Highland fair «Cao nguyên mở hội» («The Highlands Open the Festival»)

   A northern highland market is rebuilt on the edge of the capital: Mông reed pipes, the Nùng lion-cat dance, cauldrons of thắng cố stew, coloured sticky rice and corn liquor. The stalls are run and the food cooked by Tày, Nùng, Mông and Dao families from Cao Bằng and Thái families from Sơn La.

   The market is staged in Ethnic Village Area I of the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism beside Đồng Mô lake. It is the centrepiece of the «Vui Tết độc lập» season, run by the Village together with the culture departments of Cao Bằng, Sơn La and Đà Nẵng, with more than 100 people from 16 ethnic groups who live and work on the site.

   The essentials:

• — around 40 stalls of regional produce and cooking: xôi màu, highland bánh cuốn, thắng cố, rượu ngô
• — the Nùng lion-cat dance, listed as national intangible heritage, at 8:30 and 14:30 daily
• — Mông reed pipe music and a folk song and dance programme at 9:00-10:30 and 15:00-16:30
• — three rituals re-enacted at 9:00: the Nùng harvest ceremony on 30 August, a Dao wedding procession on 1 September, the Thái new rice festival on 2 September, each in the corresponding village
• — daily from 8:00 to 17:00: instrument playing, brocade weaving, basketry and the games ném còn, stilt walking and bamboo pole dancing

   The core is the five holiday days, 29 August to 2 September, when every space works at once. The market and workshops continue afterwards, and on the weekend of 5 and 6 September the programme «Cao nguyên vui Tết độc lập» is added in the Ba Na and Raglai villages.

   It suits families with children, because everything here can be touched rather than read off a label; travellers planning a trip to the northern mountains who want to see how the markets differ; and you, if you want ethnography without a full day on a bus.

   The Village lies outside the city by a lake, its hamlets are spread over several hills and you walk between them, so allow at least half a day. The entrance fee to the Village is not stated in the announcement - check at the ticket desk.

   National Day week in Hanoi usually means fireworks and crowded streets; here it means woodsmoke, reed pipes and a highland market rebuilt in full.