Impressive Tra Co Festival

The festival of Tra Co Communal House Festival annually held in July is one of the most typical cultural festival in Mong Cai city. It has been recognized as a national intangible heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism since 2019.

Built in 1461 with unique architectural style of the later Le Dynasty, the structure of Tra Co Communal House was dedicated to tutelary genies of the village. The historical relic is typical for village culture of Vietnam in feudal period. 

The relic covers an area of 400m² and has a frame of rare wood. On the sides of the roof, the curved corners are adorned with dragon heads. Decorative carvings are crowded with mythological animals - unicorns, turtles, dragons, and phoenixes - and magical elements - flowers and clouds. The relic is famous for the dragon carvings on its doors and its transverse panels of gold and red lacquer. 

Tra Co Temple Festival is organized into two parts including the ritual ceremonies and the festival section. The first part consists of ritual ceremonies and the procession of the Gods. Tra Co Temple Festival comprises cultural performances, calligraphy writing along some fun games such as tug of war, stilts, and volleyball. Especially, the unique feature of the festival is the "Mr. Elephant" contest. 

Apart from Tra Co Communal House, Mong Cai border city’s Tra Co ward is also renowned for Cape Sa Vi, Tra Co Beach, Nam Tho Pagoda, Van Ly Khanh pagoda, Tra Co church, the stele commemorating Uncle Ho's visit to Tra Co in 1961 and the Sa Vi border information cluster. Every tourist is likely to have great impression on this beautiful and culturally rich land.