"This year, the festival highlights unique traditions of various local groups and helps bring them closer together," said Lo Thi Huan, vice chairwoman of Nghia Lo Commune’s People’s Committee.

One particular performance aims to portray the beauty of the culture, people and nature of Muong Lo Village as hundreds of local artists are set to perform xoe dancing (traditional dance of Thai ethnic people). The dance brings everyone together in a circle around the village shrine, and with so many people hand-in-hand several circles are likely to form.

A Gau Tao (new year) festival will also take place, along with sap (bamboo pole) dancing, khen (pan-pipe) dancing and the Mong ethnic people’s ritual of worshipping the tea tree.

Tourists will be able to find out more about traditional trades such as musical instrument making, brocade weaving and plaiting.

During the one-week festival, Muong Lo’s ethnic people will be sporting their traditional clothes. Tourists are welcomed to join in, and also check out some local cuisine.

A simultaneous commerce-tourism fair will feature various booths introducing traditional products. The fair is also a chance for local enterprises to exchange experience in production and call for investment.

The week will also kick off a travel programme offering various tours to visit nearby villages, waterfalls, terraced fields, hot-water streams and tea farms in Nghia Lo, Van Chan and Mu Cang Chai towns.

These tours will offer visitors a chance to experience the daily lives of the locals, offering them a genuine cultural experience.

Local authorities have prepared carefully for the event, focusing on public security.

The annual event is being put on by three northern provinces including Yen Bai, Lao Cai and Phu Tho, hoping to introduce and popularise the cultural features of ethnic groups and attract tourists. The provincial People’s Committee will run the festival until tomorrow.

In recent years, the tourism sector in Yen Bai has developed rapidly. In 2007, the province attracted 200,000 domestic and foreign visitors. Various tours have been developed, including eco-tourism and cultural tourism, offering visitors a chance to discover the Hong (Red) River, Ba Waterfalls and local life. — VNS