A festival held in the central province of Quang Tri on November 19 celebrated a form of singing called bai choi, a local cultural tradition.

The festival on bai choi singing held in Quang Tri Province

The festival was among a number of activities meant to preserve the region's intangible cultural heritage, as well as an attempt to further the application for recognition of this type of folk singing as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage in 2016.

The festival was held in Ngo Xa Tay Village, Trieu Phong District, and attracted a large number of participants.

Unique to the coastal central region, bai choi is often sung at local spring festivals. It is quite unique in that bai choi resembles a game which involves playing cards.

The festival was among a number of activities meant to preserve the region's intangible cultural heritage

Bai choi performance encompasses nine cottages, each containing five or six participants. One of the cottages, the central house, contains a troupe of musicians and instruments. A deck of playing cards is then split in half, with one stack distributed amongs the players, and the other placed in the central house. The cards are stuck onto bamboo poles and erected outside the cottages.

The singer delivers a flag to each cottage, all the while singing bai choi, and then draws a card from the central house. Whoever holds the card closest in value to the singer’s wins.

The bai choi songs are about festivals, daily life and work.

Some photos of the bai choi festival: