Phong Luu Love Market, also known as Hang Toan Market and Hang Phung Liu Market, is located in Bao Lac district, Cao Bang province. It is held on August 15 in the lunar calendar. Not only is it a place to exchange and buy goods produced by farmers with sweaty hands, but it is also an opportunity for boys and girls to gather, show off their singing talents and make love. Folk songs of the Tay, Nung, Mong, Dao, San Chi, Lo Lo ethnic groups, along with dances expressing the typical cultural identity of Bao Lac’s homeland.
Different from the annual meeting markets, Phong Luu love market is not a place where people come just to shop or sell, but they gather to exchange feelings, memories, and raise a cup of wine to celebrate. celebrate together. Together they sang folk songs full of love, captivated people’s hearts, and participated in lovely national dances. This creates a profound beauty, expressing the traditional culture of the ethnic groups in Bao Lac district.
On the day the market took place, as soon as dawn had just begun, boys and girls from all over came to the market, full of excitement and without the difficulty of the long distance stopping them.
At the corners of the market, boys and girls gather in groups according to their ethnicity, wearing beautiful, colorful, and sparkling costumes. They immerse themselves in the music of the Khen, tap their feet in lovely dances, and sing along to the folk melodies of sli, luon, flute, and Khen, creating a vibrant and romantic space.
Impressive and attractive to viewers on love market day is the performance program re-enacting the Sluong Chau Dance ritual in the blessing and fortune-seeking ritual; welcoming brides of the Tay and Mong ethnic groups; San Chi ethnic identity. In particular, the special art program at the love fair night recreates the life values and cultural identities of ethnic minorities.
Tourists and people cannot help but enjoy witnessing and enjoying the ceremony of giving cloth shoes by Tay girls to their partners during the festival. The pair of canvas shoes was hand-stitched by a Tay ethnic girl because she had been on the boy’s feet since the love market on March 30 (lunar calendar) and then today she gave it to the person she secretly loved, secretly remembered and made a promise. August 15th of the lunar calendar. The pair of canvas shoes – the love token of a Tay girl – is elaborately crafted and contains profound and delicate meanings. These are traditional handmade canvas shoes of the Tay people. When the boy receives the pair of canvas shoes the girl gave him, he will secretly meet the girl through his friends to continue to learn and cultivate feelings.
Although she is in her seventies, Ms. Hoang Thi Uong, Pu Mo hamlet, Son Lo commune, still clearly remembers the impression that at the age of 17, she sewed a pair of canvas shoes from the 30th day of the 3rd lunar month, waiting until the 15th day of the 8th lunar month to give it to her. the man she secretly loved. Ms. Uong shared: Several decades have passed, I still remember the song “My Lady” that the boy that year sang to me at the love market: “I live on this side of the river/you live on the other side of the river/want to fly.” come to me/unfortunately there are no wings…”. Now that I’m old, every year when the love market comes, I arrange time to go to the market to meet my friends, ask about their health, exchange cups of wine, sing to each other…
In addition to unique cultural activities, delegates and tourists can also visit cultural and culinary activities at the central market area of Bao Lac town. 18 booths of 17 communes, towns and Bao Lac District Agricultural Service Center introduced Bao Lac’s culinary culture and famous products, such as: Huong sticky rice, dried beef, sour pork, pork hanging on the kitchen counter, sausage ribs, shaved bamboo shoots, dried bamboo shoots, fish fingers, lingzhi mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, polygonum multiflorum, royal jelly…, and typical products of ethnic groups such as: wrap clothes, hats, hats, shoes, embroidered and woven products; ethnic musical props; labor items, daily activities, tourism products…
Traditionally, Bao Lac Love Market has 2 sessions/year, taking place on March 30 and August 15 of the lunar calendar. Boys and girls come to the love market to interact and sing love songs. In it, boys and girls of the Tay ethnic group will respond with the melody Luon Loi and hand over scarves and cloth shoes; Nung ethnic boys and girls sing and respond with the Nang Oi tune; San Chi ethnic boys and girls sing and meet each other to find friends; Mong ethnic boys and girls sing back and forth and dance the flute; The Red Dao ethnic group has the custom of pulling scarves… Each ethnic group brings to the festival sports activities, traditional games, pushing sticks, weeding, jumping on bags, carrying water with bamboo pipes, throwing corn into baskets…, attracts a large number of people and tourists to participate.
Vice Chairwoman of Bao Lac District People’s Committee Hoang Thi Da shared: Phong Luu Love Market held annually has a very important meaning in recreating the daily life values and cultural identities of ethnic communities. , contributing to building and developing the ethical standards of society, family, and love between couples imbued with humanity of ethnic minorities in Bao Lac district. At the same time, preserve and promote good cultural traditions, promote the image of the land and people, and the unique culture of Bao Lac district to friends and domestic and foreign tourists.
Society is increasingly developing, people’s lives are also changing. The “Phong Luu” love market in Bao Lac district, although the method has changed, still retains the profound humanistic concept and the unique cultural values, customs and practices of the ethnic minority community here. This. Visitors from all over the country who come to Bao Lac during the love market will have special feelings, joining with the people here in stirring moments, the echoes of which are hard to fade in their memories.