WORSHIPING FISH - The Fish Worshiping Ceremony on Đốc River in Trần Văn Thời District, the largest folk festival in Cà Mau. VNA/VNS Photo by Huỳnh Anh

CÀ MAU — The southernmost province of Cà Mau has announced “Cà Mau - Ðiểm Đến 2025” (Cà Mau – Travel Destination in 2025) to lure local and international visitors and promote its tourism products.

The project will include festivals and cultural and sports events to introduce the province’s potential in tourism and economic development and attract investment in building its brand.

It will create opportunities for local businesses to promote their products at the events to stimulate consumption of domestic goods, particularly specialities and OCOP (one commune one product) products, and seek trade and services cooperation with enterprises across the country.

The project’s highlight will be the Fish Worshiping Ceremony on Đốc River in Trần Văn Thời District, the largest folk festival in Cà Mau.

The event will be held from March 13-15, or February 14-16 of the lunar calendar.

The ceremony shows fishermen’s respect for whales that help them at sea. It also prays for a bumper fish catch and the country’s peace.

The procession will begin at the Ông Fish Temple and head to the sea. Around 300 fishing vessels will join the ceremony at sea.

Trần Hiếu Hùng, director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said Cà Mau celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Fish Worshiping Ceremony this year, so that the province will work with relevant agencies to recreate the traditional ceremony.

He added that the province would launch a tour during the festival to help tourists learn about the ceremony and the fishing sector.

In order to pay tribute to the ancestors, Cà Mau will host the worshipping rituals of the Hùng Kings at the Hùng Kings’ Temple in Thới Bình District on April 6 and 7, or March 9 and 10 of the lunar calendar.

The annual Cà Mau Southern Traditional Cake Festival will be held from April 5 to 12 in Cà Mau City. It will showcase more than 100 signature sweet and savoury cakes made by artisans and bakeries from southern provinces.

The festival will attract around 80 artisans who will instruct visitors to make several traditional cakes.

The event will include tài tử music performances, folk games, and a trade fair displaying the province’s OCOP products.

GO FAST - A boat competition at the “Hương Rừng U Minh” (Scent of U Minh Forest) Festival in Cà Mau Province in 2024. File photo from baocamau.vn

The province will host the “Hương Rừng U Minh” (Scent of U Minh Forest) Festival at the end of April to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Southern Liberation and National Reunification (April 30, 1975 – 2025).

The festival will recreate a traditional market in the past, demonstrating the images of fishermen and traders to sell and buy signature agricultural products and seafood of Cà Mau.

It will include numerous sports activities such as a xuồng ba lá (a small wooden boat used to cross canals) race, a composite boat race, a cycling race and a race walking across the forest.  

The Cà Mau Tài Tử Music and Cải Lương (Reformed Opera) festival will be also featured.

In addition, visitors will have a chance to go fishing and experience gác kèo ong (literally, luring bees to build nests on sloping wooden poles), a unique craft recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2020.

Director Hùng said “Cà Mau – Điểm Đến 2025” contributes to developing the province’s tourism branding, and raising the awareness of tourism businesses.

He added that the events in the project attract travel companies who join local agencies to build new tours highlighting the land and people of Cà Mau.

By the end of 2025, the province will host the Cà Mau Marathon and the Cà Mau Crab Festival.

The province targets to welcome more than 1 million visitors, including 6,000 international tourists in 2025. – VNS