Lu ethnic children celebrate the Cam Muong New Year.

The Cam Muong Festival, also known as the Village Worship Festival, is a traditional festival of the Lu ethnic group ( Lai Chau province) held at the beginning of the new year. The festival takes place from the beginning of January to the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month every year.

Lai Chau province is home to 20 ethnic groups, with the Lu people concentrated in Sin Ho and Tam Duong districts. The Lu people possess a rich and diverse cultural heritage, preserving unique cultural features and strong ethnic identity, most notably the Cam Muong Festival. We invite you to join author Trinh Thong Thien in celebrating the festival with Lu children through his series of works, "Lu Children Celebrating the Cam Muong Festival." This photo series was submitted to the Happy Vietnam Photo and Video Contest, organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications .

During the three days of Tet (Lunar New Year), the Lu people's village prohibits outsiders from entering so that the community can organize religious activities and traditional folk games of their ethnic group.

This is an opportunity for children to play traditional folk games passed down from their ancestors…

The Lu ethnic group possesses a rich and diverse cultural heritage, preserving unique cultural features that reflect their distinct ethnic identity. The most distinctive and representative example is the Cam Muong Ceremony.

The Cam Muong Festival is an occasion for the villagers to offer sacrifices and pray to the river god, mountain god, stream god, spring god, and dragon god for blessings, prosperity, good fortune, and protection from evil.

The Cam Muong ceremony holds religious significance, so the villagers perform it with great solemnity and reverence. Before it takes place, families must finish all their farming and fieldwork.

During the festival days, everyone just rests, goes out, and doesn't have to work. At the same time, families are forbidden from buying things from outside and bringing them home, so they have to prepare food and supplies for the festival days themselves.

Vietnam.vn