Large numbers of residents and visitors attended the programme.

Participants included leaders of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Nghia Lo Ward, along with large numbers of local residents, visitors and athlete delegations competing in the Vietnam Ethnic Minority Women's Football Tournament - VTV Cup.

The programme gave delegates, residents and visitors the chance to experience a Xip Xi Festival setting with displays and activities introducing Thai customs, cuisine, clothing, traditional musical instruments and crafts.

The programme opened with folk songs and dances.

In the Thai language, Xip Xi means "the fourteenth festival". Held each year on the 14th day of the seventh lunar month, it is regarded as the Thai people's second most important festival after Lunar New Year.

According to local beliefs, the middle of the year - after the main-season rice crop has been transplanted and upland corn and rice are growing green - is a time to set aside farm work for a short rest, honour ancestors and show filial gratitude to grandparents and parents.

A recreation of Xip Xi Festival traditions in a Thai family home.

Xip Xi is a festival of families, clans and villages, when descendants turn towards their ancestors and adults offer good wishes to younger generations.

In preparation, families busily clean their homes and select locally available foods such as sticky rice, duck, fish, vegetables and traditional spices for the offering tray. Xip Xi cake is the festival's symbolic food and an indispensable flavour of the occasion.

One distinctive Xip Xi custom is for married daughters to return to their parents' homes with their husbands and children. They bring familiar gifts such as duck, sticky rice, liquor, Xip Xi cakes or produce from their households for grandparents and parents. Simple as they may be, the gifts embody filial devotion and deep gratitude to those who raised them.

After the ancestral offering ritual, family members talked together and exchanged good wishes.

During the festival, family members prepare the meal together, burn incense to their ancestors, talk and wish one another health and peace.

Ancestral worship and soul-calling rituals are indispensable parts of Xip Xi. The offering tray is prepared with traditional dishes and household produce. A ritual master conducts the ceremony, respectfully inviting grandparents and ancestors to witness the occasion and bless their descendants.

After the worship ceremony, Thai people perform a wrist-tying ritual, a deeply affectionate cultural practice accompanied by good wishes. The small thread carries hopes that the recipient will enjoy good health, good fortune, smooth work and a peaceful, happy family life.

Delegates took the stage for the wrist-tying ritual and received Xip Xi Festival wishes.

Residents and visitors took part in the wrist-tying ritual.

Xip Xi was also a time for the whole village to celebrate, meet and take part in cultural performances and folk games. Courtship songs, dances, traditional music and the Han Khuong cultural space give the festival a distinctive place in the cultural life of Nghia Lo's Thai community.

This year's Xip Xi Festival coincided with the Vietnam Ethnic Minority Women's Football Tournament - VTV Cup in Nghia Lo, creating additional opportunities for cultural exchange among local residents, athletes, supporters and visitors.

Athlete Ho Theo from Gia Lai said: "This is my first time in northern Vietnam and my first experience of the Thai people's Xip Xi Festival. I find it very different and distinctive. It will certainly be an unforgettable memory for me and my team."

Visitors learnt to wrap Xip Xi cakes with Thai residents.

At the programme, delegates, residents and visitors toured booths showcasing local and One Commune One Product (OCOP) products, learned about clothing, ethnic musical instruments and the ancient Thai script, tried wrapping Xip Xi cakes, and joined folk games rich in Thai cultural identity.

Through the cultural activities, football supporters and visitors in Nghia Lo for the tournament gained an additional opportunity to experience Thai customs and ways of life. The combination helps bring Nghia Lo's traditional cultural values to a wider audience of visitors and friends from near and far.

Delegates and visitors tour displays of traditional Thai products.

An ancient Thai script class.

A blindfolded duck-catching game drew a large crowd of residents and visitors.

A balance-bridge game.

Women footballers immersed themselves in the Thai cultural space.

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