Festivals

Go Thap festival (held in Mekong Delta, Southern of Vietnam)  

Go Thap festival takes place twice a year in March and November of the lunar calendar in the southern province of An Giang . A memorial festival for Ba Chua Xu, who had great contribution to the discovery, construction and development of Go Thap, is held from afternoon of the 14th to morning of the 16th of lunar March.

A festival to memorise two national heroes Thien Ho Duong and Doc Binh Kieu, leaders of the resistance against French colonialists in the second half of the 19th century is also held on lunar November 14-16.

The atmosphere there changes when the festival is held. Many visitors from all over Vietnam travel to the festivals by all means of transport such as trains, boats and buses. The festivals attract nearly fifty thousand visitors a year.

The Go Thap festival consists of two separate parts: worshipping ceremonies and amusement activities.

In addition to main ceremonies such as worshiping Ba Chua Xu, Thien Ho Duong and Doc Binh Kieu, several other ceremonies are held to pray for peace and worship Than Nong (Emperor Shen Nong). Each ceremony has different contents but has a similar funeral oration performed by an elder man who is responsible for worshipping.

The content of the funeral oration is to praise the ancestors’ great contribution or to pray Gods for happiness, wealth and bumper crops.

For amusement, art and cultural activities such as song and dance performances and traditional games help attendants forget difficulties in daily life and lead a happy and honest life.

The Go Thap festival is a harmonious combination of different cultural features: between material and spirit, belief and culture, sacredness and daily life and between outdatedness and modernity.

Those who attend the festivals often contribute rice, firewood, vegetables to the kitchen of Doc Binh Kieu and Thien Ho Duong Temples .

Money contributed by visitors is spent on restoring the existing vestiges. Besides the State funds, people have contributed both efforts and money to completing the reconstruction of the historical site. A road from My An town to the historical area has been asphalted.

The Go Thap festival, full of traditional features reflecting Dong Thap Muoi (Plain of Reeds) residents’ hope and aspiration, is more and more attractive to tourists.