What's new in the 2025 Thang Tam Vung Tau Whale Festival?

The Nghinh Ong Thang Tam Vung Tau Festival is an opportunity to promote the image of Vung Tau ward to domestic and foreign tourists, developing the festival into a local tourism product.

On September 17, Ms. Tran Thi Bich Van, Vice Chairwoman of Vung Tau Ward People's Committee (HCMC) said that the 2025 Thang Tam Vung Tau Whale Festival will be held from October 3 to 12. The main ceremony will take place from October 7 to 9 in the Front Beach area, Hon Ba Temple, and Thang Tam Temple relic.

Dragon dance at the Ong Nghinh Ong Festival in Thang Tam, Vung Tau

PHOTO: NGUYEN LONG

"The Nghinh Ong Thang Tam Vung Tau Festival is an opportunity to promote the image of Vung Tau ward to domestic and foreign tourists, developing the festival into a local tourism product. Through the festival's activities, we aim to preserve and promote traditional cultural values ​​and fishing customs of Vung Tau fishermen . At the same time, this is also an opportunity for fishermen to pray for peace when going to sea, catching lots of shrimp and fish, a prosperous life, and eternal happiness", the Vice Chairman of Vung Tau Ward People's Committee shared.

Throughout the festival, there are a series of cultural, sports , exhibition and culinary events associated with the festival, creating a vibrant and rich atmosphere, attracting tourists.

The festival took place at Quang Trung Park and many other locations in Vung Tau ward. Activities included a walking and folk dance festival, the Vung Tau Open Sea Swimming Tournament, a painting contest and children's painting exhibition in 2025, a Golden Bell contest to learn about "Prevention and control of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing" and to learn about the culture and history of Nghinh Ong Thang Tam...

In particular, there will be a cultural and culinary week Nghinh Ong Thang Tam Vung Tau taking place from October 4 to 12 at the Revolutionary Traditional House, No. 1 Ba Cu and Quang Trung Park, Vung Tau Ward.

Whale Festival is a spiritual and cultural festival of coastal people to honor and worship Whale - the savior and sacred god of fishermen and pray for calm seas, gentle winds, to overcome all the harshness of storms and natural disasters to succeed in their voyages.

Propaganda against illegal fishing at the Thang Tam Vung Tau Whale Festival

PHOTO: NGUYEN LONG

In the old Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, the Nghinh Ong Thang Tam Vung Tau Festival is a whale worshiping festival of fishermen in Vung Tau fishing villages, imbued with the Southern folk culture and the unique culture of Ba Ria - Vung Tau fishermen. The Nghinh Ong Festival is a national cultural heritage that the people of the old Vung Tau city have always maintained, preserved and developed for many generations.

Since 2000, the Thang Tam Vung Tau Whale Festival has been selected by the General Department of Tourism as one of the 15 major festivals in the country and proposed to be organized on a large scale as a major cultural and tourism event of the former Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

The former Ba Ria - Vung Tau province has selected the Thang Tam Whale Festival to be included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage and included it as one of the annual cultural events in the locality, with the goal of improving quality, becoming a unique tourism product, contributing to increasingly diverse and rich tourism activities, commensurate with the common development of the region, domestically and internationally.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/le-hoi-nghinh-ong-thang-tam-vung-tau-nam-2025-co-gi-moi-185250917160352392.htm