The primary Khau Vai Love Market

Itcan be said that the beauty & power of love is the basic factor tomaintain the existence of Khau Vai love market for such a long time. Inthe market area, there are two temples called Ong and Ba (Mr and Mrs)temples. The story concerning these temples tells that, once upon atime, there was a boy and a girl born from two different places of theDong Van Plateau. Since forbidden to get married by the two families,they, side by side, decided to leave home to come and settle downtogether in Khau Vai, a prosperous land with green plants. In honor oftheir merits in cultivating the wild land into a rich land, the localpeople built the two temples to worship them.

Anotherlocal myth tells the story of a young couple from different tribes whofell in love with each other. The girls belonged to the Giay group andthe boy to the Nung group. The girl was so beautiful that her tribe didnot want to let her get married with any man from another tribes.Consequently, violent conflict arose between the two tribes. To stopthe blood shedding, the two lovers sorrowfully decided to part.However, they planned to meet once a year on that day, lunar March 27^th. The place where they used to meet is Khau Vai, which thereafter became a meeting place for all those in love.

Since then, on every lunar March 27^th,Khau Vai has attracted couples of different ages, including those whoseek partners for the first time. Yet, most of them are those who loveeach other very much but cannot marry because of different reasons. Onthe day when the market session takes place, it is likely that both thewife and her husband together go to the market but they look for theirown partners to share emotions. If one of them has to stay at home, heor she is not jealous because the dating at the marketplace is only atemporary feeling exchange, which has no negative influences on reallife.

Activities

Thesecond day is for the ceremony to offer boiled rice and heap up a sandymountain. Every Khmer family cooks rice and offers it to Buddhist monksat the pagoda in early morning and at noon. In the afternoon, peoplestart to heap up a sandy mountain for seeking happiness and luck. Theymake small mountains in eight directions and one in the middle reflectsthe universe. This custom originates from an age-old legend. Itdisplays people’s aspirations for rain.

Onthe third day of the market, there comes the ceremony to wash theBuddha’s statue and Buddhist monks. In the afternoon, they burnincense, offer sacrifices and use scented water to wash the statue inorder to pay tribute and gratitude to the Buddha. This is also to getrid of the old year’s misfortunes and wish all the best for the NewYear. After that, people return to their house and wash the Buddha’sstatue at home. They offer dishes, confectionery and fruits to ask forhappiness for their parents and grandparents and being forgiven fortheir mistakes made in the previous year.

Withthe assistance of Ha Giang Culture and Information Department, Meo Vacdistrict and Khau Vai commune authorities hold the traditional lovemarket of Khau Vai frequently for the purpose of promoting the culturalidentity of ethnic minority groups in the locality.