Published:  00:00 Thursday - June 11, 2009

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced a list of 11 traditional festivals of ethnic minority groups to be restored in 2009.

These include the Roong pooc festival of the Giay group in northern mountainous Lao Cai province and the Nang Hai (Damsel of the Moon) of the Tay group in northern Cao Bang province to pray for good harvests, a wedding ceremony of the Dao Lo Gang group in midland Thai Nguyen province, the Nghing Ong (Whale Whorshiping) Festival in Mekong delta Kien Giang province, and others.

The recovery of the festivals is to preserve and uphold traditional cultural values of the minority groups and to improve the cultural life in the ethnic minority inhabited areas.