Festivals in Yen Bai: Mu Cang Chai Tours & Events

Overview:

Mu Cang Chai is famous for its pearl-like beauty nestled between two mountain slopes with peaceful villages in the green valley or on Khau Pha pass. Coming here, people not only enjoy the unique culinary culture, imbued with highland identity but also have interesting experiences during the festival season. Visiting this peaceful land, you will be able to participate in extremely unique activities of the people in Mu Cang Chai.

Mu Cang Chai terraced field festival

Mu Cang Chai terraced fields are one of the famous landmarks of the Northwest region, known to many people for their magnificent man-made beauty. Since settling in the land of Mu Cang Chai, the Mong people have taken farming as the main farming method. Therefore, terraced fields occupy most of the area in Mu Cang Chai, bringing a prosperous life to the people here. By 2007, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism ranked terraced fields in La Pan Tan, Che Cu Nha, and De Xu Phinh communes as a national scenic relic. Since then, Mu Cang Chai district, Yen Bai province has held an annual terraced field festival to express gratitude to the land and heaven for giving farmers a bountiful harvest, as well as to introduce and promote material cultural values. intangible and unique products and services of Yen Bai to domestic and international tourists. This festival also contributes to promoting socio-economic development in the locality and creating linkages for tourism development with provinces in the Northwest region.

The terraced field festival of the Mu Cang Chai festival series is held in September every year with many new and attractive activities. At this time, the rice is ready to be harvested, and the yellow color spreading across the hillsides creates an enchanting landscape picture. Visitors coming here will be overwhelmed by the poetic beauty of this land. Going along Highway 32 from Khau Pha Pass to the district capital town, everywhere you can admire the layered and layered terraced fields. Mu Cang Chai terraced fields have charming beauty, formed based on the combination of nature and skillful hands, industrious virtues of upland people. During the season, the fields are like golden waves winding on the middle of the hill, forming masterpieces of culture, and bearing the identity of the Mong people. This charming mountain beauty has made many tourists fall in love when coming to Mu Cang Chai. Moreover, by mid-September, the weather between late autumn and early winter will be cold, sunny but not harsh, which is convenient for visiting scenic spots and organizing fun activities and outdoor activities. If you plan to have a trip to Mu Cang Chai, please note this “golden" period so as not to miss the opportunity to participate in the Mu Cang Chai terraced field festival.

During the festival of terraced fields, there are many interesting activities. The most attractive is the Camping festival to see the terraced fields. You will have the opportunity to camp in nature, sleep in tents, and have fun with outdoor activities such as walking, climbing, sports, campfire, cooking, etc. Stay in the tent in the early morning and watch the beautiful scenery. The golden field is hidden in the morning dew, immersed in the fresh air, a little cold, you will feel the peace nowhere else. If you want to try this program, don’t forget to bring camping gear to prepare for a perfect trip.

Besides, you can also participate in outstanding activities of the highland people such as goat fighting contests, fast rice harvest contests, good plowing, etc. Guaranteed these activities will bring you experiences. fresh on your trip.

Paragliding Festival

As the land of clouds, deep ravines, and high mountains, when viewed from above, visitors will be able to see the terraced fields nestled in the middle of a beautiful valley. The paragliding festival has only been included in the Mu Cang Chai festival in recent years, but it attracts many tourists who love high altitudes. You will experience exploring the scenic terraced fields by paragliding. As the most anticipated activity during the annual festival season, this program will help you enjoy the natural beauty of the valley under Khau Pha Peak. Seeing the beautiful scenery from above, zooming out to cover the mountain slopes with golden terraced fields, and drifting in the breeze is a great feeling when coming to Mu Cang Chai.

You can come to Mu Cang Chai in September every year to participate in the paragliding festival. The player’s landing point is about 600m from the take-off point at Khau Pha pass. The cost for each turn of parachute is from 1.5 million to 2.5 million. A note for you is that when experiencing the paragliding festival, you should only bring the necessary items, because carrying too many things will make you difficult and entangled when flying. At the same time, you should also choose loose, comfortable clothes to easily adjust the umbrella to your liking.

With a length of over 20km, Khau Pha Pass is the “Four Great Peaks" of the Northwest. This is considered one of the five most beautiful flying spots in the world. Zooming in from above, players can see the whole picture of a unique golden season. This activity is a unique highlight, creating a unique attraction for Mu Cang Chai festival, attracting many domestic and international pilots. If you are an adventure lover and want to challenge yourself, do not hesitate to join this program to have an exciting journey on the scenic domain

Mu Cang Chai cultural and art festival

Coming to Mu Cang Chai, visitors not only feel the richness of nature, the warmth, and the friendliness of the highland people but also have more understanding of the cultural features here. More specifically, going to Mu Cang Chai in mid-September, visitors can not only enjoy the masterpiece of nature’s golden waves but also participate in many traditional cultural and artistic festivals with attractive ethnic colors. . The most outstanding feature is the Khen dance festival, a national art form, a symbol of the sustainable cultural values ​​of the Mu Cang Chai region.

With the purpose of widely promoting Hmong culture, the Khen Dance Festival is organized to bring interesting and unique experiences to tourists. In the program, artisans perform traditional Hmong Khen dances such as single Khen dance, Double Khen Dance, Collective Khen Dance, etc. The Khen sound is considered the soul of the Mong people to send and express their heart to the people. friends, with the community, with nature, with mountains and forests. Perhaps the people here want to bring this kind of flexible and rhythmic sound to show their hospitality as well as their sincere heart to those who visit Mu Cang Chai. Participating in this activity, you can mingle with talented artists or experience this ethnic musical instrument.

In addition to the Khen dance festival, in the Mu Cang Chai cultural and art festival, there is also a performance program “four seasons in Mu Cang Chai" with more than 2,000 artists participating. Using the natural scenery of the raspberry hill area as a backdrop, the activity will give visitors the opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty in the transition between seasons. In this program, the customs and practices imbued with highland identity are also shown very delicately and completely. The combination of visual arts, installation art, 3D imaging technology, etc. has contributed to faithfully recreating the unique beauty of the four seasons in Mu Cang Chai. This activity also reflects the real life associated with nature as well as the desire to reach the beauty and goodness of the people here.

In addition, visitors here can check out many other special activities such as a contest to draw patterns with beeswax on fabrics every Saturday during the festival or visit an art exhibition organized by the festival. displayed in mid-September to late October. All activities in this Mu Cang Chai festival are imbued with the identity of the people of the highlands and at the same time show the folklore that has existed for a long time. It is also an opportunity for you to discover the unique culture of the Blind Country.

Highland markets

In addition to traditional activities, starting from 2019, the upland fair is included in the program of the Mu Cang Chai festival. Mu Cang Chai fair is a highlight, showing cultural colors to attract tourists with a variety of products and services. Visitors can easily find a lot of agricultural and forest products such as honey, meioc, Tam Hoa plum, etc., or brocade products with the characteristics of the Mong people. The market during the festival season is considered a unique cultural and economic exchange activity of Mu Cang Chai.

The upland market is usually at the central market of Mu Cang Chai and the top of Khau Pha pass, the road area next to the Department of Culture and Information. The market takes place from mid-September to the end of October. Mu Cang Chai’s cultural experience is nowhere near as interesting as this market. You can integrate into the simple, rustic life, and experience the colorful trading methods of the indigenous people. You can also buy vibrant fabric molds, unique scarves, or a lovely pair of brocade shoes at extremely affordable prices.

Also at the market, you also have the opportunity to enjoy many specialties of Mu Cang Chai that attract visitors from far away. Fragrant upland sticky rice, greasy Tu Le nuggets or a bowl of men men bui made by meticulous and skillful hands will make you remember forever. If you have participated in the Mu Cang Chai terraced field festival, do not miss this special market.

Day cake festival.

Besides trading activities, at the highland market, there is also a contest for pounding banh day. This is a unique and attractive Mu Cang Chai festival, attracting a large number of not only tourists but also people in the area eager to watch and cheer. The contest consists of 4 teams, each team has 4 men and 2 women, demonstrating the pounding of banh day for 30 minutes. According to regulations, a thick cake must use 15kg of glutinous rice to make, after completion, it must have a diameter of 15cm to 20cm and a thickness of 2cm. In the contest, participants in pounding banh day must be men and healthy young adults because this is a hard job and requires a lot of strength and technique. The more thoroughly pounded, the more flexible, delicious, and long-lasting the cake will be. When the glutinous rice has been finely pounded, the sisters will take care of molding the fine sticky rice into round cakes and then use the banana leaves that have been heated through the fire to wrap the cake.

Coming to the Banh Day Festival, you will be immersed in the bustling atmosphere of the people of Mu Cang Chai. The cheers and cheers, the hand pounding the pestle, skillfully and delicately kneading the cake create a different scene from the usual in the land of the Blind. You can also witness the process of making banh day in the most authentic and vivid way to better understand the customs and lifestyle of the people here. Alternatively, you can try the finished rice cake. Please keep this in mind so as not to miss the opportunity to enjoy the aromatic plasticity of new sticky rice mixed with the sweetness of wild honey with bold flavors of the Northwest mountains. The baseball pounding contest not only preserves and preserves the unique culture of the Mong ethnic people but also helps honor and introduce to international tourists the beauty of traditional Vietnamese cuisine.