After a 2-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tuyen Citadel Festival will again be held in the northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang this year. One of the highlights of the festival is a procession of giant mid-autumn lanterns.

For more than a month now, Hoang Ngoc Tung, a local resident in Tan Quang ward, has set aside his daily tasks to join with other residents in making a mid-autumn lantern. The lantern is based on the legend of the first ancestors of the Vietnamese people - Lac Long Quan and Au Co. Local residents hope to educate children about love of their homeland and remembering their place of origin. Tuyen Quang province boasts about 40 festivals every year, but the Tuyen Citadel Festival is unique, with hundreds of giant mid-autumn lanterns in the procession. The lanterns are associated with history, folk tales, fairy tales, and legends, and are a unique feature of the province, 140km north of Hanoi, which has recently become a new and alluring destination for tourists who love discovery and exploration. The Tuyen Citadel Festival originated in 2004 and is held periodically on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls in September. It has been confirmed by the Vietnam Guinness Book of Records as having the most unique and largest lanterns in Vietnam. Many residential areas have already completed lanterns for the procession. The highlight of this year’s festival will be the participation of many foreign localities. With the theme “Sparkling colours of Tuyên Citadel Night Festival”, the festival and a ceremony to receive a certificate recognising the practice of Then singing of the Tay, Nung, and Thai ethnic minorities in Vietnam as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity will take place on September 4./.