Hoa Binh: Muong ethnic community celebrate Khai Ha Festival

At the opening ceremony, festival-goers took part in a palanquin procession and rituals, worshipping the gods of the land and heads of the village.

They also joined a mass gong performance, which featured the participation of more than 500 local artisans, a fashion show introducing Muong ethnic costumes, a fair displaying typical agricultural and tourism products, and various sporting events, such as tug of war, stick-pushing, and crossbow shooting.

Khai Ha Festival, also known as the ploughing or forest opening festival, has a connection with wet rice cultivation, which carries a sign of the civilisation of the ancient Vietnamese.

The event, the largest traditional festival in Hoa Binh, is an indispensable cultural practice of Muong ethnic people in the province every spring.

In 2022, the Khai Ha festival of the Muong people in Tan Lac, Lac Son, Cao Phong, and Kim Boi districts was recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage.