There are a variety of festivals that take place during the Tet holiday nationwide.

As usual, millions of residents in the northern mountainous provinces are eager to take part in a traditional festival “Xuong dong”, or, “Entering paddy field” - their biggest festival of the year.

The festival with different names takes place on the fourth day of January according to the lunar calendar. Ethnic minorities in northern villages such as Son La, Lai Chau, Yen Bai, Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Cao Bang, and Bac Kan, enjoy participating in traditional games like throwing balls, climbing pillars, hide-and-seek, see-saw, as well as dancing and singing. The festival lasts all the way to the fifteenth of the lunar month in some places.

In the northwest of the country, some villages in Lao Cai Province make sure to keep the traditional character of the festival. An iflux of tourists visited the popular haunt of Sa Pa Bac Ha Muong Khuong during the second and third day of the lunar year to take part in the festival, according to Lao Cai’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The buffalo fights that draw such huge crowds have been a long-standing tradition. Thousands of people across the country flock to Do Son village in northern Hai Phong Province to see the peaceable water buffalo transformed into a fearsome fighter on the ninth day of the eighth lunar month.

The small village of Hai Luu, which lies along the Lo River in Lap Thach commune in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, holds the fights before and after the Tet holiday.

On the 27th and 28th of December (of the lunar calendar), the qualifying rounds take place and the winners enter the next and the final round on the 16th and 17th of January.

The chosen buffalos are covered with red cloth and have red bands around their horns. They are taken to the fighting ring by 24 young men from two teams, also dressed in red. The young men dance and wave flags as the two teams take their positions in the arena.

A pair of buffalos is then led into the fighting circle, whereupon they lock horns as the audience beats drums and gongs and emit full-throated yells to spur the contestants on.

In the central province of Quang Tri, a unique festival is held on the third and fourth day to show gratitude to one’s parents. The festival plays an important role in the life of residents there. The elderly and their descendants of 14 family names gather together to worship before the altar of the forefather.

In addition to the festival, a worship festival is held to seek good weather, a bountiful catch, prosperity and happiness for the whole community.

VietNamNet/SGGP