Vietnam is a festival-loving country. Foreign tourists are mostly aware of tourism festivals. Actually, there are approximately 8000 festivals from all provinces, ethnicities, and religions. Festivals in Vietnam are places where people pay homage to gods, mythical characters, and national heroes, as well as send their best wishes for a better life. Here, we'd like to highlight a truly unique and entertaining traditional event: the mud wrestling festival in Van village (Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province, northern Vietnam). It is "unique" in the sense that it occurs nowhere else in the country.
Mud wrestling festival, according to folklore, dates back to the 4th century. The wrestling festival is linked to the tale of four brothers, Truong Hong, Truong Hac, Truong Lung, and Truong Lay, who fought demons in a swamp wrestling contest while travelling through the village. Every year since then, the devils have been required to participate in the mud wrestling event to amuse the village gods.
Today, every 2 to 4 years, this festival takes place at Chua Van Temple from the 12th to the 14th in the 4th lunar month.
Game rules:
First, 16 healthy young men participating in the wrestling festival are divided into four bands (each with four persons), and the four bands are divided into two teams (each with eight people) called upper and lower bands.
Second, the playing field is a ceremony ground in front of the temple that spans more than 200 m2 and is filled with liquid mud. There are two holes at each end of the court where the opponent's shuttlecock can push the ball down. The end of a round occurs each time the ball is driven into the hole.
The competition takes place over three days, on the 12th, 13th, and 14th of the fourth lunar month. On the 12th, two rounds are played. Date 13th triumph in three rounds. On the 14th, four rounds are played. The competition will last three hours, from 14:00 to 17:00.
Wrestlers from both teams enter the ring wearing black loincloths and a scarf of the same color (Photo by: Ngoc Thang)
Before the official match begins, 16 boys from both teams walk around the field, performing a traditional ceremony and greeting the audience.(Photo by: Ngoc Thang)
The temple guard brings the 20-kilogram ball from the temple to worship before the match.The ball is placed on the altar in front of the temple to pray for the blessing of the village god so that the ball does not fall on the players, avoiding injury when participating in the competition. 
The ball is made of ironwood, weighs about 20 kg, and is extremely slippery, necessitating the player's strength and ingenuity. (Photo by: Ngoc Thang)
Every time the ball falls into the mud, all 16 players must raise and then lower the ball to compete for it. (Photo by: Ngoc Thang)
A group of women in the village are assigned to carry water from the Duong River to pour it into the yard and to pour it on the ball between the two matches. (Photo by: Ngoc Thang)
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