Bull racing festival in An Giang

The Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival is a festival of the Khmer ethnic group in the South. It has a strong folk cultural identity, including the traditional bull racing festival, a unique cultural activity and sport in the Bay Nui region, An Giang.

The Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival is a popular sports and entertainment playground for farmers after hours of hard work in the fields... Let's experience the atmosphere of the Bull Racing Festival in An Giang through the photo series of the same name by author Duong Tran Hai. The photo series was submitted by the author to the Photo and Video Contest "Happy Vietnam", organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The racetrack is a flat rectangular field, the track is dredged about 10 cm deep and must be flooded with 5 to 10 cm of water.

The racing bulls in the festival are the Bay Nui bulls. They race in pairs, the driver of the pair of bulls, also known as the “driver” or “bull jockey,” stands on a harrow holding a whip called a xalul, urging the bulls to run faster or slower.

The first pair of bulls to finish will move on to the next round and continue the knockout until there are two pairs left.

According to the "rules of the game", any pair of cows that run off the track or the "cow rider" falls off the plow and onto the ground, even if the cows reach the finish line first, they still lose...

On the festival day, tens of thousands of tourists and people of all ages from all over flock to watch. Everyone tries to arrive early to choose a good viewing angle, and brings food and drinks because the race lasts from morning until afternoon.

Every festival season, hundreds of domestic and international reporters as well as foreign tourists also come to attend this unique and bustling event.

Up to now, the An Giang provincial level Bay Nui bull racing festival has competed 27 times.

Bull racing is not simply about bulls racing against each other, but it has become a unique custom and belief of the Khmer ethnic people. A festival not only associated with the custom of praying for favorable weather, good harvests and a more prosperous life, but also shows the enthusiastic working spirit of the Khmer people, making the festival more sacred and solemn./.

Vietnam.vn