Tả Phìn ethnic minority village in Sapa - Photo: CT Coming to Tả Phìn, tourists can understand more about customs and lifestyle of the local people through weeding and thanks-giving rituals, “Pút Tồng” festival (Dance Tết); “Bai Tram” dance festival, trionychid turtle catching festival, bamboo spike performance and music exchange festival. Mông people have ceremonies for swearing and relieving bad lucks and particularly Gầu Tào festival. The Gầu Tào festival attracts the participation of the whole community. It starts with the construction of the Tết tree from lunar December 20 – 25 and its main activities take place on January 3 - 4 to wish lucks and bumper crops. Tả Phìn natural beauty and festivals featuring national identities are factors to draw more tourists to the place.
Mông people's brocading products - Photo: TV If you want to play folk games, this is a very good chance for you with lots of interesting things such as shooting with a crossbow, walking on stilts, pushing sticks and spinning the top. You will also enjoy traditional dishes of the Dao đỏ and Mông people like smoked meat, corn cakes and mèn mén (a kind of food made from corn). Besides, Tả Phìn has preserved and developed traditional handicraft industries to attract tourists like indigo dye and brocading. Pattern embroidery is a traditional sector of the Dao đỏ and Mông ethnic minority people. Patterns are embroidered on brassieres and trousers, particularly wedding dresses and clothes of Dao đỏ girls.
Mông girls embroider their own weeding dresses. Dao đỏ people's medicinal plants Photo: Ánh Trinh Due to long winter, they use strong colors to decorate their dress. Red is combined with yellow, white used with indigo – blue with shapes of special trees and birds, which contribute to attracting visitors to Sapa. Dao and Mông women make brands with sophisticated brocade products which help to lure more tourists to the town. Dao đỏ people in Tả Chải village are famous for silver enchasing. Materials for jewelry production are white silver-made coins.
The process of jewelries using white silver includes silver melting, forging and pattern etching. Artisans polish the products when they are shaped. Major silver products are jewelries for women and brides. The Dao đỏ and Mông people still kept forging and casting sector today, using steel and iron scraps to make valuable consumer products. In addition, the Dao đỏ people know secretes of medicinal plants useful to health protection. When the tourism sector develops, they make a special tourism product called medicinal plants for bathing to increase their income. They have built a famous brand for the product both inside and outside the country.