On April 4, Nua Ngam commune, Dien Bien province organized the Water Tet Festival (Bun Huot Nam) and the 1st Ethnic Culture and Sports Festival of the commune in 2026 in Na Sang 1 village (where the Lao community is concentrated).
Tet water offering "Bun Huot Nam" takes place with rituals of worshiping, praying, tying wrist strings to pray for good luck, water asking and water offering rituals to pray for good luck.
Ms. Vi Thi Phan (60 years old, Na Sang 1 village, Nua Ngam commune) said that the water offering ritual has the meaning of sending off the dry season, washing away bad luck in the old year for the village.
According to Lao beliefs, during these Tet days, whoever falls into the most water, the more wet, will receive more luck and good things" - Ms. Phan said.
According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung - Chairman of Nua Ngam Commune People's Committee, the Water Tet Festival (Bun Huot Nam) is a typical cultural beauty of the Lao ethnic group, carrying the meaning of wishing for national peace and prosperity, favorable weather, good harvests, and a prosperous and happy life. At the same time, it expresses the aspiration for a new year of peace, luck and good things.
This is also an opportunity to consolidate the great national unity bloc of ethnic groups. Promoting the image of the friendly and unique Nua Ngam homeland to friends inside and outside the province" - Mr. Trung emphasized.
Mr. Trung added that the organization of Festivals and Day Festivals is not only a pure cultural activity, but also an important political task of preserving and promoting national cultural identity, associated with tourism development, creating motivation to promote socio-economic development, especially for mountainous and border areas.
Festivals and Day Festivals are organized with many activities such as: Welcoming art programs; traditional costume performances; displays of culture, cuisine, typical products; cultural exchanges; folk games and sports competitions...
Water Tet "Bun Huot Nam" is associated with the history of settlement and establishment of the Lao people in Nua Ngam commune, which has been preserved and conserved by the community through many generations.
Since 2015, with the support of local authorities, the festival has been restored and organized on a larger scale right on the occasion of the Lao traditional Tet holiday.
With unique and distinctive rituals, in September 2017, Tet Te Nuoc (Bun Huot Nam) of the Lao ethnic group in Nua Ngam commune was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage, a traditional cultural form.
Nua Ngam border commune was established on the basis of merging 3 communes (Na Tong, He Muong and Nua Ngam), with an area of over 26,500 ha, 33 villages, more than 12,000 people of many ethnic groups living together.
