Highlights of Then Kin Pang Festival of the White Thai in Phong Tho

The 2023 Then Kin Pang Festival in Khong Lao Commune, Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province will take place from April 28-29 (ie March 9-10 of the lunar calendar) with many activities imbued with the cultural identity of the White Thai ethnic group, attracting thousands of people and tourists to visit and experience. In particular, this year's festival will have the participation and exchange of the Working Group of the Thai Ethnic Academic Research Association of Kim Binh District (Yunnan Province, China).

Then worship is an indispensable ritual at the Then Kin Pang Festival. Photo: Viet Hoang/VNA

Opening the festival, Vice Chairman of Phong Tho District People's Committee, Head of the Festival Organizing Committee Mai Thi Hong Sim emphasized: Then Kin Pang Festival is an opportunity for the Thai ethnic people in Phong Tho district to remember and thank Then for blessing the people, giving them favorable weather, bountiful crops, and peaceful and prosperous villages. Through many activities in the festival, the cultural traditions, achievements, and contributions of the Thai ethnic community in preserving and promoting the fine traditional cultural identity of the nation are honored. At the same time, the festival is an opportunity for people of all ethnic groups to gather and exchange cultures, increase understanding; combine traditional culture with contemporary culture; contribute to building a joyful and healthy spiritual and cultural life, thereby building and developing an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity. The festival is an opportunity for Phong Tho district to introduce and promote the unique and distinctive cultural values ​​of the Thai ethnic group in Phong Tho district to domestic and international friends. Thereby, the authorities promote tourism development in Phong Tho district according to the Resolution of the District Party Committee on tourism development in the period of 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030 and the Resolution on strengthening the leadership of Party committees at all levels to bring Phong Tho district out of poverty by 2025. This year's festival consists of 2 parts: ceremony and festival. In which, the ceremony is performed by the Organizing Committee at the Then house with rituals of worship, incense offering, expressing gratitude to heaven, earth, and gods; praying for the gods to bless, protect, and be a spiritual support for the people in the area to overcome difficulties, have a prosperous and happy life.

Locals and tourists eagerly participate in the ball throwing game at the festival. Photo: Viet Hoang/VNA

The festival featured many unique and attractive performances with the participation of athletes, artisans, and art troupes from 6 communes where Thai people live, including Phong Tho Town, Muong So, Khong Lao, Nam Xe, Ban Lang, and Hoang Then. In the "Duyen dang Muong Then" art competition, the teams brought singing and dancing performances praising the Party, Uncle Ho, love for the homeland, the new life in Lai Chau in general and Phong Tho district in particular; performing ethnic costumes and traditional musical instruments imbued with the cultural identity of the Thai people. The culinary competition was an opportunity for the communes to show off their cooking skills in typical ethnic dishes. From locally available ingredients, each team prepared many attractive dishes. The team with the least number of dishes had more than 20 dishes, the team with the most number of dishes had 55 dishes. Among the dishes are grilled meat, grilled fish, ash-buried goby, five-color sticky rice, wild vegetable dishes, bon soup, stone worms, knife worms, sparrows... attracting the attention of many visitors to enjoy. The new feature of this year's festival is the "Skillful Hands or Craft" competition, including spinning and weaving "hap pa giang" (dried fish baskets), thereby demonstrating the ingenuity of artisans when making products imbued with the Thai ethnic identity. In addition, when attending the festival, people in Lai Chau province and visitors from all over the country can witness the exciting competitions of the teams and participate in many folk games such as tug of war, throwing con, swallows, crossbow shooting, walking on stilts, fishing...

In particular, an indispensable part of the annual Then Kin Pang Festival is water splashing. This is a bustling activity for delegates, people, and tourists to immerse themselves in the cool atmosphere of the stream, to happily splash water to pray for luck and peace for themselves, their families, and their villages.

An art performance at the festival. Photo: Viet Hoang/VNA

Many tourists were amazed and interested in the competitions and asked to take photos with Thai girls in traditional costumes. The family of Ms. Vu Thi Bich Ha from the capital Hanoi shared: This year, the holidays overlapped so they had a long vacation, so her family chose Lai Chau, Lao Cai to travel. Seeing with her own eyes and experiencing the unique and special competitions of the Thai ethnic group in Phong Tho, she was very excited, especially when splashing water with the people, blending in with the nature and people here. Mr. Phan Nhat Anh, a tourist from Hai Duong, shared that he was most impressed with the Then worship ritual and splashing water with the people. This activity is an opportunity for local boys and girls to meet and express themselves through songs, dances and folk games. It can be seen that the Then Kin Pang Festival in Phong Tho district is increasingly spreading to tourists near and far with the unique cultural and spiritual values ​​of the White Thai people in the Muong So and Khong Lao areas. The festival also actively contributes to preserving and promoting cultural values, gradually turning the festival into a unique and attractive tourist destination for visitors to Lai Chau.

Viet Hoang - Dinh Thuy (Vietnam News Agency)