determine the concept of “đường Then” “Then cấp sắc” and the journey of “đường Then cấp sắc” that written in the Then cấp sắc documents - Study Nom scripts recorded in Then cấp sắc documents and draw judgements about characteristics of Nom scripts in Then cấp sắc documents - Study characteristics of Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc documents, and indicate the most typical characteristics of the texts - Study values of Then cấp sắc documents in terms of contents and art, make recommendations on conservation and promotion of Then cấp sắc documents to introduce about ritual folk songs of Tay people in general Vietnamese culture Summary of Chapter In this chapter, we have generalized some fundamentals about Tay ethnic and their culture and also provided an overview of Then and Then cấp sắc of Tay people Chapter SURVEYING TAY NOM WRITTEN THEN CẤP SẮC DOCUMENT AVAILABLE AT THE INSTITUTE OF HAN-NOM STUDIES 2.1 Description of Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc documents 2.1.1 Cấp sắc-related documents The term "cấp sắc-related documents" is used because not the entire of documents but only some parts of them were used by Tao masters and Then masters based on actual work required in the ceremonies 2.1.2 Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc documents Surveying Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc document stored in the institute, we find that there are documents Some of which are fully intact and some were damaged with first few pages missing 2.2 Study characteristics of Then cấp sắc documents 2.2.1 Form of documents 2.2.1.1 Origins of documents Among 06 available documents, we find that there are 04 of which originating from Lang Son, 01 from Bac Kan and 01 from Cao Bang 2.2.1.2 Names of documents Among 06 available documents, 04 of which specify name of the document (or title) and there are documents that have 04 different names despite their identical contents 2.2.1.3 Dating of documents All 06 surveyed documents were copied in the early twentieth century These documents were copied from older documents that underwent several copying, therefore preserved many cultural and literary charactertistics of previous centuries 2.2.1.4 Copier - Borrowed character and sound: 238 characters found in NVB.1 (accounting for 17,6%); 424 found in VNv.671 (accounting for 21,6%); 210 found in NC.50 (accounting 20,3%) - Borrowed character and meaning: 65 characters found in NVB.1 (accounting for 4,8%); 96 found in VNv.671 (accounting for 4,9%); 54 found in NC.50 (accounting for 5,4%) - Borrowed character and meaning with Han-Viet pronunciation: 127 characters found in NVB.1 (accounting for 9,4%); 244 found in VNv.671 (accounting for 12,4%); 115 found in NC.50 (accounting for 11,6%) - Borrowed character with Han-Viet pronunciation: 251 characters found in NVB.1 (accounting for 18,5%); 344 found in VNv.671 (accounting for 17,5%); 170 found in NC.50 (accounting for 17,2%) - Borrrowed character only: 198 characters found in NVB.1 (accounting for 14,6%); 299 found in VNv.671 (accounting for 15,2%); 144 found in NC.50 (accounting for 14,5%) In conclusion, based on our research, the document in Lang Son has total 1.355 Sino characters with frequence of 12.548 appearances; the document in Cao Bang has total of 991 Sino characters with frequence of 10.910 appearances; the document in Bac Kan has total 1.956 Sino characters with frequence of 13.426 appearances 2.3.2.3 Classification of Tay Nom scripts that borrowing from Kinh Nom - Borrowed character, sound and meaning NVB.1 version found 2,248 characters (accounting for 80.7%); VNv.671 version found 1,774 characters (accounting for 83.1%); NC.50 version found 1,191 characters (accounting for 79.8%) 11 - Borrowed character, meaning, read slightly different NVB.1 version found 398 characters (accounting for 14.3%); VNv.671 version found 303 characters (accounting for 14.2%); NC.50 version found 164 characters (accounting for 11.0%) - Borrowed character, meaning, not borrow sounds NVB.1 version found 139 characters (accounting for 5.0%); VNv.671 version found 58 characters (accounting for 2.7%); NC.50 version found 137 characters (accounting for 9.2%) In term of frequency of appearances of words that borrowed from Kinh Nom, we found that the document in Lang Son has total of 2.786 characters with frequence of 27.546 appearances; the document in Cao Bang has total of 1.493 characters with frequence of 16.436 appearances; the document in Bac Kan has total 2.135 characters with frequence of 18.196 appearances 2.3.2.4 Classification of self- developed Tay Nom scripts - The coordinated sysphograph: NVB.1 version found 201 characters (accounting for 7.5%); VNv.671 version found 58 characters (accounting for 5.3%); NC.50 version found 68 characters (accounting for 5.0%) - The principal and accessory sysphograph: NVB.1 version found 99 characters (accounting for 3.7%); VNv.671 version found 36 characters (accounting for 3.3%); NC.50 version found 50 characters (accounting for 3.7%) - The coordinated syssematograph: NVB.1 version found 345 characters (accounting for 12.9%); VNv.671 version appears 129 characters (accounting for 11.9%); NC.50 version appears 269 characters (accounting for 19.8%) 12 - The coordinated phonogpram: NVB.1 version found 797 characters (accounting for 29.8%); VNv.671 version found 311 characters (accounting for 28.6%); NC.50 version found 386 characters (accounting for 28.4%) - The principal and accessory phonogram: NVB.1 version found 1,089 characters (accounting for 40.7%); VNv.671 version found 523 characters (accounting for 28.1%); NC.50 version found 542 characters (accounting for 39.9%) - Single characters that borrow sounds: NVB.1 version found 104 words (3.9%); VNv.671 version appears 23 characters (2.1%); NC.50 version found 29 words (2.1%) - Single characters that borrow meaning: NVB.1 version appears 40 characters (accounting for 1.5%); VNv.671 version found characters (accounting for 0.7%); NC.50 version found 15 characters (1.1%) When classifying the self-created Tay Nom scripts, we found out that the document in Lang Son has total of 2.675 characters with frequence of 10.023 appearances; the document in Bac Kan has total of 1.087 characters with frequence 9.579 appearances; the document in Cao Bang has total of 1.358 words with frequence 9.179 appearances 2.3.3 Characteristics of Tay Nom script in the Then cấp sắc document 2.3.3.1 Use many borrowed scripts Then cấp sắc documents used many borrowed scripts, first were from of Kinh Nom, then Sino and lastly were self-created ones (NVB.1 the borrowed Kinh Nom script has 2,786 characters, the frequency of 27,546 appearances, the proportion is 55%; borrowed Sino has 1,355 characters, the frequency of occurrence is 12,548, the proportion is 25 %, self-created characters have 2,675 literal units, frequency appears 10,023 turns, rate of turns accounts for 20%) 13 2.3.3.2 Using Nom characters that have multiple ways of writing In Then cấp sắc documents, there were quite a lot of characters that have two ways of writing In fact, these are both “simplifying” and “combining” between the way of writing the borrowed and self-created characters Summary of chapter In this chapter, we have described documents related to cấp sắc written in Sino and Tay Nom and Then cấp sắc documents written in Tay Nom which currently stored in Institute of Han Nom Studies The chapter has solved the problems of text structure, the issue of the best version, the problem of Tay Nom script written in Then cấp sắc documents Chapter STUDYING THE “ĐƯỜNG THEN” IN TAY NOM WRITTEN THEN CẤP SẮC DOCUMENTS 3.1 Some basic issues regarding “đường then” and “đường then cấp sắc” 3.1.1 The concepts of “đường then” and “đường then cấp sắc” 3.1.1.1 “Đường then” concept In short, in a broad sense, we can understand that “Đường then” is a general artistic space consisting of many elements (lyrics, music, dance, etc.) in combination with each other to, in sequences in a Then ceremory However, in a narrow sense of the text, “Đường then” can be unserstood as the sequences of the lyrics that written in the Then documents As the 14 research objective of this thesis is Then cấp sắc documents, we will refer to the narrow sense of understanding 3.1.1.2 “Đường then cấp sắc” concept From the understanding of “Đường then” concept as above, the “Đường then cấp sắc” that we determined to study in this thesis is: the order of lyris in sequences, describing the journey of Then master with the ghost sodiers, to bring the offerings to Heaven to pay tributes to the Jade Emperor for the certificate approval, which written in Tay Nom documents 3.1.2 The rules used to grant certificate for Then 3.1.2.1 Regulations on naming the religious title To name the religious title for Then master, it needed to based on the Sexagenary circle in Thần tiêu ngọc cách công văn to grant It means, based on each age that has different “Kanshi” (Giap Ty, At Suu, Binh Dan,…), there would have different religious names 3.1.2.2 Regulations on naming the fate seal To name the Then‟s fate seal, it was also based on the Sexagenary circle in Thần tiêu ngọc cách công văn This seal was always raised by Then in the glutinous rice bowl to help the Then 3.1.2.3 Regulations on granting the sodiers To grant the soldier, Thần tiêu ngọc cách công văn determined based on the “Shi” (Ty, Suu, Dan, Mao,…) 3.1.3 Some of the first “calling upon” songs in a cấp sắc ceremory 3.1.3.1 Calling upon the Budda, the Jade Emperor and the Divine Generals Since it‟s needed to go to the Jade Emperor‟s gate to ask for the granting of the certificate, the Then master, before the journey, must call upon the Saints to witness and help them succeed 3.1.3.2 Calling upon local gods 15 Local gods are the tutelary gods, God of the Local Land, Kitchen God and ancestors These gods are both local gods (where Mr / Mrs Then resides) and local spirits of the landlord in the ceremony Compared to the Divine Generals and the Then‟s ancestors, the role of local gods is more modest 3.1.3.3 Calling upon the Ancestors and Lineage of the Then According to Then‟s concept, the Ancestor hold all Then magics Therefore, the Then masters must bring offerings and call upon them to ask for magics 3.2 Understandring “đường then” in Tay Nom Then cấp sắc documents In order to understand “đường then cấp sắc” in documents, we based on the actual source of the data written in the document Here, we took the NVB.1 version (belonging to Lang Son); VNv.671 (in Bac Kan); NC.50 (Cao Bang) to study for this chapter 3.2.1 Statistics and comparison of songs in Then cấp sắc documents 3.2.1.1 Criteria for text statistics Firstly, all chapters in documents will be listed by name on each sheet of each specific document Secondly, the task is to fully inventory the number of songs in Then cấp sắc documents Thirdly, the issue of classifying songs is a very important and necessary task for the classification of text layouts 3.2.1.2 Results of the statistics and comparison of chapters and songs in the documents Through the review, we could see the following results: the NVB.1 version has 27 chapters with 57 songs and 145 rhythms; VNv.671 version 16 has 22 chapters with 36 songs and 40 rhythms; NC.50 version has 17 chapters with 39 songs and 40 rhythms In terms of songs with same content, there is 9,1% in NVB.1 version, 7,6% in VNv.671 version and 7,6% in NC.50 version 3.2.2 The order of songs in Then cấp sắc documents 3.2.1.1 About the sequence of songs From the review results, our comments are “đường Then cấp sắc” was developed in different lines, so the sequence of songs depended on each line Especially, in the process of transmission, Then has been supplemented by generations Therefore, the order of the songs will not stop at the number of 12, or 14, or 35, etc., but it will grow even more, as in the results shown in Then cấp sắc written in Tay Nom script 3.2.1.2 About the Then gates expressed in the songs We conducted a survey of the contents of the songs, and all three texts were mentioned, which mentioned 12 gates on the journey to heaven However, there are differences in the way of the 12-door journey in the three documents This further demonstrates that among the key lines there are separate rules for each line 3.2.1.3 About the literature styles of the songs - Reprorting style - Describing style - Telling style - Dialogueing style 3.2.3 The contents of songs in Then cấp sắc documents 3.2.3.1 Preparation for a journey The first songs were about the offerings for Ngoc Hoang, then the arrangement of soldiers and sacrifices to inform the ancestors of the purpose 17 of organizing the journey, etc., were the stages of the preparation for a trip to heaven 3.2.3.2 On the journey In this topic, the songs are about the journey to the Heaven‟s upper part of the Then army After being granted the certification for being Then by the Jade Emperor, the Then together with the army returned to the earth 3.2.3.3 End of the journey After returning to the earth, the Then army troops gladly congratulated the new Then, from now on, they would have the power to save such humanity with high reputation, full of happiness and prosperity, and being served everyday 3.3 Characteristics of “đường then” Tay Nom Then cấp sắc documents 3.3.1 Characteristics of form “Đường then” in Then cấp sắc has the most songs in the general Then system In addition, in the text, there is always has a chapter named “khảu tu vua” (enter the King‟s gate), in which the content is to seek the Jade Emperor „s approval and being granted the certificate for being Then 3.3.2 Characteristics of content Most of the songs in Then cấp sắc have mentioned the issues of magics or gods Summary of chapter In this chapter, we studied to determine the concept of “đường then” and “đường then cấp sắc” At the same time, we also set out a number of regulations on how to name the religous title, the name of the fate seal, and the number of military officers of Then when it was granted 18 Chapter STYDYING THE VALUES OF THEN CẤP SẮC IN TAY NOM DOCUMENTS 4.1 The content value 4.1.1 Reflecting the social issues of the Tay people in the past 4.1.1.1 Reflecting the living environment of Tay people Due to being born in folk, associated with the living life of mountainous people, the lyrics in Then cấp sắc clearly reflected the living environment of the Tay people in mountainous areas during the feudal Vietnam The environment was described with the image of mountains, forests, fish pond, as well as familiar animals (buffaloes, stags and deers) and dramatic huntings in the jungle of old times 4.1.1.2 Reflecting the hard life of the Tay people in the past Then cấp sắc reflected the reality of the perverse life of the Tay people in the past, like a slave's life The image of the Then army transporting the offerings hardly, up to the waterfall, down to the rapids, through the winding roads as well as dense forests and mountains, etc 4.1.1.3 Reflecting the dreams of Tay people In general, through the lyrics of Then cấp sắc, readers and listeners can imagine that working people envisioned a good world and their desire to own it 4.1.2 Reflecting the cultural and religious issues 4.1.2.1 Reflecting the Tay’s concept of the world view Through Then cấp sắc, readers can see how Tay people view their world Tay people believed that world was structured in three layers, including: the heavens (celestial realms), the ground (the human realm earth) and the underground (hades and palace of the river god) 19 4.1.2.2 Reflecting the polytheistic beliefs of the Tay people From the concept of the three-tiered world, Then cấp sắc mentioned many images of the gods, including the gods from the local religious conception (Bjóc Bơi, Mứa Sinh, ), some Gods from the concept of beliefs belong to Three Religions (Buddism, Taoism and Confuciasim) (such as Thai Thuong Lao Quan, Te Thien Dai Thanh, Quan Vu, ) 4.1.2.3 Reflecting the thought of promoting Taoism Contents of Then cấp sắc documents clearly reflected the promotion of Taoism 4.2 Art value 4.2.1 Categories 4.2.1.1 Seven-word stanza poems The lyrics in Then cấp sắc mainly in the form of words (also call "thất ngôn lưu thuỷ") of Tay people 4.2.1.2 Five-word stanza poems The five-word poetry is usually the 5th letter of the above sentence and will be repeated with the second letter of the lower sentence 4.2.2 Method of rhetoric 4.2.2.1 Listing method We found out that in lười ca Then cấp sắc, the listing method was used in many chapters to tell and describe in quite a meticulous way 4.2.2.2 Words repeating method In Then cấp sắc documents, the word repeating method was used in most of the chapters This is a way of expressing that make words become smooth, rhythmical or intense 4.2.2.3 Fictioning method In Then cấp sắc, there are many parts that used fictional tactics to describe something, or a powerful and happening event 20 4.2.3 Art of using historical references Reviewing the historical references appreared in Then cấp sắc documents, we found the total of 58 ones, all of them are originally from China but was adapted by Tay people 4.3 Text values, the current status of using and preserving the Then cấp sắc documents 4.3.1 Text values of Then cấp sắc Then cấp sắc document is a reliable data for research and contribution to the study of the characteristics of Tay Nom script (historical writing, characteristics of the Tay Nom script of the text compared to other types of documents, ); contribute to the study of ethnic origins and exchange of the Kinh-Tay culture from the linguistic and literary perspectives; contributing to the study of Then's locality from the perspective of learning text; contributing to the preservation of the ancient songs and lyrics of the Tày people 4.3.2 Current status of using the Then cấp sắc documents written in Tay Nom in the locality Then cấp sắc is different with other folk songs as it is only used by Then practitioners Therefore, the current status of using Then cấp sắc written in Tay Nom in the locality is very little 4.3.3 Considerations for the preservation and promotion of text values of Tay Nom Then cấp sắc documents The above reality shows that the Tay Nom characters in general and Then documents in particular, including Then cấp sắc document, has gradually become a cultural heritage of a historical period and the preservation is needed By preserving and promoting it, we can contribute to the preservation and research of ethnic culture and history Therefore, some issues need to be considered as the followings: 21 - Teaching and training issues - Collection and storage issues - Compilation, introduction and research issues Summary of chapter The Then cấp sắc document has many different values, it should be studied, conserved and promoted 22 CONCLUSION The thesis has given a good understanding of Then Then cấp sắc with two concepts: 1/Concept of Then Then cấp sắc in art and culture space (lyrics, music, performance, ) to perform ritual offerings; 2/ Concept of Then Then cấp sắc are well-texted in the key documents, which are the order and sequences of the lyrics of the Then chapter, song The thesis has outlined an overview of the situation of social life and beliefs of Then rituals in general, Then cấp sắc in particular of Tay people Conducting a literature review of Tay Nom Then cấp sắc documents stored at the Institute of Han Nom Studies The thesis covers the studies of 11 documents of which are Then cấp sắc related ones The thesis has counted and compared song chapters of Then cấp sắc documents, including steps taken to find the history of each document, statistics of the number of chapters and songs of documents, layout of text as well as the heterogeneity of documents On the basis of studying study texts, the thesis identifies the reliable version (good version) for the study, which is the NVB.1 version in Lang Son, VNv.671 version in Bac Can and Nc 50 in Cao Bang All Then cấp sắc documetns stored at the Institure of SinNom Studies have a very clear content layout, divided into three basic parts The Tay Nom characters in Then cấp sắc documents also preserves many ancient scripts from the XV-XIX century 23 The thesis has studied “đường then” in Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc to define the concept of “đường then” and “đường then cấp sắc”; and set out regulations on how to name the religious title, the fate seal for Then and the number of soldiers assigned by Then Regarding the value of Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc documents, the thesis has in turn studied the value of content and art 24 THE AUTHOR’S PUBLISHED-PAPERS LIST RELATED TO THE DISSERTATION Nguyen Van Tuan (2001) “Nom Tay-Nung bibliographies were stored at the Institute of Han Nom Studies”, Han Nom Notice, p 185 Nguyen Văn Tuan (2003) “Overview of heterogeneous Nom Tay script”, Han Nom Notice, pp 561-567 Nguyen Van Tuan (2004) “One more research work is written in Nom Tay Nung”, Han Nom Notice, pp 472 – 476 Nguyen Van Tuan (2006) “Overview of using historical references in Nom Tay – Nung poetries”, Review of Han Nom, No (74), pp 48-51 Nguyen Van Tuan (2009) “The education in Then of the Tay Nung people”, Han Nom Notice, pp 994-999 Nguyen Van Tuan (2014) “Then cheo lua”, Nom poems of Vietnamese ethnic minorities, Vol 11, Social Science Publishing House, Hanoi Nguyen Van Tuan (2015) “Examining Nom Tay work “Quay binh ca”, Master thesis, Graduate Academy of Social Science Nguyen Van Tuan (2015) “Quay binh ca”, Nom poems of Vietnamese ethnic minorities, Vol 17, Social Science Publishing House, Hanoi Nguyen Tuan Cuong & Nguyen Van Tuan (2017) “Learning about the term “Then” from perspective of literature through the Nom Tay text” 10 Nguyen Van Tuan (2016) “Learning about Han through Nom Tay text”, international conference on “Ethnic cultures and languages in the exchanges of Southeast Asian nations”, Tuyen Quang province 11 Nguyen Van Tuan (2018) “Learning about “đường then cấp sắc” through the Then Nom Tay text”, 12 Nguyen Van Tuan (2018) “The promotion of priest in Then religion of Tay people through the study of documents written in Nom Tay language”, Journal of Social Science Manpower, No (64), p 102 25 ... 06 Then cấp sắc documents available at the Institute - Study “đường Then in Then cấp sắc documents to determine the concept of “đường Then Then cấp sắc and the journey of “đường Then cấp sắc ... script written in Then cấp sắc documents Chapter STUDYING THE “ĐƯỜNG THEN IN TAY NOM WRITTEN THEN CẤP SẮC DOCUMENTS 3.1 Some basic issues regarding “đường then and “đường then cấp sắc 3.1.1... overview of Then and Then cấp sắc of Tay people Chapter SURVEYING TAY NOM WRITTEN THEN CẤP SẮC DOCUMENT AVAILABLE AT THE INSTITUTE OF HAN-NOM STUDIES 2.1 Description of Tay Nom written Then cấp sắc documents