The festival takes places on the third day of the third lunar month and the first two days of the seventh lunar month in Hai Cat village Huong Tho commune, Huong Tra district). Visitors can reach the site by street or by boat to take part in the festival. The festival is a solemn accasion for the gong sounds. Later these participants make offerings to their ancestors and take part in the holy mother procession. At the end of the festival, the jubilant participants return to their boats.

Cau Ngu festival

The festival is held in early spring in two locations: in Thai Duong Ha village (Hai Duong commune, Huong Tra distirct) on the ninth and tenth days of the first lunar month, and in Thai Duong hamlet (Thuan An township) on the eleventh and twelfth days of the first lunar month. The festival takes places once every three years (in the years of the rat, the horse, the cat, and the chicken) and pays honor to Truong Thieu, who came from the north to found the village and introduce fishing in the area. Festivities often start in the afternoon the day before, with villagers joining a procession to carry deities from shrines and hermitages to large temples. The next day, the festival is opened in the early morning (around 2 a.m., for brave visitors) with a full range of traditional rituals. Around 6 a.m., villagers take part in ocean games and activities like net spreading, cuttle fishing, fishing trading and later a boating completition. Fishermen and visitors revel in the festival, which is said to bring good luck in the new year.

 

Sinh village, also known as Lai An village, is located in Phu Mau commune, Phu Vang district, about 8km northeast of central Hue city. The village lies along the lower section of the southern bank of the Perfume river. The festival often takes place on the ninth and tenth days of the first lunar month. A wrestling competition is a major part of the event, often taking place in the temple’s yard. The competition lasts from morning to afternoon with competitors of different ages. To enter the semi-final round, each wrestler must beat three competitors. In the exciting semi-final round, losing wrestlers are immediately out of the competition, which attracts wrestlers from neighboring villages and Hue city.

Gia Lac spring fair

The fair was started in the middle of the nineteenth century by Dinh Vien Cong, the sixth prince of king Gia Long, as entertainment and food for the traditional Tet holidays (from the first to the third days of the first lunar month). The name of the fair means ‘the great pleasure’. Initially, the fair was held on a small scale, but later, people from neighboring villages brought specialty products and toys to sell at the market, creating a lively atmosphere. Traditional games also take place during the fair, which is held at a street corner connecting Nam Pho, Lai The, and Ngoc Anh villages (now Phu Thuong commune, Phu Vang district, some 4km away from city). The Gia Lac spring fair reflects the beauty of Hue’s culture, from the air of attire to language.

Boats that take part in the competition are often made of three long planks and can carry up to 14 people. The boating competition was closely associated with traditional festivals of fishermen to pray for rains or good fishing seasons in the past. Each year, in front of Phu Van Lau harbor on the Perfume river, the Nguyen dynasty often hosted a boating competition to welcome the traditional lunar new year. A mandarin, on behalf of the royal court, paid worship to ancestors and deitied before signaling the start of the competition. The competition reflects the skills anf the sense of solidarity between team members as well as the seafaring experience.