The Khau Vai Love Market Culture-Tourism Week, an annual cultural event in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang, officially opened in Meo Vac District on April 21.
The Khau Vai Love Market was formed in 1919. Each year, the market is convened once only on the 27th of the third lunar month. This is a unique love market in the world as it is held for ethnic groups in the locality, particularly those seeking to meet with forbidden lovers with the respectful consent of the current partners.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chairman of Ha Giang People's Committee, Nguyen Van Son, emphasised that through the ups and downs of history, the ethnic minority people in the northern mountainous locale have always preserved their own cultural values, including traditional festivals and rituals.
In recent years, Ha Giang has valued and implemented a range of solutions to preserve and promote traditional cultural values of ethnic groups, including Khau Vai Love Market Festival. The aim is to promote local traditional cultural values and pass them on to younger generations, as also to create a focal point for introducing indigenous values to domestic and international visitors coming to the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark.
This year, the Khau Vai Love Festival is being held for the first time on a provincial scale. Within the framework of the festival, various cultural activities are held, such as offering incense at Mieu Ong and Mieu Ba temples, cultural exchanges, art performances and traditional folk games.
Visitors also have chance to participate in exciting activities, such as horse riding, tasting local dishes and exploring traditional produce at Meo Vac night market, experiencing the charms of ethnic life in the villages of Giay and Mong ethnic communities.
Khau Vai Love Market Festival is on till April 23.