The worship of Ban Vuong reminds people of their roots and invites the blessings of Ban Vuong and other ancestors. Source: Vnexpress
The Ban Vuong worship ritual is an important event for the Dao people in Vietnam, happening on the first day of the second lunar month to commemorate and thank the ancestors who gave birth to the Dao and assisted to 12 Dao ethnic families to cross the sea to new lands.
On the morning of April 30, the Dao people in Hoang Su Phi district reenacted the Ban Vuong festival at the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism (Dong Mo, Son Tay, Hanoi).
The Dao consider the worship of Ban Vuong vital to their fates, their clan, and their community.
A Dao legend says that after Long Khuyen Ho helped King Binh Vuong defeat invaders, the king rewarded him by allowing him to marry one of the princesses. Later he inherited the throne and took the name Ban Vuong. Ban Vuong had 12 children, who grew up to become the heads of 12 Dao clans.
Ban Vuong led a simple life. He taught his people how to grow rice and cotton and weave fabric. When Ban Vuong died, the villagers worshiped him at their ancestral altars along with the deities of rice, art, hunting, and agriculture.
At the worship of Ban Vuong, six shamans were invited to host the ritual. The shamans invited the spirit of Ban Vuong to witness the piety of the modern Dao people. They offered incense and cereal products on Ban Vuong's altar. At the end of the ceremony, the priests burnt votive papers to return Ban Vuong to heaven.
The Ban Vuong worship ritual is a humane ceremony as it encourages people to remember their ancestors. In addition, this ceremony also establishes a link strengthening the community and the relationships between both family members and among villagers.
Following are photos about the event:
At the beginning of the ceremony, there is a ceremony to call on Ban Vuong and local deities and declare the reason for the ceremony.
The shamans burn paper money, joss paper gold and silver paper asking Ban Vuong and the local deities to help the people and bless the festival.
People offer incense and give thanks to Ban Vuong for helping the Dao live peacefully for thousands of generations.
Six shamans walk in a circle, call out to the local celestial spirit to welcome Ban Vuong and tell a brief biography and physique of Ban Vuong since birth.
Tortoise dance is part of the ritual.
The stick dance shows Ban Vuong, celestial spirit and earth deities descend from the altar to receive the offerings.
The end is the ceremony to send Ban Vuong to heaven, which is also the time when the shamans remove their costumes, at the same time, wrestling, and getting into a trance and dancing.
Recently, in Nhu Xuan District, Thanh Hoa Province, World Vision Vietnam and MAVIN group have distributed ducklings and animal feed, as well as transferring MAVIN ...
Visiting northern province of Dien Bien, tourists and visitors are deeply amazed by the colourful and sophitiscated traditional outfits of Xa Phang ethnic minority, especially ...
Ramie planting under the framework of the project entitled Developing the Value Chain for Ramie by Women in Van Ban District, northern Lao Cai Province ...
On June 1, 2026, the Vietnam Film Institute, in collaboration with the Swedish Embassy in Vietnam, organized the opening ceremony of the Vietnam-Sweden Children's Film Week at Ngoc Khanh Cinema (Vietnam Film Institute).
From March 27 to 29, the "Thai Rhythm Festival in Hanoi 2026" took place at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, centered on the theme “Creative Life – Creative Rhythm”. This free, open-to-public event was organized by the Royal Thai Embassy in Hanoi.
On June 3, the People’s Committee of Hung Yen Province, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, organized the Hung Yen-Japan Connectivity Program. The event aimed to strengthen connectivity, promote investment and trade cooperation, and expand relations between Hung Yen Province and Japanese partners and businesses in a new stage of development.
In 2026, Gia Lai Province is implementing 16 emergency resettlement and population stabilization projects in disaster-prone areas, with a total investment of more than VND 2.1 trillion. The projects aim to provide safe housing for 1,495 households across eight communes that face high risks of landslides, flooding, and other natural disasters.
At the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the National Day of the Republic of Italy, on the evening of June 2nd, the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City affirmed that they will continue to create favorable conditions for the Italian Consulate General and the Italian business community to operate effectively, while promoting extensive multifaceted cooperation.
At the 14th Congress of the Vietnam Trade Union for the 2026–2031 term, Nguyen Anh Tuan was re-elected as President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL). The 14th Executive Committee, comprising 135 official members, was also consolidated.
The 14th Vietnam Trade Union Congress for the 2026–2031 term will elect 135 members to the 14th Executive Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL).
During meetings with a delegation from the French National Assembly's Defense and Armed Forces Committee on June 2, leaders of Vietnam's National Assembly and Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized the need to strengthen parliamentary cooperation, advance strategic areas of collaboration, and make defense-security cooperation a key pillar of bilateral relations.
On the afternoon of June 2 in Hanoi, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security convened a conference to launch a joint awareness campaign and coordinated offensive against drug-related crimes involving Vietnam, China, Laos, and Myanmar. The three-month operation will run from June 15 to September 15, 2026, focusing on border areas and major drug hotspots across the four countries.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and State President To Lam’s visits to Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines demonstrate Vietnam’s efforts to position itself as a more active leader and coordinator within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This assessment was made by strategic security analyst Collins Chong Yew Keat of the University of Malaya in an interview with a correspondent in Kuala Lumpur on June 1.