New rice festival is a traditional event celebrated by the La Chi ethnic group for a long time. It is held annually in the ninth lunar month when the rice harvest comes. The La Chi believe that celebrating new rice during the harvest season is an opportunity to give thanks to heaven and earth, ancestors that have blessed the good harvest, which also means inviting ancestors to have new rice first and their descendants eat new rice then. In addition, new rice festival is an opportunity for villagers to pray to ancestors, heaven and earth for good health, prosperity, happiness, fruitful crops, good breeding of poultry and cattle, etc...New rice festival is accompanied with specific traditional customs such as worshiping the mother of rice, pounding green rice (cốm), worshiping ancestors at the patriarch’s house, worshiping ancestors by families. Besides these customs, such folk games as swinging, đánh yến, đánh sảng and singing folk songs have well preserved by the La Chí ethnic group in Nà Khương commune.

Drum dance festival of the Giáy is held once every year during the first moments of the new year as the Giáy believe that, this is the time when the sky and earth is harmonious, people feel happiest and the resounding of drums symbolizes everyone’s praying for a prosperous and happy new year

Inscribed in 2015 (10.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Tugging rituals and games of Vietnam have different characteristics, meanings and rules. The element is held as part of village festivals in Spring, a form for communities to pray for abundant harvests and prosperity, marking the start of a new agricultural cycle. Tugging game symbolizes the power of natural forces like the sun, water source that influence the harvests. In some localities, tugging game is associated with the legends of worshiped heroes for their merit in reclaiming the land, fighting against foreign invaders, protecting prosperous life of the people. It is usually held at the communal houses or temples after the rirual of commemoration of local guardian deities finished. The material used for tugging varies from region to region, reflecting the ecological and cultural context of each community, it can be made of bamboo, rattan stems, or ropes. The procedure for selecting teams or players is in accordance to the ritual rules, and the winning or losing team is regulated by customs to express certain religious meanings and the harmony of nature. Nowadays, tugging rituals and games are popularly known as a folk game that is entertaining, sporty and collective.

Cambodia,South Korea,Philippines,Viet Nam 2015

The name for this festival brings together two words, Lha means god and Soel means offering or prayer. The tradition in Sangbekha is primarily a Bon practice. Bon was a diverse body of localized ritual practices flourishing in Tibet before Buddhism expanded into the region. According to Sam Van Schaik (2013), Bon or the Bonpo religion, only emerged as a unified body of practices when put in contrast to Buddhist practice as the “othered” alternative to Buddha’s teachings. Following the eleventh century, the diverse practices organized and formalized in conversation with contemporary practices. Scriptures emerged, mainly through Terma hidden treasures, and visions of Tertons who discover the treasures such as Loden Nyingpo. Although Bon Terma contain legends that Bon existed before the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, Van Shaik notes "the 'old religion' was in fact a new religion." Following these developments and reforms of the practices to eliminate animal sacrifices, some scholars consider Bon to be a distinct sub-school within Tibetan Buddhism. Over time, Buddhism became more popular and Bon practice waned. The Bon tradition also existed in Bhutan before Buddhism took hold. Although the Bon tradition is not as strongly recognized by the people of Bhutan, it still existed in every corner of the country, making this tradition one of the oldest in Bhutan. The Bon tradition takes refuge in the earth, rocks, cliffs, trees, sun, moon, stars, etc. are the protectors, and formerly involved offering animals in sacrifice. The Bon practitioners in Wangdiphodrang Dzongkhag or district, such as the communities of Gaseng Tshogom, Khatoekha and Lhashing Tsawa, performed a common ritual known as Lha-soel every three years. The ritual is organized by one of the Pawo male shamen, and Neljorm or Pamo female shaman, of each village. They alternate hosting the program every three years. The organizer of the year prepares for the rituals, tents are pitched near the organizer's house and the Lha-soel ritual takes two whole days. In an interview with 68-year-old female shaman Aum, elder, Kencho Om has been a Pamo for 25 years in Nakey-kha village in Sangbekha gewog, Haa Dzongkhag a district of eastern Bhutan. She said that the Pamos are the same as Nyeljoms and are common throughout central and eastern Bhutan. They are the female mediums who are possessed by local deities. Their job is to diagnose and cure diseases through divination and rituals. It is believed that the abilities of Pamo continuously persist through the family line. When a practitioner dies, the spirit passes to her daughter. However, it depends on the decision of the deity to choose the legitimate “wife” to inherit the role among the daughters or granddaughters. Aum Kencho has no formal education, but learned the and rituals transmitted through their family line. According to her, Pamo play an important psychological and healing role in a rural society where the supernatural is a part of life. They do what others cannot, such as mediate through the mind. The Bhutanese believe that illnesses are due to an imbalance in the various elements that make up the body, and that they are often caused by one of the numerous vengeful spirits associated with certain symptoms that consist of Tsa energy channels, the Lung wind channel, and the Thig-le seed channel in the human body. When these channels unbalance each other, it causes illness. The Lha-soel is held at the beginning of the 6th month (July) and another in the 12th month (January) according to the Bhutanese calendar. It is performed twice a year (summer and winter). In summer, they perform a shortened ritual (Due-pa) in the evening, while in winter they perform a grand ritual (Gye-pa) that usually lasts from evening to the next morning. Although there is no specific time, the ritual is performed either on the 8th, 10th, 15th, 25th and 30th of the month.