Muong fish-catching festival attracts crowds

5/29/2017 - 2:30:20 PM

(HBO) – The traditional fish-catching festival of Muong ethnic minority people took place on May 10 in Tan Vuong hamlet, Lo Son commune, Tan Lac district, Hoa Binh province, attracting crowds of local residents and visitors.

Lo Son, a remote commune of Tan Lac, where more than 6 km of Suoi Cai (Cai stream) passes through. Water from small streams around Muong Bi area gathers to create one large natural Cai stream with clean water, providing shelter for many kinds of fish.

Muong people here have organised the fish-catching festival on the third lunar month every year for generations.

Local teams compete in casting-net throwing competition

The festival included two parts – a ritual ceremony and entertainment activities.

The ritual ceremony was solemnly held at the hamlet’s shrine where a shaman performed rites to pray for good weather, bumper crops, luck and health. After that, four young men carried a raft to the stream and representatives of the hamlet and commune threw the nets first.

Raft racing

Meanwhile, the locals joined the festival’s entertainment activities in the stream’s Tro and Lo areas, such as draft racing, casting-net throwing competitions, fish-catching contest, and a fair of local farming products.

Leaders of the People’s Committee of Lo Son commune and local people release fries into the stream

The annual festival aimed to pay tribute to the Gods while preserving and promoting the local cultural values. It also provided an opportunity for the local people to get relaxed and increase solidarity as well as raised their awareness of protecting the environment and natural resources and harms of the destructive fishing practices like those using electricity and explosives.

It was part of events in celebration of Tan Lac district’s 60^th founding anniversary (October 15, 1957-2017).

By Thu Thuy

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