Hundreds of people fought over a piece of mat at the festival to pray for a son.

On the morning of February 5 (the 8th day of the first lunar month), Phu Lien village (Dong Tinh commune, Tam Duong district, Vinh Phuc province) held the annual Duc But festival with the participation of thousands of local people and tourists from all over.

The most special and important part of the festival is the Buddha casting ceremony, which attracts a large number of people to wait and watch.

After the "Buddha" was escorted by the villagers to bathe in the sacred well at the beginning of the village and covered with mud on his body and face, he was brought to the front yard of the Lady Temple to wait to report to the village's tutelary god.

Each "Buddha" is given a mat, but the "Buddha" sitting in the middle is placed on top of a bunch of green young rice seedlings. Legend has it that whoever steals the mat will have a child.

In this year's festival, the 3 young men who have the honor of being chosen as "Buddha" must be young, unmarried men, coming from a cultured, warm, harmonious family, and loved by their neighbors. In the photo (from left to right) are Nguyen Van Hoa (19 years old), Dang Nam Duong (15 years old) and Nguyen Hoang Hai (19 years old).

In particular, the village festival also spreads the story that whoever wins the mat with the green rice shoots on their head, that year the couple will have a son. Believing in this, many people try their best to win at least one piece of mat.

This year's festival organizers divided the mats into small pieces and distributed them to everyone to avoid chaos.

Pieces of mat were distributed through the temple door, many hands reached in hoping to get even just one strand.

Outside at this time there were hundreds of people waiting, inevitably there was fierce fighting every time a piece of mat was brought out.

The group of young people cheered with joy when they received small mats from the temple door.

A man, after winning a few mats, held them tightly and raised them high in the air to avoid being snatched away by others.

Not only young people but also old people and children jumped in to grab the mat.

At the end of the ceremony, half of the mat was thrown into the middle of the yard by the temple, and the crowd competed to grab it.

At this time, Mr. Lang Duc Binh (blue shirt, 38 years old, from Dong Tinh commune) participated in tearing the mat. It is known that Mr. Duc Binh went to Duc But festival a year ago, however, his family still does not have children, so this year he is determined to continue.

Each person had their own mat, only Mr. Binh and another young man were still struggling and Mr. Binh was dragged dozens of meters. Only when people advised him did the other young man let go, giving Mr. Binh the remaining small mat.

After more than 15 minutes of jostling among the "sea of people", Ms. Tra (in Tam Duong district) was able to get a small mat to bring home.

"This is my first year at the Duc But festival. Although it was difficult to get the mat, I still felt very happy. Now I want to get the mat for my child, hoping that our family will soon have a new member," Ms. Tra shared.