This year's festival takes place in the context of the Bach Dang Special National Historical Relic Site belonging to the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac historical and scenic complex, which has just been recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site (July 2025).
This is also the first year the festival is organized under the management and chairmanship of the Ha Long Bay - Yen Tu World Heritage Management Board, with many innovations in a professional and modern direction.
One of the highlights of this year's festival is the main activities being livestreamed on digital platforms, through reputable local fan pages, helping a large number of people, tourists and people far from home to follow and join the festival atmosphere.
Taking place from April 22 to 25, the Bach Dang Festival 2026 includes a series of rich activities, harmoniously combining the ritual part and the festival part.
Right from the opening night of April 22 at Tran Hung Dao Temple, Vua Ba Temple, the festival space was opened with the harmony between traditional rituals and art programs.
On peak days, especially April 24th (ie March 8th of the lunar calendar), ceremonies such as the procession of the royal decree, the procession of the statue of Saint Tran from Yen Giang communal house to Tran Hung Dao temple - Vua Ba temple, the main worship ceremony... are solemnly organized, attracting a large number of people and tourists.
The rituals take place according to traditional rituals, with full ceremonial sceptres, festival flags, dragon and lion formations, folk performances..., expressing gratitude to ancestors, and at the same time honoring the value of the national intangible cultural heritage of the Bach Dang Festival.
In parallel with the ceremony part, cultural, sports and folk games activities took place sôi nổi in the relic square area, creating a community living space imbued with identity.
The highlight is boat racing on the river, shallow boat racing recreating naval warfare art on the Bach Dang River, along with the experience game "Bach Dang stake", helping participants better understand the unique military tactics of their ancestors.
Talking to a reporter of Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Mai Vu Tuan - Head of the Ha Long Bay - Yen Tu World Heritage Management Board, said that the unit is honored and proud to receive, inherit and organize the maintenance of the Bach Dang Festival - a national intangible cultural heritage, from Quang Yen town in the past.
This reception is associated with the responsibility of preserving, conserving and promoting the historical and cultural values of festivals in contemporary life.
According to Mr. Tuan, the overarching goal of the festival organization process is to build the festival into a true festival of the people, where the community plays a central role, widely participating in festival activities, thereby contributing to spreading historical and cultural values and creating sustainable and eternal vitality for the national intangible cultural heritage.
The Bach Dang Festival 2026 continues to affirm its role as a unique cultural space, a place where history is recreated and spread in contemporary life, contributing to promoting the image of Quang Ninh land and people to friends at home and abroad.
