Every year at the beginning of spring, the banks of the Cu De River come alive with the cheers of the boat racing festival. This is one of the most unique traditional cultural festivals of the people of Danang city, attracting thousands of people to participate and cheer on.
According to the elders, the boat racing festival has been around for a long time. The festival is held annually in the first lunar month with the hope of praying for favorable weather, national peace, clear canals, and abundant fish and shrimp. This is also an activity to celebrate the founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and at the same time to launch the movement “People Exercise to Follow Uncle Ho’s Great Example”
The boat racing activity on the Cu De River is organized by the People’s Committee of Lien Chieu district with the participation of nearly 200 members of teams from Hoa Vang, Cam Le, Ngu Hanh Son, … divided into men’s and women’s rowing groups. In the cheers of the people and tourists, the strong boats glide quickly on the river surface, the oars swing rhythmically with strong and decisive “hò lên” shouts, showing the great efforts of the athletes.
The people believe that the village whose boat wins the competition will be lucky and everything will be better than the other villages, so everyone in the village wants to win.
Before the boat racing festival, the communes and villages will start to select the young men, everyone is busy, some groups go to practice, some sit down to analyze their opponents and discuss strategies. The funding for the competition mostly comes from contributions from households in the area, each person contributing a little bit depending on their circumstances, some contribute their labor to take care of the athletes, some encourage their spirits. Those moments helped everyone get closer.
Because of the good meaning of the traditional boat racing festival, from ancient times to the present, whether in war or peacetime, the festival has still been held and received a lot of response. Boat racing on the Cu De River has become a mark imprinted on the subconscious of the people living in Nam O as well as the people of Danang, an indispensable activity every spring.
