On the morning of March 24th (ie, February 6th of the Binh Ngo year), the opening ceremony of the Vua Ba Thuy To Quan Ho Festival 2026 took place in Viem Xa residential group, Kinh Bac ward.
Viem Xa residential group, Kinh Bac ward (also known as Diem village) is one of the 49 original Quan Ho villages of the ancient Kinh Bac - Bac Ninh region, the only place with the Temple of Vua Ba, the ancestor of Bac Ninh Quan Ho folk songs.
According to legend, Vua Ba was the daughter of King Hung, during her journey she stopped in the ancient Viem Trang land, reclaimed land, established villages, taught people to produce and especially created and taught lyrical and deep Quan Ho folk songs.
After Vua Ba died, the people built a temple and honored her as Duc Vuong Mau - Thanh Hoang of the village.
Every year, on the 6th day of the 2nd lunar month, local people organize a traditional festival to commemorate the merits of the Queen with many unique traditional rituals, creating a unique and distinctive cultural space of the Quan Ho countryside.
At the same time, to maintain, preserve, and promote the beauty of the captivating Quan Ho folk song, which has been recognized by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
This year, the festival is held from March 23 - 25 with many rich activities in both the ritual and festival parts such as: Temple opening ceremony, incense offering, palanquin procession, recreating the legend of the Queen and the chess performance, bridge robbery; lion and lion dance; drum performance... Especially the procession with the participation of hundreds of people in traditional costumes going from the Temple to the communal house, then circling the village to get water at Cung Temple - Ngoc Well to bring back to worship at the Queen Temple.
Coming to the festival, visitors will be able to visit and enjoy the unique cultural space at relic sites, immerse themselves in the parallel singing and congratulatory singing of Quan Ho artisans, the singing performances to entertain guests according to the Quan Ho playing style of Diem village, especially the worshiping singing performance sung according to the unique traditional "La rang" tune of Diem village, the origin of Bac Ninh Quan Ho folk songs.
Along with that is experiencing Quan Ho exchange at festival venues including: Quan Ho brothels, Quan Ho singing on dragon boats, on stage and in huts... according to the traditional melodies of 49 Quan Ho villages.
In addition, visitors can also participate in many cultural and sports activities and exciting folk games such as: bridge snatching, swinging, wrestling, chess competitions, badminton, table tennis and many other folk games.
