The Dong Da Festival is an important event in Dong Da District. This festival is usually held on the 5th day of the first lunar month.
In the early morning of the 5th day of Tet Ky Dau (in the first lunar month of 1789), King Quang Trung defeated the Qin troops at Dong Da Hill, which became a glorious historical site of Vietnamese nation. Ever since, on the 5th annual of the first lunar month, Hanoi people hold a festival to celebrate this historic victory.
Residents in beautiful traditional dress gather at Khuong Thuong Communal House, which is decorated with flags, to burn incense. A grand sacrifices – offering ceremony is conducted after daybreak.
Until 12 o’clock, a god procession of celebration commences from Khuong Thuong to Dong Da Hill. The procession includes flags, parasols, palanquins with a variety of colours, and the sounds of gongs and drums. Its most special part is the fire dragon which is decorated with straw, cataphyll, and coarse paper. The “Thang Long Fire Dragon†has become a symbol of victory of the nation.
The whole procession walks and sometimes dances in the rhythm of castanets. A group of young people, dressed in martial suit, then goes around and performs a piece that recounts the whole period of the war.
When the procession comes to Dong Da Hill, there is an incense – offering ceremony after which someone reads the story of the Ky Dau victory that praises the military genius of the national hero, Quang Trung. There are also various games to play and competitions that challenge the skills and intelligence of participants on the wide field in front of hill.