H'Mong people’s goat fighting festival
Wednesday, 01/02/2023 15:20 (GMT+7)
Living for a long time on the northern tip of the country, in addition to raising goats for daily life, the H'Mong people in Ha Giang province often organize goat fighting festivals.
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| Goat fighting festival of the H'Mong is held in spring, when traditional folk festivals take place. |
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| Goat fighting festivals in Ha Giang are often held in communes with a tradition of goat raising, such as Lung Cu, Lung Tao, and Sinh Lung. |
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| Before entering the match, each goat must wear a badge number and compete in different weight classes. To participate in the competition, each goat "fighter" must have been raised by the owner for 3 years or more, be healthy, have high horns, long beard and clear origin. |
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| To select the strongest goats to enter the final round, the goat "fighters" must compete in a knockout format. |
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| The normally gentle goats wandering for food on the mountain slopes become mighty gladiators on the field. |
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| The powerful fighters… |
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| push each other fiercely... |
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| … or the "horns" of the goat fighters bring special interest to the audience. |
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| Goat fighters use both clever tactics and beautiful attacks aimed at the opponent, leaving viewers unable to take their eyes off. |
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| Goat fighting has no bitterness, gain or loss, no fierce, bloody scenes. |
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| …but always brings viewers moments of freshness, joy in the early days of spring. |
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| After intense fights, the strongest and most beautiful goats are selected by farmers to protect the herd, maintain the breed, preserve precious genetic resources, and prepare for the following competition seasons. |
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| In recent years, goat fighting has been invested and developed to become an attractive tourist product, widely introduced to many localities across the country, contributing to helping other ethnic groups have the opportunity to better understand the rich H’Mong culture. |
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