Ba Chua Xu festival recognised as National Intangible Heritage

Ba Chua Xu temple festival 

The Ba Chua Xu temple festival (also called the Via Ba ceremony) was officially recognised as a National Intangible Heritage at a ceremony held in June in Sam Mountain ward, Chau Doc city, in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

The festival is held annually at the Ba Chua Xu temple in the city from the 22nd to 27th days of the fourth lunar month to pay respects to Ba Chua Xu who is known as the goddess of the realm.

Legend has it that local people found a statue of a woman that dates back to the sixth century and they built a temple to place the statue with the hope that she would bring them better lives.

People around the country have flocked to the event to join numerous traditional rituals including a procession of the goddess’s statue from the top of Sam Mountain to the temple to cleanse the statue.

The festival also features a wide variety of cultural and sporting activities including Vietnamese classical opera singing, martial arts performances, lion dance and chess playing.

With the well-known festival which was recognised as National Festival in 2001, Chau Doc city has attracted more than four million visitors from both the country and abroad per year.

The recognition of the festival as national intangible cultural heritage is expected to contribute to preserving and promoting its cultural and historical values, as well as raising public awareness of protecting local landscapes and cultural identities, striving to make Ba Chua Xu temple a National Special Cultural and Historical Heritage Site.