While traveling to Hue, you should also learn about the long-standing culture here, as well as visit famous attractions. One of the best ways to get familiar with Hue’s culture is by joining featured festive activities. The festivals with vibrant activities and regional colors create a unique culture, attracting tourists when visiting this ancient capital. Let’s explore the top 07 traditional and cultural festivals in Hue with Handspan Travel Indochina!

Through this blog post, you will find detailed information about these festivals below.

Hon Chen Temple Festival

• Time: Early March and July of the Lunar calendar every year
• Location: Hue Nam Palace, Cat Hai Village, Huong Tra Town, Hue

Hon Chen Temple Festival is one of the traditional festivals in Hue, held in Hue Nam Palace to honor the Holy Mother Thien Y A Na. This is the god who created the land, trees, etc. and taught people how to grow crops. At the festival, the rituals are very solemn. They include the ceremony to welcome the Holy Mother back to the temple, the ceremony to pray for national peace and prosperity, the ceremony to release animals - debauchery, etc. 

Hon Chen Temple Festival

The villagers held a ceremony at the Hai Cat communal house. After the ceremony, the procession of the Holy Mother took place on the Huong River. The procession took place by boat from Hue Nam temple to Hai Cat communal house. The paired boats have bright candles and colorful flags. The procession carried the altar of the Holy Mother, the palanquin of the Holy Mother, the royal decree, and ritual objects such as umbrellas, umbrellas, flags, fans, etc. After welcoming the god, the villagers performed the Tuc Yet ceremony according to traditional rituals. Singing, spirit possession, and spirit mediumship took place all night long. The next morning was the main ceremony at the communal house. Then came the Tong Than ceremony. In the afternoon, the palanquins solemnly returned to Hon Chen temple. The festival ended with a ceremony of releasing animals and releasing lanterns. 

Procession in Hon Chen Temple Festival

Like many other religions, the Mother Goddess worship at Hon Chen Temple helps guide people to live honestly, distinguish between good and evil, love people, and help the poor. This traditional festival has brought people closer together, contributing to making Vietnamese culture advanced and imbued with national cultural identity.

Overall, thanks to special rituals, Hon Chen Temple Festival is among the most outstanding festivals in Hue. If you are in Hue this time, don’t miss out on the opportunity to enjoy and learn about this festival. 

Sinh Village Wrestling Festival

• Time: January 10th lunar month every year
• Location: Lai An communal house (also known as Sinh village), Phu Mau commune, Phu Vang District, Hue

Sinh Village wrestling festival is also among the long-standing festivals in Hue. This festival has a history of more than 200 years and has developed continuously until now. The traditional wrestling festival of Sinh village has long become a big festival, a cultural feature with its own identity. The wrestling festival is also a meaningful spring playground, an interesting tourist destination for visitors every spring. Let’s explore this exciting festival with us!

The ceremony

The festival has two parts: the ceremony and the festival part. The ceremony is held quite solemnly at Lai An communal house. The village’s elders will perform a ritual of bowing to the village guardian spirit of the clan leader at the communal house. Then the festival officially begins.

The festival

Sinh Village Wrestling Festival

At the festival, exciting wrestling matches will take place. The wrestlers do not have to be local, any audience can register to participate. The referee is knowledgeable about the rules. The wrestlers wear pants and a belt around their waist. Before the official competition, the wrestlers will face the main temple and kneel down to bow three times to the sound of the drum. This is also the difference between Sinh village wrestling and wrestling festivals in other places in the country.  Organizers will divide wrestlers into age groups, with any wrestler who wins three matches advancing to the semi-finals. Only those who pass the semi-finals will advance to the finals.

Hue Fishing Festival

• Time: January 12th lunar month every three years
• Location: Thai Duong Ha Village, Thuan An Town, Phu Vang District, Hue

Hue Fishing Festival, which has existed for more than 500 years, is also among the outstanding festivals in Hue. The festival aims to pray for favorable weather so that the fishermen of the village can go fishing smoothly. Like other festivals in Hue, the Hue Fishing Festival also has the ceremony part and festival part. 

Hue Fishing Village

On the afternoon of January 11 (lunar calendar), the fishing festival in Thai Duong village began with a welcoming ceremony and continued throughout the night with peace-praying ceremonies, the main sacrifice ceremony, and the memorial ceremony. On the morning of the 12th (lunar calendar), the main fish-praying ceremony begins, and the God worship ceremony takes place at around 2 a.m. The main worship ceremony ends at around 4 a.m. Then, it will come to the Thuan An fish-praying festival.

After finishing the ceremony part, it will come to the festival part. The festival is extremely bustling with performances on land, traditional boat racing, and fishing boats setting off to catch the first fish of the year for coastal fishermen. Besides, the festival also has a boat race on the Tam Giang Lagoon. The race is meant to pray for prosperity. There are about 6 or 7 boats, each registered by a ward or hamlet. The race usually takes place in many races from morning to afternoon.

Bai Choi Festival

• Time: 1st to 10th of the first lunar month every year
• Location: Thanh Toan tile bridge, Thanh Thuy Commune, Huong Thuy Town, Thua Thien Hue

Bai Choi is an ancient folk game of the people in the Central region. The annual Bai Choi festival, which is also among the unique festivals in Hue, is held at the Thanh Toan covered bridge, a national cultural relic in Thanh Thuy Commune, Huong Thuy Town. 

Bai Choi Festival

The reason for the name Bai Choi is because the participants have to sit in huts made of grass and bamboo. Each Bai Choi association consists of 11 huts. To play Bai Choi, the players must register with the organizers, and the spectators do not need to ask in advance but can freely come and watch and cheer. The unique feature of Bai Choi is not the card playing as its name suggests, but the witty verses and chants of the person who deals with the cards and the players. 

Festival Hue

• Time: Even years
• Location: Hue City

Festival Hue

Festival Hue is among the largest festivals in Hue, held every two years. It was first held in 1992 and lasted until now. Initially, the festival was called the Vietnam-France Festival, and in 2000, it was renamed Hue Festival. This is a major cultural event honoring traditional values ​​in the ancient capital.

Performing arts in Festival Hue

Ao Dai Performance in Festival Hue

Festival Hue has different themes in different years. As one of the major festivals in Hue, this festival is recreated in a large space both inside and outside the city, contributing to reviving the cultural values ​​of Hue. There are many exciting programs during the festival time. They are Royal Night, Nam Giao ceremony, Truyen Lo ceremony, Ao Dai festival, sea festival, kite flying, poetry releasing, poetry performance, festival market, human chess, and racing. 

Du Tien Festival

• Time: January 4th of the lunar calendar
• Location: Phong Dien Commune, Hue City

Du Tien Festival is also among the exciting festivals in Hue. The festival is an occasion in which local people gather together to welcome the new year, participate in games to improve health, and pray for favorable weather, good business, and bountiful crops. Joining this festival, you will have a chance to immerse yourself in Hue’s traditional rituals and folk games. 

Du Tien Festival

To prepare for the Du Tien festival, before Tet, the festival organizers chose two old, straight, sturdy bamboo trees to erect in the communal houseyard. On the two bamboo trees, a fluttering opportunity will be hung, and in the middle of the bamboo trunks, a rope will be tied firmly to ensure the safety of the swingers. The swing rack also needs to be equipped with protective equipment for even greater safety.

Du Tien Festival

According to Gia Vien village’s custom, the Du Tien festival is open to all villagers to enjoy, but the swing competition is only for men. 30 strong men will be selected to compete together, including villagers and people from other localities. The contestants will draw lots to get numbers from 1 to 30 and then start the knockout competition. The competition between 30 boys took place very fiercely amidst the cheers of the villagers and tourists, making the spring atmosphere even more exciting. The boys will try their best to bounce as hard as possible and swing as high as possible. Smart players are those who know how to gain momentum well, using the strength of their legs to help swing to the maximum height. The winner will be the player who first touches the red flag hanging at the highest position.

Boat racing festival

• Time: September 2nd every year
• Location: Perfume River bank in front of Quoc Hoc School

Boat racing is one of the festivals in Hue held annually to celebrate the National Day of Vietnam. This boat racing is not only a sports competition but also a traditional activity with profound cultural significance. The festival participants are mainly young men and women from wards and communes in the district and city. Participants will be divided into 9 racing teams. The race will start after a drum beat and will take place in a very exciting atmosphere with enthusiastic cheers.

Boat racing festival

On the morning of the boat racing festival, thousands of people from the ancient capital and tourists arrived very early. Everyone stood along both banks of the Perfume River to watch and not miss the opportunity to enjoy the spectacular competitions of the boat teams. After the ceremony, the athletes will head to the starting point to compete in the tournament. Each racing team has 10 rowers and one steersman, competing in many categories. 

In conclusion, you have just learnt about the 07 most amazing festivals in Hue. If you travel to Hue during the festival times, don’t miss out on the opportunity to immerse yourself in the crowded atmosphere and learn about the culture in Hue. If you want to book a Hue tour package or tailor your itinerary, please don’t hesitate to contact our team.