Travelog - A travel guide to Vietnam

Sorcerer Hoang Chung, La Pan Tan Commune, Muong Khuong District, Lao Cai Province, preparing offerings for the ritual.

Visiting hamlets in the Northern mountainous areas when Spring comes, anyone could see with their own eyes not only a captivating beauty constituted by forests of peach and apricot trees in blossom, but also the unique and interesting rituals in the Mong’s Gau Tao festival. When speaking of the distinctive cultural characteristics of the Mong ethnic minority, one can’t help mentioning its Gau Tao festival (lit. going out in mountain) to pray for happiness and fortune. As is the Mong’s custom, house masters must ask sorcerers in their hamlet to communicate on their behalf with their ancestors and the Gods of Soil.

Normally, the house masters will hold the Gau Tao festival for three to five days in three consecutive years and for 10-12 days in case of organizing the festival for only one year. On the 25 -26th day of the Tet, the hamlet’s young and strong men will select and chop down a bamboo tree as cay neu (the New Year tree) and set it up on a hill side or a flat ground where the festival’s solemn main rituals will happen.

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In Soc Trang Province as well as surrounding areas in the delta, there is the Ooc Om Bok festival, which usually falls in November. The Khmer people prepare an offering feast to the moon comprised of farm produce like ripe bananas, freshly peeled coconuts, mangos and green rice paper – a specialty of the local people.

The traditional ceremony is usually carried out as the moon rises with all attendees sitting on the ground, clasping their hands and listening to an elderly man express the people’s gratitude to the moon and saying prayers for continuous good crops and good health.

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Old men of the families contributing some
rice to worship the deities.

Customarily, after the completion of the construction of the ” nha rong” (communal house), the Gia Rai, as well as a few other ethnic groups in the Western Highlands, celebrate buffalo-meat feasts. Planting a “cot gung” (bamboo-pole) and tying a buffalo to it is the first item on the ceremony.

Shortly after drums and gongs are beaten to rally the villagers to the communal house. The village headsman puts a noose of a long rope round the animal’s neck, and after that all villagers, old and young, men and women, should hold on to the rope. As a preparation for the ceremony, all householders take a handful of rice to the communal house and put it on a large plate. Then the headsman and the elders make a long line, facing the rising sun, near the bamboo pole and the buffalo. While holding the plate of rice, the village headsman scatters the rice grains in the direction of the buffalo and prays for bumper crops and good health for the villagers.

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The traditional ox race festival in Bay Nui, An Giang Province has recently become an interesting event, attracting both home and foreign visitors.

The ox race is usually held once a year in the Dolta festival of the Kh’mer ethnic minority (in the late eighth or early ninth lunar month) that is by no means minor or less attractive to any other sport events when peasants flock to the course with a sport spirit and a desire for victory. The thunderous shouts in both Khmer and Vietnamese languages are an evidence of this fact.

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Da Lat Flower Festival 2005 –the biggest-ever in Vietnam – was spectacularly held in the Capital of the Central Highlands Province of Lam Dong to honour flower-growing and flower growers and affirm the Da Lat flower brand both in domestic and overseas markets.

The 113 year-old City typically featured for its western architecture in Lang Biang Plateau has many nicknames: Mist City; Dreamy City; City of Love; City of Howling Pines, etc. However, the “City of Flowers” was the most common name used during the nine-day festival.

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Mid-autumn festival is on the 15th day of the seventh month of a lunar year. The mid-autumn day is a festival of children. However, adults also take part in the festival activity. Children have a lot of play such as singing and dancing, parading lanterns of moon or star or animal shapes.

Normally, the worship service is held in the day light. Trays of various kinds of cake and fruits for children are arranged for their play in the night.