Ha Giang Moon Bridge Festival

The Moon Bridge Festival is the happiest festival of the Tay people in Ha Giang. During these days, the elderly meet to ask about family matters, production development and livestock raising.

This is also a festival for boys and girls to meet each other through love songs. For the Tay people, folk beliefs always believe that on the moon there is a mother moon and 12 fairies (mother's daughters). Mother Moon and 12 fairies always take care of and protect crops for all people.

Therefore, the Tay people in Ban Loan village, Yen Dinh commune, Bac Me district (Ha Giang) regularly maintain the organization of the Moon Bridge Festival with the meaning of welcoming mother moon and fairies to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. During these days, old people meet to ask about family matters, production development and livestock raising. For young people, this is a festival for boys and girls to meet each other through love songs. As for children, this is the happiest day, they can process star lanterns, have fun, and have fun under the full moon.

The Moon Bridge Festival is held on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month. The festival consists of two parts: the ceremony and the festival. The ceremony is usually held on the evening of the 14th day of the 8th lunar month on a large field of land with the ritual of "offering land to the village princess" at the common temple to ask permission for the villagers to hold the Moon Festival the following night. .

The festival begins with dances around the ceremony table placed outdoors. Next, the villagers compete in cooking traditional dishes (laminated rice, five-color sticky rice, pork sauce, carp fish sauce, salted fillings, salted bamboo shoots...); playing folk games; gather around to drink wine and enjoy freshly prepared cuisine. Blended in the fragrant, ecstatic wine, they danced and sang together with a smooth, loving melody filled with love for their homeland and country, praising the happiness of the couple...

The next night, on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month, when the moon rose from the top of the mountain and began to shine down on the village, all the people gathered in the yard. At this time, the shaman conducts offerings to the earth and gods, and the worshiping artists dance around the offering platform when opening the festival to welcome the moon.

The night of the moon praying festival ended when the moon mother rose and stood in the middle of the head. The whole village nostalgically held a ceremony to send the moon mother back to heaven. After that, they continued to hum the then song, singing the song has a strange power to attract people. strange. At the end of the ceremony, the village elder will distribute seeds to his children and grandchildren, praying for all the people to have a favorable new year, a good harvest, and prosperity for the villagers. Through organizing the moon praying festival, Tay ethnic people also teach their children and grandchildren to be proud and preserve traditional cultural values ​​and rich national identity.

When coming to the moon praying festival, not only can they listen to folk songs and folk games, but they can also enjoy traditional cuisine of the Tay people such as bamboo-tube rice and other dishes. wild vegetables, pork sauce, field carp sauce, salted filling, five-color sticky rice, sour bamboo shoots, black canarium dipped in sesame salt.