16 'buffaloes' compete at the Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival 2025

This year's Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival has a new feature as it is the first time Nam Do Son ward participates. 16 "buffaloes" will compete, the buffaloes have been allocated to each unit, promising to bring dramatic and exciting matches.

Comrade Pham Hoang Tuan, Vice Chairman of Do Son Ward People's Committee, Head of Organizing Committee informed about the preparations for Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival.

On the morning of September 12, the People's Committee of Do Son Ward ( Hai Phong ) held a conference to provide information to news agencies and newspapers about the Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival - VTV 2025.

This year's traditional Do Son buffalo fighting festival consists of two parts: Ceremony and festival.

The ceremony is held from September 22 to October 7, 2025 (ie from August 1 to 16 of the lunar calendar) including: Incense offering ceremony, flag raising ceremony to open the festival; water procession; god worship ceremony; spirit worship ceremony; procession of tutelary god to attend the festival; buffalo sacrifice ceremony; thanksgiving ceremony to the gods and spirit sending ceremony.

The festival taking place on September 30 (ie August 9th of the lunar calendar) at the central stadium of Do Son ward will be full of intense and fierce fights between the "buffaloes" who have been carefully selected, cared for, and trained.

This year's buffalo fighting festival has 16 "buffalo men" participating. Specifically, after the merger, Bang La and Duc Hau communal houses and Thuong Duc temple in Nam Do Son ward are each allocated 2 buffaloes (6 buffaloes in total); Ngoc communal house and Nghe temple in Do Son ward are each allocated 2 buffaloes (4 buffaloes in total); Ngoc Hai communal house and Nam communal house in Do Son ward are each allocated 1 buffalo (2 buffaloes in total) and 4 buffalo owners whose buffaloes won first, second and third prizes in 2024 can each register to participate with 1 buffalo.

Reporters asked questions at the conference.

This year's Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival has a new feature as it is the first time Nam Do Son ward participates. 16 "buffaloes" will compete, the buffaloes have been allocated to each unit, promising to bring dramatic and exciting matches.

From 2026, the allocation of buffaloes will be carried out by the People's Committee of Do Son Ward, and the prize for the winning buffaloes will be increased compared to the previous year. In particular, the first prize is 100 million VND (an increase of 30 million VND); the second prize is 70 million VND (an increase of 30 million VND) and the third prize is 30 million VND (an increase of 10 million VND/prize).

This year, the city supports 1.3 billion VND to organize the festival. The ward People's Committee builds a plan to mobilize sponsors to support funds and materials for the festival organization; collect, spend, and settle payments to ensure compliance with financial regulations.

The People's Committee of Do Son Ward prepares facilities for the slaughter and sale of buffalo meat; organizes the purchase and issuance of personal insurance for visitors and people attending the festival; develops a plan to ensure security, order, traffic safety, fire prevention and fighting for people and visitors; and controls the number of visitors entering the festival grounds to ensure civility and safety.

The ward People's Committee erected and reinforced the stadium to ensure safety with layers of fences made of concrete piles and B40 mesh. The north and south sides of the stadium are arranged with 2 buffalo exit gates made of iron piles attached to car tires, in the middle of the stadium are arranged 2 emergency exit doors for the forces serving in the stadium.

The festival will be broadcast live on VTVgo digital platform of Vietnam Television, THP channel of Hai Phong Newspaper and Radio and Television. Due to the limited capacity of the stadium, the Organizing Committee has arranged a large LED screen in a convenient location outside the stadium, creating conditions for visitors to fully enjoy the festival atmosphere.

The Do Son buffalo fighting festival originated from the worship of the god Diem Tuoc Dai Vuong, the god of Do Son mountains and rivers. After a period of interruption, in 1990, the festival was restored and has been held continuously since then. Over the years, the management and organization of the festival have been constantly improved, increasing in scale and quality while still maintaining the folk elements and traditional cultural values.

Do Son buffalo fighting festival is a unique and attractive tourism product of the country in general and of Do Son, Hai Phong in particular.

With its unique content, the Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival was listed in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on December 27, 2012.

HOANG XUAN - PHAN TUAN

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/16-ong-trau-tranh-hung-tai-le-hoi-choi-trau-do-son-2025-520630.html