Rich in cultural identity of highland festivals

Spring is the season of many festivals, stretching from North to South. For ethnic minority and mountainous areas of Quang Ninh , spring festivals are also extremely rich and diverse. The festivals of the ethnic minorities are not only an opportunity for everyone to rest and share joy after a year of hard work, but also a way for people to express their gratitude to the gods and nature for giving them a year of favorable weather and bountiful crops.

Cultural diversity

In Quang Ninh, where 42 ethnic minority groups live together, traditional festivals of ethnic minorities are held all year round to express the desire to return to their roots, religious activities, balance spiritual life and cultural enjoyment and creation of the people. Most of the traditional festivals are held in January and February of spring, contributing to the bustling and joyful atmosphere, encouraging people to enter a new year that promises to reap many achievements, sending wishes for peace and happiness.

Traditional royal decree procession ceremony at Luc Na Communal House Festival (Binh Lieu District) in 2025.

As scheduled, on January 16-17, the ethnic people of Binh Lieu district were once again excited and bustling to join the Luc Na Communal House Festival. Restored since 2006, the festival has now become a spring cultural rendezvous with many traditional folk cultural activities of the ethnic communities in Binh Lieu district. From early morning, the festival atmosphere was bustling from the street to the communal house yard. The warm scent of incense smoke wafted throughout the communal house. People from villages, hamlets, and visitors from all over came to the festival in joy. Everyone prepared for themselves trays of offerings full of sticky rice, chicken, and fruits, respectfully offering them to the Thanh Hoang and the mountain gods, river gods, and the local gods to pray for a peaceful and prosperous new year.

This year, Luc Na Communal House Festival is organized according to traditional festival rituals including the ceremony and the festival. The ceremony includes the royal decree procession, the god worship ceremony, and the communal house closing ceremony. The festival includes many unique cultural, artistic, and sports activities taking place at Luc Na Communal House yard such as: Then singing - Tinh lute festival of Binh Lieu district; Binh Lieu district traditional martial arts tournament; Luc Na Communal House Cup football tournament; nightingale fighting, red-whiskered bulbul singing competition... Along with that, there are traditional sports competitions (stick pushing, shuttlecock throwing, tug of war, crossbow shooting) and folk games (sack jumping, grave digging, stilt walking...).

Back to Tien Yen,   On January 12, at the Tay ethnic cultural house, Dong Dinh village, Phong Du commune, the Dong Dinh communal house festival and the Tay ethnic cultural and sports festival in Tien Yen district in 2025 took place. The ceremony included a worshiping ceremony; a procession and incense offering at Dong Dinh communal house; a reenactment of the "Long Tong" ceremony and an excerpt from "Lau Then" - one of the typical cultural features of the Tay ethnic group in Dong Dinh village, Phong Du commune. The festival included many unique cultural, artistic and sports activities such as: Stick pushing competition, tug of war, crossbow shooting, men's and women's volleyball competition, raft racing on the river and Tay ethnic costume demonstration; culinary competition (gio cake wrapping competition, Tay culinary display competition).

Mr. Be Van Ly, Phong Du commune (Tien Yen district), said: The festival held at the beginning of the year always attracts a large number of people and tourists to participate. The villages are busy preparing and practicing from performing arts to competing in folk games, making the New Year atmosphere always bustling. Thereby, not only helping the local people to enter production and have a joyful and exciting New Year, but also contributing to promoting and propagating so that the people and tourists can understand more deeply about the Tay ethnic group in Tien Yen district and strengthen solidarity between ethnic communities.

The ritual of digging holes and sowing seeds at the 2025 Lang Da Communal House Festival opens a new year of production, expressing the wish for a bountiful harvest.   Photo: Ngoc Loi (Contributor)

Every year, in Ba Che district, many festivals of different sizes take place. Among them, Lang Da Communal House Festival, hosted by Thanh Lam commune, takes place on the 9th and 10th of January, Dong Chuc Communal House Festival and Long Tong Festival (going to the fields) hosted by Luong Mong commune, take place from the 20th to the 22nd of January, all with traditional rituals and cultural, artistic, sports, folk games and culinary activities bearing the cultural imprint of the local people.

Preserving and promoting the cultural values ​​of festivals

Festivals are unique spiritual and cultural activities, reflecting historical traditions and the community's good wishes for nature, society and human life. Therefore, even when social conditions change, many forms of modern cultural activities are increasingly developing, but the traditional festival activities of ethnic minorities are not lost.

Spinning top is a folk game that many San Chi and Tay people in localities in the province play and interact with during the spring festival. Photo: Minh Duc

Accordingly, before, during and after the Lunar New Year, localities have paid attention to and strengthened the direction of organizing festivals in a methodical and thoughtful manner, ensuring solemnity, safety, civilization, health, economy and imbued with national identity. At the same time, actively propagandizing to raise people's awareness in implementing civilized festival lifestyle, eliminating bad customs and superstitions... Thanks to that, most of the spaces from places of worship to festival spaces are clean, beautiful and safe; the work of ensuring security and order, traffic safety, and fire prevention has been strengthened, creating a spiritual and cultural space that is both solemn, sacred and bustling, exciting for people and tourists to come and visit the spring festival.

For many years, localities have also focused on linking the organization of traditional festivals, exploiting and promoting the cultural values ​​of ethnic minorities with tourism development. On that basis, festivals are organized in conjunction with ethnic cultural festivals, including a series of unique cultural, artistic, sports and culinary experiences.

The work of propaganda, mobilization, and promotion of the role of the people and folk artists in transmitting and popularizing traditional cultural activities and training and fostering successors has been promoted. In addition, the province and localities have allocated adequate resources to invest in building synchronous cultural and sports institutions in mountainous ethnic minority areas; and annually support research, restoration, preservation, and promotion of intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities at risk of extinction.

Thereby, not only creating a space for traditional cultural activities for ethnic minorities but also creating new and unique tourism products, attracting tourists to visit, explore and experience. At the same time, creating a direction for sustainable tourism development for localities, creating more jobs and income for ethnic minorities from their own cultural values, helping ethnic minorities to raise awareness of preserving, honoring and promoting cultural values ​​in modern life.

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/dam-da-ban-sac-van-hoa-le-hoi-vung-cao-3343689.html