Ba Chua Xu festival recognized as intangible heritage

June 11, 2015 | 11:02

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Ba Chua Xu Festival at Ba Chua Xu Temple in Chau Doc City, An Giang Province was recognized as a national intangible heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at a ceremony held on Monday, Vietnam News Agency reports.

Visitors to Ba Chua Xu Temple in Chau Doc City, An Giang Province - PHOTO: AN NGUYEN

The festival, which has become a national annual event since 2001, takes place from the 22nd to the 27th of the fourth lunar month, and lures around four million visitors.

Legend has it that Ba Chua Xu was a young girl who was ravished to death hundreds of years ago. After her death, her sacred soul helps the good villagers and chastises the bad. To express gratitude to her, villagers call her Ba Chua Xu and have held festivals in the fourth lunar month to worship her and pray for good health and better life. On these days, people choose seven boys and nine girls who are virgins to carry a palanquin ritual to her statue. They bathe her statue and give her a new costume. There are also traditional music performances to serve her soul.

This year’s Ba Chua Xu festival will reproduce traditional rituals from June 8 to 14, or from the 22nd to the 28th day of the fourth month on the lunar calendar. The festival will also feature a range of cultural activities, including concerts, a dragon dance performance and a boat race.

The culture ministry and An Giang authorities are working on a major plan for developing tourism in Sam Mountain area until 2020 with a vision towards 2030.

An Giang is home to 1,198 relic sites, including 26 national and 46 provincial heritage sites.

SGT

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