CUA LO TOURISM FESTIVAL - CUA LO TOWN

Cua Lo Tourism Festival, Cua Lo Town, Nghe An Province (formerly known as Cua Lo River and Water Festival) is usually held on the occasion of April 30^th every year. This is the opening activity for the new tourism season and also the beginning of the fishing season for Nam traditional fishes in the locality.

The annual Cua Lo tourism festival usually has the following main parts:

Part of ceremony:

- Yet Cao ceremony at Van Loc temple - Nghi Tan ward. Van Loc Temple worships Duke Lieutenant Nguyen Su Hoi - a famous general of the Later Le dynasty, assigned by the court to govern 12 seaports, from Sam Son to Cua Tung. He had his headquarters located in Cua Xa area, (Cua Lo today).

Here, in addition to taking care of army training and defending the country, Duke Lieutenant Nguyen Su Hoi also recruited people, established hamlets, reclaimed wasteland, and established Van Loc village formly - Cua Lo land today.

- The palanquin procession from Van Loc Temple to Binh Minh Square (Cua Lo Town Center)

- After the Opening Ceremony, there is usually a fireworks display at Binh Minh Square

Part of contest:

- Morning of May 01^st: Traditional boat racing at sea and organizing sports activities such as mini football, beach volleyball, tug of war, martial arts performances...

In particular, the traditional boat racing attracts many spectators and cheers with many surprises and thrills. The race has the convergence of oarsmen from the wards (communes) with marine profession. Each boat usually has 20-30 oarsmen and one person holding the Chich often knocks the drum or blows the whistle to signal. The boat racing area is the beach in front of the town center square, the 1000m long racetrack has lifeboats, hundreds of small and large boats parked on the sky-high flags to cheer for the racing teams.

The race is thrilling, attracting spectators from the first minutes when the racing teams have to work together to bring the boat through the big waves to the track until the boats return to their destination, must also overcome the fierce waves. Spectators are crowded in the beach and cheered for the racing teams. Every time their racing team wins, the spectators of that ward or commune rush into the water to greet the winners. The race not only revives a traditional cultural beauty of the sea people but also becomes a unique tourism product that attracts thousands of visitors.

- Night of May 1^st: Organize traditional cultural programs, beauty contests in the coastal city, camping, campus firing and dancing to exchange with visitors.

- May 2^nd: Cultural and sports activities continue to take place.

In addition, the festival also displays photos of historical sites and landscapes of Cua Lo and Nghe An in the process of the homeland defense and construction; organize culinary culture contest, good chef and receptionist contest. Cua Lo Festival is increasingly preserved and developed into a large-scale festival, attracting thousands of tourists to visit and enjoy.