Vietnamese wedding ceremony

Depending on habits of specific ethnic groups, marriage includes various steps and related procedures, but in general, there are two main ceremonies:

Le an hoi (betrothal ceremony):

Normally, both bride and groom or their parents go to the fortuneteller to see what date and time is best for them. They strongly believe in this date and time so the groom's family and relatives must come on time. Some days before the wedding, they will visit the bride and her family with round lacquered boxes known as betrothal presents. It composes of areca nuts and betel leaves, tea, cake, fruits, wines and other delicacies which covered with red cloth and carried by unmarried girls or boys. Don ca tai tu – The soulful voice floating along rivers

Le cuoi (wedding ceremony):
On the wedding day, the groom's family and relatives go to the bride's house bringing a lot of gifts wrapped in red papers. These gifts are similar to those of the engagement: betel leaves and areca nuts, wines, fruits, cakes, tea ... The persons hold these trays are also carefully chosen, usually they are happily married couples. Ladies and women are all dressed in Ago Dai. Men could be in their suits or men traditional Ao Dai. The troop is usually led by a couple that is most wealthy and successful among the relatives, this means to wish the to-be-wed couples a blessing life together in the future. Full-Day Mekong Delta Tour, Vietnam


The groom's family would stop in front of the bride's house. The leading couple should enter the house first with a tray with wine. They would invite the bride's parents to take a sip. By accepting the toast, the bride's family agrees for the groom’s family to enter their house. The firework is immediately fired to greet the groom's family.

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Vietnamese wedding ceremony

The groom's family would introduce themselves and ask permission for their son to marry his bride. The master of the ceremony (usually a respected person among the bride's relatives) instructs the bride's parents to present their daughter. The bride then follows her parents out. She will wear red traditional wedding ao dai, followed by her bride maids. The couple should pray before the altar ask their ancestors for permission for their marriage, then express their gratitude to both groom’s and bride’s parents for raising and protecting them.

Then, they bow their head to each other to show their gratitude and respect toward their soon-to-be husband or wife. The master of the ceremony would gave the wedding couple advices on starting a new family. Their parents would take turn to share their experience and give blessing. After that, the groom and the bride exchange their wedding rings and receive the gifts from their parents such as golden bracelets, ear rings, necklace... The ceremony is ended with a round applause.

After the wedding ceremony is over, there will be a party at the groom's house. Some traditional Vietnamese wedding party is celebrated at their houses (usually in country-side); other is celebrated in the restaurant. This day is the culmination of desires, day dreams, hopes and anxieties. There is a band to play music during their meal. Some guests are free to sing related wedding songs on the stage to luck the bride and the groom. In the middle of the party, the couple goes to each table to get wishes, congratulations as well as money.

Today, a lot of Vietnamese couples have their wedding ceremony done in Temples or Churches which is very much similar to American and Western style, including exchanging vows and wedding rings. However, they still maintain Vietnamese traditional ceremony in the bride's home before heading to temples or churches.

Kate Festival

Time: From the 30th day of the 6th month to 2nd day of the 7th month according to Cham calendar (around at the end of September and the beginning of October according to solar calendar).
Place: Po Inu Nagar Temple, Po Klong Garai Tower, Po Rome Tower (Ninh Thuan Province)
Objects of worship: Goddess Po Inu Nagar, King Po Klong Garai and King Po Rome.
Characteristics: Ritual of the Cham people. Mekong river tours

Kate Festival is the most unique festival of the Cham people. It associates with ancient towers where values of Cham culture are stored and other cultural aspects such as offerings, costumes, music instruments and hymns praising kings who made great service to the Champa Kingdom and Cham people. The festival is also an occasion for the participants to enjoy traditional arts performances of Cham people such as Apsara dance, Ginang and Paranung drum-beat, Saranai trump...

The first day is for the ritual of receiving Goddess Po Inu Nagar's costume at Po Inu Nagar Temple in Huu Duc Hamlet, Phuoc Huu Commune, Ninh Phuoc District. Legend has it that Ra Glai people are Cham people's brother. Whenever upheavals come, kings of Cham people leave their country to seek refuge and commit their royal costumes to the Ra Glai people. Therefore, at the Kate Festival every year, the Cham people have to do a ritual to welcome and receive the costumes from the Ra Glai people. In the afternoon, the Ra Glai people in Tra No Hamlet, Phuoc Ha Commune, Thuan Nam District, Ninh Thuan Province bring costume of Goddess Po Inu Nagar to Cham people. The ritual of receiving Goddess Po Inu Nagar's costume is held first because Cham people consider Po Inu Nagar as ancestress of the Cham people. She taught local people to grow rice, plant cotton, weave clothing...

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The second day (main festival day) is for Kate Festival at Po Inu Nagar Temple, Po Klong Garai Tower and Po Rome Tower. The festival takes place in three areas at the same time. In the early morning, the Ra Glai people in Phuoc Dong Hamlet, Phuoc Hau Commune, Ninh Phuoc District arrive at Po Klong Garai Tower in Do Vinh Ward, Phan Rang - Thap Cham City to hand King Po Klong Garai's costume over to the Cham people. When the procession arrives at the tower, a group of dancers will perform a welcome dance in front of the tower. After that, the ritual to ask permission of God Siva to open tower's door is held. The offerings include wine, egg, betel and areca, water mixed with aloe wood. The following rituals are bath and wear for the statue of King Po Klong Garai. Finally, a man (Kadhar) sings hymns to invite over 20 gods to attend great ritual. At the same time, participants pray the gods for health, happiness, abundant crop... The great ritual ends with a dance of ba bong (Muk Pay'u).

The similar rituals are also held at Po Inu Nagar Temple and Po Rome Tower in Hau Sanh Hamlet, Phuoc Huu Commune, Ninh Phuoc District.

The third day is for Kate Festival at Cham villages. Each Cham village worships its own God. In the morning, the ritual of worshipping God is held to pray for health, happiness, abundant crop... The offerings include 2 chickens, 5 trays of food, banh tet (cylindrical glutinous rice cake), fruits...  During the festival, many cultural activities and games are held, such as competitions of weaving, carrying water jar on one's head, football, singing.le bring breakfast to monks and listen to the sermon. At noon, they burn the lamps, offer sacrifice gifts and bring fragrant water to bathe Buddha statues. After the ceremony at the temple, the monks go to the grave to pray for the souls of those who died. Then they go home and do Buddha bathing ceremony at their own home in order to receive forgiveness for the mistakes in the previous year.

Halong Bay Highlights

Halong Bay is made up of 1,969 islands of various sizes, 989 of which have been given names. There are two kinds of islands, limestone and schist, which are concentrated in two main zones: the southeast (belonging to Bai Tu Long Bay), and the southwest (belonging to Halong Bay ). This densely concentrated zone of stone islands, world famous for its spectacular scenery of grottoes and caves, forms the central zone of Halong Bay tours, which has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Viewed from above, Halong Bay looks like an extremely vivid huge drawing. This is a wonderful and skilful masterpiece of the Creation and of nature that turns thousands of dumb soulless stone islands into fantastic sculptural and artistic works of various graceful shapes, both familiar and strange to human beings. Thousands of islands emerging uneven in the fanciful waves look strong and magnificent but also mild and vivid. Amidst these islands we feel as if we were astray in a petrified legendary world. There are many names given to islands according to their shapes and forms. This one looks like somebody heading toward the shore: Hon Dau Nguoi (Human Head Island); that one looks like a dragon hovering above the sea surface: Hon Rong (Dragon Island); another looks like an old man sitting fishing: Hon La Vong; some look like big sails struggling amidst the wind to set off for the sea: Hon Canh Buom (Sail Island); then two islands look like a pair of chicken lovingly playing with each other above the sea: Hon Ga Troi (Fighting Cocks Island); and amid the vast sea stands an island like a big incense burner like a ritual offering to Heaven: Hon Lu Huong (Incense Burner Island). All are so real that people are taken aback by them. Those stone islands have experienced unpredictable changes over time and they take different shapes from different angles of view. Here, we come to realize that they are not dumb inanimate things but are vivid and soulful. Long ago, Halong Bay has been called by the great national poet Nguyen Trai: “a wonder of the earth erected towards the high sky”. Read more North Vietnam tours

Halong Bay Highlights

Halong Bay has many links to the history of . For example, there are such famous geographical sites as Van Don (site of an ancient commercial port), Poem Mountain (with engravings of many poems about emperors and other famous historical figures), and Bach Dang River (the location of two fierce naval battles fought against foreign aggressors).

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It has been proven by scientists that Halong was one of the first cradles of human existence in the area at such archeological sites as Dong Mang, Xich Tho, Soi Nhu, and Thoi Gieng. It is also a region of highly-concentrated biological diversity with many ecosystems of salt water-flooded forests, coral reefs, and tropical forests featuring thousands of species of animal and plant life.

With all this in mind, the 18th meeting of the Committee of the World Heritages of UNESCO (in on December 17th, 1994), officially recognized HalongBay as a natural heritage site of worldwide importance.