In 2016, the festival was honoured as one of the 15 intangible cultural heritages by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The festival was first held to honour General ThienCuong who helped the legendary Hung Kings fight against invaders and was later considered the tutelary god of the village. After winning the battle, the general celebrated the victory with two huge firecrackers.
According to Nguyen Van Anh, Vice Director of BacNinh province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, since the government banned the use of firecrackers, local people have made firecracker models to perform the ritual.
Instead of setting off firecrackers, local people parade the giant firecrackers in a procession, he added.
He also noted that Dong Ky villagers have donated a giant decorated firecracker, which plays the leading role in the procession, to the National Museum of History.
In the future, the over-sized firecracker will be displayed at the museum to introduce the skills of the Dong Kycraftsmen and the traditional festival of the local people, he said.
A wide range of activities were also held during the festival such as traditional wrestling, cock fighting, QuanHo (traditional love duet singing) in addition to many other folk games.
The festival will run until February 3.
