The fire dancing festival is a traditional cultural activity of the Red Dao people who considred fire as a supreme God.
The fire dance festival is held in the end of the year and early spring, falling on the 2nd-5th days of the first lunar month, and conducted by a village’s shaman .
Many items, such as rice, wine, boiled chicken, water, incenses, candles and others are used to worship the Fire God for crops, good weather, luck, happy, health and peace.
The selected red Dao young men who are strong and skillful will dance and jump on burning charcoals with their bare feet in the bustling atmosphere and the sound of gongs and drums. The Red Dao people believed that Fire God protects them from burn injuries despite walking on hot coals.
Additionally, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has added 22 more cultural icons to the list of Vietnam’s national intangible cultural heritages, including Boi Trai Den (a traditional rowing race), Ngo Duong Pagoda in Hai Phong City; Lullaby singing of the Mekoing Delta city of Can Tho; "Tu Linh" (Four Sacred Things) boat race on Ly Son Island off the central province of Quang Ngai; traditional crafts of Pia cake making and Salt making in the Mekong Delta provinces of Soc Trang and Bac Lieu, respectively.
