Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoàng Đạo Cương presents the Certificate of National Intangible Cultural Heritage for the “Bá Dương Nội Village Kite Festival” to Đan Phượng District, Hồng Hà Commune, and the people of Bá Dương Nội.

On the afternoon of April 12, the People’s Committee of Đan Phượng District, Hà Nội, held a formal ceremony to receive the National Intangible Cultural Heritage certificate for the “Bá Dương Nội Kite Festival.” The ceremony also marked the recognition of Bá Dương Nội’s kite-making as a traditional craft of Hà Nội.

The Bá Dương Nội kite-flying festival, held in Hồng Hà Commune, Đan Phượng District, boasts a history spanning thousands of years. Generations of villagers have honed the craft of creating flute kites in various sizes. The uniqueness of the Bá Dương Nội Kite Festival lies in its traditional kite-flying competition, organised alongside the sacred Diều Shrine—a site dedicated to the River Delta Deity. The festival features time-honored ceremonial rituals.

Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Vũ Thu Hà awards the Certificate recognizing Bá Dương Nội’s traditional kite-making as a “Traditional Craft of Hanoi” to local authorities and residents.

Villagers of Bá Dương Nội Village have showcased their traditional flute kites at numerous major festivals both nationally and internationally. These include international kite festivals in Việt Nam’s provinces of Thừa Thiên Huế (now Huế City) and Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu, as well as events held in Thailand (2010, 2014), China (2012), France (2012), and Malaysia (2014). The Vietnamese kites have earned high praise from international audiences for their unique designs and deep cultural identity.

Following the recognition ceremony, Hồng Hà Commune officially opened the traditional Bá Dương Nội Village Kite Festival.

Following the ceremony recognising the kite festival as a national intangible heritage and the flute kite craft as a traditional Hà Nội profession, Hồng Hà Commune hosted the official opening of the Bá Dương Nội Traditional Kite Festival. The three-day event (from the 14th to the 16th day of the third lunar month) features a competitive kite-flying festival, with the main celebration on the 15th—a time traditionally marking the beginning of a new farming season.

This year, the Bá Dương Nội Kite Festival drew 72 competing kites to the skies above the village fields. In keeping with tradition, only kites meeting specific criteria were eligible to compete: a minimum length of 2.2m, a wingspan of at least 0.6m, a set of three bamboo flutes with diameters of no less than 2.5cm, and no use of white glossy paper in the kite’s construction. The winning kite is judged not only on its height and stability in the air but also on the melodious sound produced by its flutes.

This year’s festival attracted 72 competing kites.

Nguyễn Chí Bảo, 90, a lifelong resident of Bá Dương Nội, shared: “Kite flying is not just about watching; it's about listening. The sound of the flutes carries the hopes of the people into the sky—for favorable weather and national peace and prosperity.”

Looking ahead, Đan Phượng District plans to further study and develop cultural spaces for the practice and experience of Vietnamese intangible heritage and traditional Hà Nội crafts. The district envisions transforming Bá Dương Nội Village into one of Hà Nội’s key “creative cultural spaces”.

The goal is to elevate the “Bá Dương Nội Kite Festival”, now recognised as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, into a standout symbol of Vietnamese culture. Furthermore, the traditional craft of making flute kites not only provides stable jobs and income for Bá Dương Nội residents but also benefits neighboring communities.

In recent years, the Bá Dương Nội Kite Festival has become a popular cultural attraction for both domestic and international visitors.

A defining feature of the festival is the meticulous preparation behind each entry. Competing teams—often representing long-standing village lineages—spend up to a month crafting their elaborate kites.

Nguyễn Mạnh Hà, Chairman of the Hồng Hà Commune People’s Committee in Đan Phượng District, shared that Bá Dương Nội is currently home to 134 households engaged in the traditional art of flute kite making. The village proudly boasts three artisans who have been honored as People's Artisans and Meritorious Artisans in the field of intangible cultural heritage.

"We don’t fly kites just for entertainment," said Mr. Hà. "It is an act of remembrance and gratitude—to our ancestors and to the heavens. Every kite represents a wish, a symbol of harmony between humans and nature."

For generations, the festival has carried the aspirations of Bá Dương Nội villagers for a life of prosperity and happiness.

Today, the Bá Dương Nội Kite Festival is not only a vibrant cultural tradition but also a unique tourist attraction. Visitors come not only to witness the majestic kites soaring in the sky but to immerse themselves in the tranquil rural atmosphere, relive childhood memories, and experience the rich heritage of traditional Vietnamese kite-making. VNS