Several cultural experts have protested about a barbaric buffalo hanging ritual after a photograph depicting the killing was recently posted online from a spring festival in Yen Bai Province last year.

Buffalo hung at the festival

While the pig slaughtering ceremony in Nem Thuong Village, Bac Ninh Province is still a topic of controversy, a photo showing a buffalo being hung until dead during a festival at Dong Cuong Temple in Yen Bai Province from last year has added fuel to the fire of people wanting such customs banned at the forthcoming.

According to the traditions, a white buffalo will be brought to the temple and during the festival everyone will tie up the buffalo and hang it up until it dies.

Professor Tran Lam Bien from the Vietnam Heritage Magazine said the animal sacrifice ritual was a ceremony of ethnic groups. However, many people from other areas also participated. He said white buffalo are considered a symbol of a water monster so killing the white buffalo meant fighting against floods and misfortune. At many festivals, people only carry out a symbolic sacrifice ritual.

Bui Trong Hien from the Vietnam Institute for Culture and Arts Studies said such cruel rituals were mediaeval.

"Not just this ritual, other rituals such as the fight for bamboo flowers at Giong Festival in Hanoi are problems," he said. "It’s not just the public, but also the awareness of the management agencies which is still wrong in the recreating brutal festivals. Out-dated and cruel rituals must be ended if we’re trying to develop a moral and humane society."

Nguyen Thai Binh from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism promised that there wouldn't be any more cruel rituals. The ministry has asked local authorities to follow the regulations to not hold festivals that contained such problems.

Le Xuan Dinh, vice head of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, admitted that there was a buffalo hanging ceremony. However, he said the photo was from last year as this year festival wouldn't be held until February 9.

"This year we'll change the festival. The buffalo hanging ceremony won't be held in public and visitors won't be allowed to see the slaughtering site," he said.

Dtinews