As tradition returns each year, the Ma Coong people gathered on the night of the 16th day of the first lunar month - March 4 this year - to celebrate the drum-beating festival, praying for favourable weather, abundant harvests and prosperous lives, while young men and women meet and exchange promises of love.

The Ma Coong are a local group of the Bru Van Kieu ethnic community who have lived for generations in Thuong Trach commune, now part of Quang Tri province, deep within the majestic forests of the Truong Son mountain range.

For them, the drum festival is more than a cultural gathering. It is a spiritual ritual rooted in ancient legends about their origins and their ancestors’ struggle to conquer nature and protect their villages.

Days before the festival night, all 18 villages in the area begin preparing. Young men venture deep into the forest to select chi cup trees, a hollow and durable species used to make the drum frame.

The drum frame can be used for many years and is only replaced when damaged.

The drumhead is made from cowhide prepared in advance. On the day of the festival, the hide is stretched tightly over the frame, secured with aged rattan ropes and fixed with bamboo pegs, creating the large drum that becomes the heart of the celebration.

At the same time, women in the village prepare sticky rice and brew ruou can, a traditional fermented rice wine made with forest herbs. They also prepare offerings such as chicken, stream fish, bamboo shoots, banana blossoms and young rattan and doac shoots - gifts from the mountains presented to Giang, the supreme spirit revered by the community.

This year’s festival began with the opening drumbeat by Nguyen Van Phuong, secretary of the Quang Tri provincial Party Committee, followed by the ritual ceremony to worship Giang and pray for a good harvest.

Village elder Dinh Xon, entrusted by the community to preside over the ritual, recited prayers asking the heavens and spirits to bless the land with favourable weather, fertile fields, good health for villagers and peace for the community.

Once the ritual concluded, the festival truly began.

At the signal of the village elder, hundreds of people rushed into the courtyard, taking turns striking the drum with wooden sticks. The deep, resonant rhythm echoed through the mountains and forests like a call from the great wilderness itself.

For the Ma Coong people, the drumbeat embodies spiritual power. It is the collective voice of the community, expressing resilience and the enduring will to overcome hardship.

The celebration continues throughout the night. Villagers take turns beating the drum until 4:21am the following morning, when the drumhead finally breaks.

Amid the warmth of shared rice wine, young men and women gather, talk and make promises to one another.

This moment has become one of the most distinctive features of the festival, where communal spirituality blends naturally with youthful romance, creating a cultural identity unique to the Ma Coong people.

According to legend, long ago a ferocious yellow monkey roamed the area, destroying crops and bringing illness and hardship to the villages.

The Ma Coong people beat drums and gongs together, praying to Giang for help to drive away the misfortune. When the evil creature was finally driven off and peace returned, they vowed to hold a ritual each year on the night of the 16th day of the first lunar month.

Since then, the drum-beating festival has been passed down through generations as a way to honour their ancestors and pray for prosperity.

Over time, even as life continues to change, the drumbeat of that spring night still echoes through the Truong Son mountains, linking past and present while strengthening community bonds.

The festival remains not only a source of pride for the Ma Coong people but also a distinctive cultural heritage of western Quang Tri.

On August 27, 2019, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism officially recognised the Ma Coong drum festival as a national intangible cultural heritage.

The cultural traditions embedded in the festival continue to be preserved, practiced and passed down authentically by the Ma Coong community, enriching spiritual life while contributing to the development of cultural tourism in Quang Tri province.

Hai Sam