LookAtVietnam Bridge – Bac Ha District will begin culture week on May 29 setting a record for the biggest batch of thang co, horse soup, brewed in one pan.

All the pretty horses: Local Mong people stand around a thang co pan at an ethnic market. The biggest batch of thang co will be prepared during the upcoming culture week.

The pan is 5m in diameter and 1.5m high, big enough to boil five big horses simultaneously to make the speciality of the district’s Mong ethnic group.

Cooking thang co is more than just an evening in the kitchen, but an entire performance. To open culture week, skilled men and women will make the soup in their biggest performance in history at the district’s main market.

Tourists are used to seeing thang co made in the Bac Ha market and neighbouring district markets. This will be the first time tourists get a chance to see such a massive amount of thang co prepared and find out what makes the food so special for the Mong people.

Other cultural activities including a horse race and a plum festival will also be held to entertain visitors coming to the second most popular destination in Lao Cai Province after Sa Pa. The event will run until June 2.

At over 1,000m above sea level, Bac Ha District – about 70km east from Lao Cai centre and 300km north of Hanoi – is accessible by motorbike or bus from Lao Cai, after a 10-hour train trip from Hanoi.

With 50,000 people living in the district, the famed weekly market is a veritable cross-section of Mong life, brimming with thang co and maize wine.

Run, horse, run

Over the last two years, the district administration has re-organised the horse races a traditional festival held by the Mong since the 1960s.

While the races used to be held in springtime, this year the race will be in the summer to coincide with other activities and mark the biggest cultural week the district has seen.

"Traditionally, Mong ethnic people race horses in the spring time or during farmers’ spare time," said the vice director of the culture and information centre of Bac Ha District Nguyen Van Luyen. "The horse is a multi-purpose animal. Mong people live in the mountains and the horse is useful for carrying goods, ploughing on the mountain slope field and getting around."

For this year’s race, 50 jockeys and horses from 21 communes will ride five laps around the stadium bareback, approximately 4km.

Vice chairman of the district’s People’s Committee, Hoang The Dung, said the race would be an annual event and it’s expected to attract more tourists to the district every year.

The committee estimates that the Sunday ethnic market in Bac Ha brings in 50,000 tourists a year, equal to the district’s population.

"Although life has changed a lot, we are proud that Bac Ha Still maintains its traditional culture and lifestyle of the Mong people and festivals," Dung said.

Plum celebration

Bac Ha is also well known as the land of Tam Hoa plums harvested every April.

Although this year’s cold snap resulted in a poor crop, the plum festival will still be a major part of culture week.

As the primary agricultural crop in the district, the plum is vital to bringing in a better income for local people.

At the festival next month, dozen of products such as juice, wine, rum or jam made from 10 different kinds of plum will be available. The festival also serves as a trade fair, where investors from around the country come to buy the local products for trade.

For many, the market is no longer just about extra income. Market trading can be a primary source of revenue.

But it’s not all business. The market is never just about selling and buying – it’s also about socialising.

Business is having its effects on the market atmosphere. According to Nguyen Tuan Anh, head of the culture and information office of Bac Ha District’s People’s Committee, the former boisterous tone of the market and the sight of inebriated men passed out on the side of the road are becoming less common.

"The ethnic minority people are changing the way they think about life, but are maintaining their customs," Tuan Anh said.

He said the horse races, plum festival and record-breaking batch of thang co will make the district even more famous, popularising the traditional lifestyle of Mong people. These activities will also make Bac Ha a place where people trade more than just goods but also a culture and lifestyle.

(Source: Viet Nam News)