The Khai Ha Festival of Muong ethnic group in Hoa Binh province was held on a provincial scale from February 16 - 18 in Phong Phu commune, Tan Lac district.
A special musical performance at the opening ceremony of the festival.
At the opening ceremony, festival-goers took part in a palanquin procession and rituals, worshipping the gods of the land and heads of the village.
They also joined a mass gong performance, which featured the participation of more than 500 local artisans, a fashion show introducing Muong ethnic costumes, a fair displaying typical agricultural and tourism products, and various sporting events, such as tug of war, stick-pushing, and crossbow shooting.
Khai Ha Festival, also known as the ploughing or forest opening festival, has a connection with wet rice cultivation, which carries a sign of the civilisation of the ancient Vietnamese.
The event, the largest traditional festival in Hoa Binh, is an indispensable cultural practice of Muong ethnic people in the province every spring.
The Khai Ha festival of the Muong people in Tan Lac, Lac Son, Cao Phong, and Kim Boi districts was recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage.
Born and growing in the heroic land of Muong Dong, Dinh Thi Kieu Dung, a resident in Bo town of Kim Boi district, in her childhood was nurtured by the sweet lullabies of her grandmother and mother. These melodies deeply imprinted on her soul, becoming an inseparable part of her love for her ethnic group's culture. For over 20 years, this love for her hometown has driven Dung to research, collect, and pass down the cultural values of the Muong people to future generations.
In the final days of May, the Ethnic Art Troupe of Hoa Binh Province organized performances to serve the people in remote, mountainous, and particularly disadvantaged areas within the province. These were not just ordinary artistic shows, but they were the meaningful journeys aimed at spreading cultural values, enhancing the spiritual life of the people and contributing to the preservation of ethnic minority cultural identities.
Phong Phu commune, Tan Lac district of Hoa Binh province, is widely regarded as the cultural heartland of the Muong ethnic group. Among its many traditional communities, Luy Ai hamlet (formerly Ai hamlet) stands out as a rare location where the customs and way of life of the Muong Bi people remain largely intact.
The Truong Kha temple festival, a distinctive cultural event held every three years in Vu Ban township, Lac Son district, returned recently with vibrant rituals and folk traditions of the Muong people. Located next to the Buoi River in the Muong Trao fields, the Truong Kha Temple is dedicated to the three Kun Dol deities, revered for teaching farming techniques, irrigation, weaving, and protecting the harvest.
.jpg)
.jpg)
