The Khau Vai Love Market Culture-Tourism Week – an annual cultural event in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang - will take place in Meo Vac district from May 13-16.

Vice Chairman of the Meo Vac district People’s Committee, Tran Kim Ngoc, said this year’s event would again highlight the unique cultural identities of local ethnic minority groups.

A couples at the Khau Vai Love Market in modern time. (Photo for illustration)

Activities will include goat, cow and nightingale fighting festivals, horse races and incense offering at two temples in Khau Vai commune. A beauty contest will be held for young girls from mountainous areas in Ha Giang province.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to witness the Nung people’s betrothal ceremony, and enjoy traditional dishes of ethnic minorities living across the locality.

The hundred-year-old festival, which is held annually in the third lunar month, is a popular meeting place for ethnic groups in the locality, particularly those in love.

Legend has it that a couple who were deeply in love but were forbidden to be together because they hailed from differed ethnic groups made the promise to meet once every year in Khau Vai on the 27th of the third lunar month.

The story goes that the festival has since been held every year to allow ex-lovers to meet and has now become a tourist attraction, drawing in visitors from across the country and abroad.

Source: VNA