Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ms. Le Thi Mai Trinh, Deputy Director of Dong Thap Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, emphasized: This year's festival continues to be organized in two parts: ceremony and festival, with expanded scale but still ensuring the inherent solemnity.
The ceremony part takes place throughout with traditional rituals such as: Ba Ba bathing ceremony, peace praying ceremony, thỉnh sanh ceremony, worship of the God of Agriculture and Chánh tế. These are typical rituals of the Southern Mother Goddess worship belief, expressing the community's belief in the protection of Ba Chua Xu - the "Mother of the land" associated with the residents of Dong Thap Muoi region since the time of reclamation.
At the same time, the festival part is vibrant with a series of unique cultural and artistic activities: exhibition of Dong Thap cultural and tourism heritage; book and document display; classical opera performance; folk performance of shadow dance; lion - unicorn - dragon; folk games; dưỡng sinh gymnastics... Go Thap Country Market space with specialty stalls and tourism products contributes to creating experiential highlights for visitors.
This is a festival season imbued with current affairs when it is organized for the first time after being officially recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, opening up new expectations in preserving and exploiting heritage values associated with the development of cultural and spiritual tourism.
Notably, 2026 recorded the increase in tourism promotion through introducing tours, routes, and local products, thereby gradually turning heritage into an economic development resource.
The belief in worshiping Ba Chua Xu is a typical manifestation of Mother Goddess worship in Vietnamese culture, associated with the journey of opening up the South.
In Go Thap, this belief has been preserved by the community for more than a century, starting from a simple temple built in 1914, and has now become an important spiritual activity center in the relic complex.
Ba Chua Xu Go Thap Temple does not exist independently but is located in the multi-layered cultural space of Go Thap - a place that converges historical, archaeological and religious values, once the center of Oc Eo culture, with the intersection of Buddhism, Hinduism and folk beliefs.
This integration has created depth for the festival, making it not only a religious activity but also a cultural symbol of the entire Dong Thap Muoi region.
With that profound meaning, on June 27, 2025, the Via Ba Chua Xu Go Thap Festival was included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Over 100 years, the Via Ba Chua Xu Go Thap Festival has become a major cultural and religious activity of the Mekong Delta region, attracting hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.
Not stopping at spiritual elements, the festival is also a space for cultural exchange, a place to preserve traditional art forms such as Don ca tai tu, cai luong, folk performances... while contributing to maintaining community cultural values.
Being listed as a national heritage creates more "push" for Dong Thap to more effectively exploit its cultural tourism potential.
The Via Ba Chua Xu Go Thap Festival takes place from April 30 to May 2, 2026 at the Go Thap Special National Relic Site, Dong Thap province.
The festival not only reflects a rich spiritual life but is also an opportunity for people to express gratitude to their ancestors, praying for national peace and prosperity, and favorable weather.
This is a festival season imbued with current affairs when it is organized for the first time after being officially recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, opening up new expectations in preserving and exploiting heritage values associated with the development of cultural and spiritual tourism.
