Every year on the full moon of the third lunar month, residents of the remote mountainous Minh Hóa district (Quảng Bình) organize the third lunar month’s full moon festival. Although this festival has undergone many changes over time, this year’s celebration still retains many unique characteristics of the people and the surrounding mountain and forest environment…
From ancient times, the people of Minh Hóa have advised each other: “Better to be sick and stay home than to miss the third lunar month’s market…”. Anyone who has attended the third lunar month’s festival in Minh Hóa, even just once, will never forget its special impressions. It is the enchanting glow of the full moon over the mountainous Sông Cầu region, blending with the sound of “hát đúm” (a matchmaking song of the Nguồn people) expressing romantic love…
From early morning on the full moon day, delegations representing various villages and communes gather together at Bụt Waterfall in Dốc Cáng, Yên Hóa commune. Here, they offer incense to worship Bụt (similar to the Buddha in fairy tales). It is from this place that the Minh Hóa third lunar month’s full moon festival originated. Elderly residents recount: in the past, three brothers set out on a bamboo raft to find honey but got lost in a cave, where they found a quartz stone Buddha statue…
Each brother carried one statue back. Upon reaching Bụt Waterfall, they went down to bathe in the stream. However, when trying to carry the statues back home, they were unable to manage. Only later were they able to carry one statue back to Hói Chàm and place it there. Since then, the stream where the three brothers bathed and left the Bụt statue has been called Bụt Waterfall. Therefore, every year during the third lunar month’s festival, people come here to worship Bụt, praying for personal well-being, wealth, and prosperity in preparation for the new festival.
Elderly residents of Minh Hóa state that, in the past, the third lunar month’s festival of the Nguồn people in Cơ Sa, Kim Linh included celebrating the third lunar month’s new year and the third lunar month’s market fair on the sixth day (i.e., the 16th day of the third lunar month). On the full moon day, every Nguồn family prepared ceremonial tables and sticky rice with meat to worship their ancestors. Villagers in the Cơ Sa commune carried sticky rice “oản” to the temple to worship Bụt, praying for personal well-being, wealth, and prosperity for every family to live in peace and prosperity.
Meanwhile, villagers in the Kim Linh commune organize ceremonies praying for safe journeys, favorable weather, and peaceful villages. People from all over the province, neighboring provinces, and the Cơ Sa, Kim Linh region gather at Sạt market—the full moon market fair—with a variety of local forest products. Especially notable are traditional dishes unique to Minh Hóa people, such as boiled stream snails, corn cake dipped in forest honey, and taro…
The priority attendees of the Nguồn people’s third lunar month’s market fair are children and young men and women. Young people attend the market fair as an opportunity to meet and get to know each other. They wear their finest outfits and colorful fabric-patterned umbrellas… Many male and female couples, although living far apart daily on the mountainous paths, have married through the third lunar month’s market fair. Under the light of the full moon, men and women gather together to sing “hát đúm.”
From the morning of the full moon day, Qui Đạt town becomes crowded, especially with young men and women. Thousands of people from all over come here to watch cultural performances by village and commune troupes, showcasing traditional programs such as “hát đúm,” “hò thuốc,” “hò kéo nôốc” (boat rowing song), “hát sắc bùa,” “hát nhà trò,” “múa tiên,” and “múa lăm tơi” (a dance of the Lào people). Villages and communes compete in cooking rice, grinding corn into cornmeal, and preparing traditional dishes from local produce… in a lively atmosphere.
Nowadays, during the third lunar month’s festival, not only do residents of Dân Hóa, Hóa Sơn, and Hóa Phúc in Minh Hóa participate, but people from Đồng Hới, Tuyên Hóa, Quảng Trạch, and tourists also come to join the full moon festival, buying and selling forest products. From the cattle market area to the bird market… everywhere is crowded. In recent years, Minh Hóa district has also organized traditional sports competitions such as slingshot shooting, spinning throwing, and canoe racing… to make the festival even more lively.
