The festival is the most typical among over 400 festivities in their homeland of the love duet and its main activities take place annually on the sixth day of the second lunar month at Vua Ba temple in the village.

This is one of four traditional custom of the village and it is the most characterized festival expressing the gratitude to the people who give birth to the love duet.   

The Diem village festival featured a re-enactment of the village’s legend and a palanquin procession, as well as a number of folk games, such as swinging first, animals, wrestling, rob the globe, cockfighting, playing chess, badminton, etc.

The most typical and excellent are performances of love duet, from the temple of the Female King to the central stage of the festival to the Final temple, under the Dragon boat and within families.

The festival, named national intangible cultural heritage in 2016, is one of the largest festivals in the province. The art of love duet singing was inscribed in UNESCO’s representative list of intangible cultural heritage in September 2009.

It is an art form that combines various elements, including music, lyrics and costumes, and features the distinctive culture of people in the region formerly called Kinh Bac. The singing represents different kinds of relationships - the relationship between male and female singers as romantic lovers, the relationship between two friendly villages and the relationship between performers and the audience. Each element helps define quan ho, give it life and meaning, and the resulting harmony is so much more than just a beautiful song.

PTT