Saigon Times Group is a leading Vietnamese media organization with prestigious business and consumer publications. After three decades of development, we have built a good reputation through our publications on economy, business and markets for Vietnamese and foreign readers.
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Saigon Times Group is a leading Vietnamese media organization with prestigious business and consumer publications. After three decades of development, we have built a good reputation through our publications on economy, business and markets for Vietnamese and foreign readers.
Basic
Free
Free access to daily domestic news, podcasts and videos
Premium
$5 $1 /month (VND 23,900)
MonthlyAnnual
Unlimited access to domestic news, podcasts, videos and magazine articles on current social / economic / trade / investment issues, commodity / financial/securities markets, M&A activity, FDI, local and foreign business communities and more.
Your payment method will then be automatically charged ₫ 899.000 every 365 days thereafter.
Your subscription will continue until you cancel.
You can cancel by using My account. Under My account, select "Unsubscribe" and then follow the instructions to cancel.
You can notify us of your intent to cancel at any time during your billing period. Cancellations take effect at the end of your current billing period.
Held from May 28 to 30 (the 12th to 14th days of the fourth lunar month), the Water Ball Wrestling Festival in Van Village, Bac Ninh Province, is a centuries-old folk celebration rooted in local prayers for favorable weather and abundant harvests.
Recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2022, the festival is held every two years and attracts large crowds. The highlight of the festival is a unique competition featuring 16 young men selected from local hamlets, divided into two teams: Giap Thuong and Giap Ha.
Wearing traditional loincloths, the players compete for a wooden ball in a muddy, water-filled field, reenacting an ancient ritual closely associated with wet-rice cultivation and the agricultural life of northern Vietnam.
A ceremonial procession carries the sacred wooden ball from the village communal house to the festival groundsThe wooden ball, carved from jackfruit wood and weighing about 20 kilograms, has been carefully preserved by villagers for more than 200 years. Performers sing traditional quan ho folk songs to welcome festival participants and visitorsVillage elders offer cups of Van Village rice wine to the players before the competition beginsThe players are divided into two teams, known as Giap Thuong and Giap HaVillagers recreate the traditional scene of young women carrying water from the Cau River to fill the competition fieldPlayers battle for possession of the wooden ball in the mud-filled arenaA fierce scramble unfolds as competitors wrestle for control of the ballMud-covered players push and pull in a test of strength, endurance and teamworkThe centuries-old ritual transforms the waterlogged field into a dramatic contest of determination and skillCompetitors struggle to drive the ball toward the opposing team’s goal amid cheers from spectatorsThe muddy arena becomes the stage for one of Bac Ninh’s most distinctive traditional festivalsPlayers celebrate after successfully driving the ball into the opposing team’s goalChildren join the festivities, sharing in the excitement and community spirit of the festival
