Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival, Hai Phong

Do Son buffalo fighting festival, also known as bull fighting, is an ancient custom, dating back to ancient times, a traditional festival of fishermen in the waters of Do Son, Hai Phong; takes place on the 9th day of the 8th lunar month every year; Vietnam's 2013 national intangible cultural heritage. This is a festival with solemn rituals, procession of sacred palanquins, parasols, bowls...

In the community culture of Hai Phong people, there is still an old song: "No matter where one trades or sells / On the ninth day of the eighth month, fighting Buffalo will return"

The buffalo fighting festival has two important days. June 8, the qualifying day to select outstanding buffaloes to the final round on August 9. These are days of high water and big waves. Furthermore, Do Son is the homeland of "Tien Thuy Nguu", a breed of buffalo that lives underground in the river region. Therefore, the buffalo fighting festival is an offering to the Water God to pray for a peaceful, windy sea.

The buffalo fighting festival has two parts, the ceremony part and the festival part. From the first day of the month, the elders of the villages with fighting buffaloes hold a ceremony to worship Diem Tuoc god at Tong communal house. Next is the water procession ceremony, associated with the custom of worshiping the Water God. The bottle of magical water is replaced once a year by each village and brought to its own communal house.

At the village communal house, the buffalo owners let their buffaloes out to perform the Thanh Hoang ceremony. After the ceremony, the fighting buffaloes are called "Mr. Buffalo".

On the morning of the main festival day, the 9th day of the 8th lunar month, around 1:00 a.m., the chief priests of the villages held a ceremony to ask the Thanh Hoang's permission to send buffaloes to compete. Around 6 - 7 a.m., a procession of "man buffalo" is held to the arena. Leading the procession are the five directions, drums, gongs, dragon temple, dragon palanquin, and eight treasures. People carrying dragon temples, palanquins, drums, gongs... wear red scarves, red shirts with yellow trim, red belts and waistbands. The caller, or Dich Lao, wears a turban, a black shirt, a red belt, and white pants. Following are the elders, dignitaries and buffalo men (according to the ranking results), with a red cloth on their backs and a cashew silk ribbon on their horns. Next to each buffalo, there are two boys holding buntings in their hands to dance. The procession of "buffalo men" into the huts was bustling with the sounds of bowl music, flags flying, accompanied by the cheers of the people in the area...

When the buffalo enters the hut, the sound of drums and loudspeakers rises loudly, pouring like waves into Hon Doc, where the buffalo will be sacrificed to the Water God.

Next is the flag dancing ceremony to open the festival, which is divided into two rows by 24 young men of the village, performing both gracefully and strongly, the colors changing flexibly and fancifully with the sounds of drums and drums; re-enacting the launching ceremony of District He Nguyen Huu Cau before the battle; expressing the wish to pray to the Wind God to bless boats and ships to ride the waves beyond the sea.

As soon as the flag dance ended, two "buffalo men" were led into the tiller from both sides, with people covering their parasols and dancing flags on both sides. When the two "buffalo men" are 20 meters apart, the leader quickly pulls out the "scar" for the buffalo and then quickly escapes the fighting ring. The two buffaloes were completely free to rush into a quick fight to win or lose.

At the end of the festival, the winning buffalo is brought back in procession. On the morning of August 10, all buffaloes participating in the festival are slaughtered as sacrifices at the communal house, accompanied by a plate containing blood and buffalo hair (blood blood). Around 12 noon the ceremony begins. After that, the plate of blood red blood is poured into the sea, the remaining portion is distributed to the people with the belief that a new harvest will be peaceful and rich in fish and shrimp.

On August 16, the village conducts a ceremony to "send off the gods" and disperse the crowd, ending the festival.