Impressed with Goat Fight in Hoang Su Phi – Ha Giang – Vietnam

In a journey to Ha Giang, have you ever heard about the unique and exciting goat fight? If not, you might not want to miss this article of the experience in Ha Giang.

Coming to Dong Van rock plateau, in the early days of spring, visitors not only drop into the green space of mountains and forests but also have the opportunity to participate in a unique festival of ethnic minorities - the goat fights.

Where is Ha Giang?

Ha Giang is beautiful not only by the majestic scenery, the endless winding roads but also the Flower and Love. The beauty of this northernmost part of the country is worth visiting every season.

There are many ways to go to Ha Giang that you can take a coach, then rent a motorbike or a car in the province to explore here. If you want to go to Ha Giang directly from Hanoi, you can use your car or motorcycle.

The beauty of Ha Giang

Coming to Ha Giang, you will admire the most magnificent terraced rice fields of Hoang Su Phi in the season of ripe rice, the valley of buckwheat flowers, go through the arduous yet poetic roads of Ma Pi Leng - one of the four most significant passes, or feel the peaceful and ancient life in Dong Van old town.

A unique cultural beauty of the Highland people

During life on high mountains, goats are always animals to help people escape poverty to get rich. Goats are easy to raise, graze and suitable for living areas of the residents here.

Therefore, the annual goat fight is an opportunity to affirm the labor achievements of the compatriots after a year of hard working. It is also an opportunity for people to share their experiences in raising goats and cattle so that the next season can achieve higher results.

The festival is also an opportunity for ethnic people here to express the spirit of solidarity when they live together in a locality. The contest welcomes the presence of warm spring, celebrating a year of prosperity for each village, praying for the new year with good weather, crop, and health. When the new year arrived, it becomes more and more exciting and meaningful.

To prepare for the tournament, the owners have to take care of their goats for a year. The selected goats must be 3 years old or more with good physical strength, athletic body, long beard, and high horns, best breeds, have clear origins, live locally, and be carefully appraised by veterinarians that they are absolutely without any disease. Since then, people will choose the best and most beautiful goats to play the leading role to protect the herd and maintain the race.

Goats raised in Ha Giang

It is usually held in the spring, associated with other traditional festivals such as the Gau Tao, Long Tong, etc. and in many communes with a tradition of raising goats like Lung Cu, Lung Tao, Sinh Lung.

The goat fights in Ha Giang

Before going to the match, each goat "fighter" has his number, participates in weight classes, and follows a direct knockout mode to be chosen to the final. Not as strong as buffalo fights, as fierce as horse fights, this contest seems gentle but equally attractive.

Goats with long and sharp horns are fighting. The clattering of goat horns collided with each other after each match causes the viewers to shout continuously. Severe attacks like horn clamping, breaking, leg clamping, or striking down of the goats heat space here. A unique feature in the fight is that the injury rate of the goats is meager, making the contest funnier and more exciting.

Just like other games held in festivals, the goat fights are not only entertaining, but also a traditional idealistic occasion to bring good luck to farmers. If you want to experience Sapa festivals, to know further information about a Sapa walking tour or other Northwest provinces, don’t hesitate to contact us. Please like and share if the article is useful for you. Thank you.