A festival is taking place in Hanoi where ethnic people from across the country gather together and exchange their cultures as well as introduce them to local people and tourists. The activities aim to celebrate Vietnam Ethnic Groups’ Culture Day on April 19th. Village elders, artisans and people from ethnic minority groups across the country are flocking to the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism in Son Tay district in Hanoi to participate in the event. By attending the festival, they hope to preserve and promote their distinctive cultural values.  “I am happy to be here. Visitors always ask us to give our ethnic group’s distinctive performances,” said artisan Chama Le Dap, a Raglai ethnic from Ninh Thuan province. “This is a chance for us to preserve the group’s cultural values,” he added. The annual event is an occasion for ethnic minorities to gather and perform traditional activities. During the past 10 years, the celebration has attracted more and more visitors to the village, helping promote the diverse cultural values of ethnic groups in Vietnam. Nguyen Thi Thu Uyen, a visitor from Hanoi, said: “Every ethnic group boasts its own beauty. As a young person, we would like to promote ethnic groups’ cultural heritage.” According to her, promoting cultural values should be done in cooperation with tourism activities as youngsters like travelling. There still remain challenges in preserving their culture as some youngsters may turn their back on their communities’ traditional values. Authorities have to come up with appropriate policies to sustain the diversity of Vietnam’s ethnic culture. Ho Van Hanh, a village patriarch of Ta Oi ethnic group in Thua Thien–Hue province said it’s difficult to preserve cultural values among youngsters as they have to study. “The point is to integrate ethnic cultural values in their curricula to raise their awareness of preserving and promoting their cultural heritages,” he noted. Such activities are expected to draw people’s attention, especially youngsters. Vietnam is a multi-nationality country with 54 ethnic groups. The Kinh people account for 87 per cent of the population and mainly inhabit the Red River Delta, the central coastal region, the Mekong Delta, and major cities. The 53 other ethnic minority groups, totaling over 8 million people, are scattered around mountain areas (which cover two-thirds of the country’s territory) from the north to the south.-VNA