Do you want a once-in-a-lifetime vacation experience where you may savor every moment of adventure to the fullest? Then why not attend a large, exotic local culture event in Vietnam for a change? Vietnam’s culture embraces life’s values, familial bonds, and the distinctiveness of national features. There are more than 50 ethnics showing the difference of culture in different regions you go to across the country. We’ve compiled a list of the top 15 most unique and must-see Vietnam festivals for you to pick from. Get your bucket list ready for the update!
Best time to experience: Major Vietnam festivals happen in spring are the most blessed time of the lunar year. Spring is also the best time to travel to Vietnam when the weather is almost perfect – dry and not too cold. During this time, many kinds of flowers are also in bloom throughout the country, creating beautiful scenery.
1. Spring Festivals in Ha Giang
The Spring festivals in Ha Giang feature two main festivals: Long Tong (or Going to Field Festival) and Gau Tao Festival. These two festivals play a crucial role in the culture of the minority community in Northern Vietnam.
Long Tong Festival
Long Tong festival in Ha Giang takes place at Lang Nung hamlet, Dao Duc commune, Vi Xuyen district, the northern province of Ha Giang. The festival has three parts: an offering ritual which includes a water procession, a plowing ceremony, and folk game playing.
The celebration is essential in the cultural life of the Tay ethnic. Held on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, the event reflects the people’s wishes for a healthy harvest, pleasant weather, and happiness in the following year. Throughout the three days of the festival, you will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities as well as sample local cuisine, including Ha Giang’s five-colored sticky rice.
Gau Tao Festival
This is one of the most important spring festivals of the Hmong minority from the 1st to 5th day of the first lunar month. The event means to wish for happiness and longevity, give thanks to the gods and ancestors for health and wealth, or to ask for prosperity, children, and love.
The event consists of two parts – the ritual and the festival. Hmong family will prepare a meal on the altar and the shaman will help them connect to the ancestors, all upon the soul to return. The second part is for the guests and visitors with many traditional activities like wrestling or crow bow shooting, dancing and singing is also a part where young girls and boys can meet and find love.
2. Yen Tu Pagoda Festival – Quang Ninh
This is one of the major festivals during Spring Festival at the famous Yen Tu Mountain, Quang Ninh. The festival will be a great addition to your trip to Ha Long Bay.
The celebration is held from the 10th day of the first lunar month through the end of the third lunar month. To many Vietnamese, this event is an ideal time to undertake a trip to the 11th-century Buddhist hub of Vietnam, which consists of 11 pagodas and other associated structures (including hundreds of shrines and towers). Truc Lam, a Buddhist sect, is also based in Yen Tu.
Come during this event to see how Vietnamese people celebrate their religion, which includes the strenuous endeavor of ascending to the mountain’s highest point, Dong Pagoda, 1100m above sea level. Visitors come to Yen Tu during Tet to pray for good fortune and health for themselves and their families in the next year.
Thus, you’ll also have the chance to enjoy the scenery here and clear your mind.
3. Buffalo-fighting festival – Hai Phong
Buffalo fighting is one of the most famous and exciting festivals in Vietnam, often held in the Northeast region and Central Highlands. Moreover, this is known as the longest-standing and is often taken as an example of this kind of activity. Organized on the 9th day of the 8th lunar month, Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival usually show up local television as one of the regional cultural activities.
This particular celebration honors the people’s courage, chivalry, and spirit of adventure. The celebration, which has been going on since the 18th century, is seen by the people as a fun activity for the land’s protector deities. And the picking-buffalo process for battle can up to a year before the battle. After announcing victor, they will be killed whose meat will be sold to the crowd and the townspeople as a celebration.
4. Hung King Temple Festival – Phu Tho
Hung King Temple Festival, one of the most respected national celebrations, honors the beginnings and legends of Vietnam’s first rulers, the Hung Kings, who reigned during the Hong Bang era. The origin story of the Hung Kings, who were said to have been created from a union of a mountain princess and a sea monster, is still regarded as the origin story of the entire nation.
Every year, Hung King Temple Festival displays the most vivid example of Vietnamese culture and national pride. People from all regions come to Phu Tho where the temples are located to pay tribute to their ancestors’ altars. Lavish feasts, processions, an elephant march, and performances of Vietnamese music and songs are all part of the festivities.
5. Lim festival – Bac Ninh
Here comes the music festival you’re waiting for. Lim festival is a very special festival where you can enjoy both Vietnam’s traditional music Quan Ho and local religious practice.
Quan Ho is a very enjoyable style of singing which is held a very precious place in the heart of every Vietnamese. The festival is to showcase the locals’ unique vocal stylings through Quan Ho folk songs. The best singers from the two villages are to compete in singing dialogues (exchange singing), the most iconic when they’re all on dragon boats.
The songs touch on many topics but mostly exchange the love sentiments of the singers for each other. Because of This is also why many people love Quan Ho folk songs. Other than singing, the festival also has many games and activities to entertain visitors, creating a bustling and exciting atmosphere all day long.
The Lim Festival takes place on the 13th day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar.
6. Giong Festival – Ha Noi
The event is celebrated in many parts of Hanoi to commemorate Saint Giong who is one of the four mighty immortals of Vietnam’s culture. The mythology of Saint Giong tells the story of a national hero who defended the country against foreign enemies.
Giong Festival is held at two temples – Phu Dong temple (where Giong was born) and Soc temple (where he ascended to heaven) at different times. The festival at Phu Dong temple is held from the 6th – the 8th day of the first lunar month while the festival at Soc temple is held from the 8th – the 9th day of the 4th lunar month.
Like many other traditional Vietnamese festivals, Giong festival also has two main parts: the ceremonies with rituals like cleaning Saint Giong’s statue, processions, and incense offerings, resembling Giong’s battle and the festival part with many folk games and activities like singing, cooking, etc.
7. Long Tong Festival – Lao Cai
Long Tong Festival, also known as the Going to Field Festival, is one of the most prominent cultural activities of ethnic minorities in Vietnam’s Northern area. This event is held in the spring, at the start of the year, to wish for a new year full of excellent weather, bountiful crops, good health, and happiness.
Despite the fact that cultural and living conditions vary from place to place, the Long Tong festival has been observed in numerous ethnic groups in North Vietnam’s mountainous region. The Tay people conduct an annual Long Tong celebration in Sapa, Lao Cai, which draws enormous crowds of locals and foreign tourists.
The most exciting aspect of the celebration has to be the legendary game of ‘con’ throwing, which may be enjoyed by both residents and visitors. In the center of the main yard, a 20m tall bamboo pole with a 50cm diameter circle that is elegantly ornamented is built. This circle has two sides, Nhat and Nguyet, which represent the Sun and Moon, respectively. Players will hurl the “con” inside the circle and go through the paper, which needs both strength and dexterity.
8. Cau Ngu Festival – Thua Thien Hue
The Cau Ngu festival, or Fish-worshipping festival, is the cultural highlight of fishermen in the central regions. The Cau Ngu celebration in Thuan An, Thua Thien Hue is also the largest Cau Ngu festival, making it easy for people to find and participate.
Held on the 12th day of the first lunar month, the event is a chance to show respect to the predecessors and ancestors who claimed the land and taught the local fishing, to pray for good weather, peaceful sea, and good catches in the upcoming harvest.
In the second part of the festival, you’ll have the chance to enjoy ‘Boi’ singing – a traditional local style of singing and a traditional boat race on Tam Giang lagoon which creates an incredibly exciting atmosphere for the audience. Don’t miss this festival off your bucket list!
9. Da Lat Flower Festival
Here comes the flower festival you’re waiting for! As one of the few flower festivals and the largest one in Vietnam, Da Lat Flower Festival won’t disappoint you.
Since 2005, this event has been held every two years to promote tourism in Dalat. However, the festival’s fame was built on the diversity of its flowers and Dalat’s stunning environment. If you visit the Dalat Flower Festival, you may have the opportunity to gaze at the vast, vibrant flower fields set around the stunning Xuan Huong Lake.
Why not visit Da Lat this December to take in the floral displays and a variety of events during this 5-day festival?
10. Boat Racing Festival – Da Nang
Another aspect of the culture of fishermen is the Traditional Boat Racing Festival, which is now one of the most popular cultural events in Central Vietnam. This boat racing festival is held every year at Lien Chieu, Da Nang, from the second to the seventh day of the first lunar month. Both residents and visitors come in big numbers to support their favorite teams!
Boat racing is believed to be an activity that pleases the mountain and water gods by bringing ideal weather and a calm sea. Weeks before the marathon, each hamlet would select their best racers, who are usually young men aged 18 to 35. Each team will have 30 racers, and the winner is frequently proclaimed as the pride of their village.
The race will take hold on the Cu De River. On festival day, folks will crowd both banks of the river. Cheers will erupt from the audience as the race begins.
11. Hue Festival
Hue Festival has gained its reputation as of one the most famous cultural festivals in Vietnam aimed for a tourism boost. Organized every two years, the festival aims to honor and celebrate Hue’s cultural heritage as well as Vietnam’s identity. Since its first festival in 1992, Hue Festival never fails to create a cultural sensation and draw the attention of millions of visitors.
Come to Hue Festival and experience a variety of traditional Vietnamese activities such as calligraphy exhibitions, kite flying, and human chest playing. There is also a recreation of Nguyen Hue’s enthronement and the Nguyen Dynasty’s Doctoral examinations.
Hue Festival is not only a national activity but also a global cultural experience, with 40 art companies from Vietnam and throughout the world participating. If you enjoy culture, Hue Festival should be at the top of your list of things to do in Vietnam.
12. Ok Om Bok Festival – Soc Trang
The Festival is the most renowned cultural festival of Khmer people in the Mekong delta region and always makes the list of top Vietnam festivals, you will have a great time enjoying the atmosphere and cultural activities of this festival.
Ok Om Bok, also known as Moon Worshipping, is an annual event held in Soc Trang by the Khmer population on the 14th day of the 10th lunar month. In the tenth month, harvesting comes to a close, and people assemble to thank the moon for protecting them from bad weather, bringing plentiful crops, and a quiet life.
A bamboo gate and many traditional Khmer foods will be created. People will assemble at the pagoda and their courtyard on the 14th night, when the moon rises highest, to partake in the ritual and eat the feast. The following day of the celebration will also feature a lantern festival and a boat race.
13. Dong Ky Firecracker Festival – Bac Ninh
This celebration begins on the 4th day of the first lunar month and can last up to twenty days. The firecracker procession is the festival’s most prominent feature. The Dong Ky festival honors General Thien Cuong, who assisted the Hung Kings in their war against invaders. Following the battle, the general celebrated with two massive firecrackers. He was later regarded as the tutelary god of the community.
However, in the festival, instead of setting off a firecracker, locals parade in the procession with a giant firecracker which is decorated lavishly. If you’re keen on an off-the-beaten-track experience, joining this festival will be a wonderful chance!
14. Elephant Racing Festival – Central Highlands
The in Central Highlands is held annually on the third month of the lunar year, at Don village, or in forests near the Sevepoi River.
As normal, people will take care the elephants the race, like the Buffalo Fighting Festival in Do Son. Villagers also give them bananas, papayas, sugar cane, corn, and sweet potatoes in addition to grass. All hard labor will be put on hold in order for the elephants to save their strength for the race.
On the festival day, elephants from different villages will gather on the 2-kilometer race track, which is broad enough for 10 elephants to stand in a line simultaneously.
There are two handlers dressed in traditional attire on of each elephant, while the crowd stands on the track’s sides. Following the race, elephants compete in swimming, tug-of-war, throwing a ball, or playing football…
15. International Kite Festival – Vung Tau
Without a doubt, this is a celebration that will excite any child. Vung Tau Kite Festival, one of Vietnam’s few kite festivals, is a must-see if you enjoy kites or have children.
Since 2009, the Vung Tau Kite Festival has drawn kite clubs and associations from all over the world. Many types of kites from all over the world expressing their culture will appear in the sky over Vung Tau’s beach.
The competition will have a theme each year, with the inaugural being “The Dance of the East Sea.” The festival is usually conducted over three days and the kite artisans also teach how to build kites during the festival.
Whew! What a list! Have any of the festivals we’ve mentioned piqued your interest? Or do you have a particular Vietnam event in mind? Let our local travel consultants know your preference to help you plan your trip to attend that unique event. Besides festivals, you can also enjoy activities at national parks in Vietnam to realise the richness of this lovable country. Check here!