The Khai Ha Festival of Muong ethnic group in Hoa Binh province was held on a provincial scale from February 16 - 18 in Phong Phu commune, Tan Lac district.
A special musical performance at the opening ceremony of the 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.
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.
As a land deeply intertwined with human history and Vietnam’s millennia-long journey of nation-building and defence, Hoa Binh is often revered for its epic tales and legends.
Residents of Hoa Binh boast a rich cultural identity, reflected in their unique language, traditional attire, customs, and folk melodies – described as "sweet as honey, clear as a mountain stream.”
Lac Son district’s Vu ban town held the 2025 Truong Kha temple festival on April 12–13 (the 15th–16th days of the third lunar month). Since its revival in 2019, the festival has been organised every three years, preserving valuable intangible heritage while meeting the community’s cultural and spiritual needs.
The clothing of women reflects the culture of the Muong, Thai, Tay, Dao, and Mong ethnic groups in the northern province of Hoa Binh.
Gongs hold a special place in the cultural and spiritual life of the Muong ethnic people in Hoa Binh province. More than musical instruments, they are an indispensable part of community rituals and collective memory, echoing through generations as a spiritual thread linking the past, present, and future.
Preserving and promoting the cultural values of the Muong ethnic group has become an urgent task in the current context, as many traditional values face the risk of fading away. This effort requires not only protecting the cultural identity but also eliminating outdated customs and developing a modern cultural lifestyle, contributing to sustainable values for the Muong community in Hoa Binh province.
The Muong ethnic culture, deeply rooted in Vietnam’s mountainous north, continues to be preserved and revitalised by dedicated individuals and communities determined to safeguard their ancestral identity.
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