Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival 2026 to feature large-scale activities
The Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival will take place from the 10th to the 23rd day of the first lunar month, featuring a wide range of traditional rituals along with large-scale cultural and tourism activities.
The Vice Chairman of the City People’s Committee, Nguyen Minh Hung, has signed and issued the plan for organizing the 2026 Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival. The festival is held to commemorate the 692nd anniversary of the passing of the Third Patriarch of the Truc Lam Zen School, Venerable Huyen Quang (1334–2026), while also marking the opening of the spring festival season and promoting the values of the Yen Tu – Vinh Nghiem – Con Son, Kiep Bac Complex, a World Cultural Heritage site.
According to the plan, the main ceremonial rituals at the Con Son Relic Site will begin on February 26, 2026, with the incense-offering ceremony and the spring-opening ritual. The highlight of the festival will be the ceremony commemorating the 692nd anniversary of the passing of the Third Patriarch Huyen Quang and the official opening of the 2026 Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival, scheduled for 8:00 p.m. on March 6, 2026 (the 18th day of the first lunar month) at the Con Son Pagoda. The event will be broadcast live on television channels and digital platforms of Hai Phong Newspaper and Radio & Television, as well as those of several neighboring localities.
As part of the festival, the Culture, Tourism and Trade Promotion Week will take place from February 28 to March 11, 2026, featuring a wide range of activities introducing traditional craft village products, OCOP products, local cuisine, Truc Lam cultural spaces, cultural and artistic programs, and heritage experience activities.
During the same period, the Heritage Book Festival and the thematic exhibition titled “Heritage Moments” will also be held. In addition, there will be a series of traditional cultural, sports, and folk activities such as competitions in making banh chung and banh giay; processions and offering ceremonies of these traditional cakes; the water procession ritual; the Heaven and Earth worship ceremony at the Ngu Nhac Linh Tu; Chinese chess and traditional wrestling tournaments; the 1st Hai Phong City Land Firecracker Festival; and the cross-country and half marathon race “Con Son – Kiep Bac: Journey of World Heritage” with distances of 5 km, 10 km, and 21 km.
At the Kiep Bac Relic Site, festival activities will be held concurrently with the incense-offering ceremony, the opening of the spring festival, and the commemoration of the 741st anniversary of the Van Kiep Victory, along with traditional rituals and a wide range of cultural performances, water puppet shows, and heritage experience activities serving local residents and visitors throughout the festival period.
Hai Hau