The preparation for the Festival is implemented meticulously in two months in advance, the 5th and 6th lunar month, and it is mostly about training the contestants: the buffalo. They are all elaborately selected and forced to prepared for the Festival months beforehand. The candidates should be in their 4th or 5th year and satisfy some certain qualities related to appearance such as a broad chest, long neck, wide groin, angled bottom and ultimately, a pair of fatal bow-shaped horns. Once chosen, the buffalo will be kept in quarantine in order to avoid contact with other conventional buffalo.
To begin the buffalo performance, the worshipping ceremony takes place and lasts until lunchtime. Six big and sound young man carrying an octet procession chair opens the ritual. After that, 24 more men take competing buffalo, covered in red cloth and having their horns wrapped with red bands, to the fighting ring. The atmosphere is hectic filled with ebullient sounds of people shouting, urging and rhythm of drums and gongs all over the place. The ceremony ends with the fighting pair of buffalo is led to stand in opposite sides of the festival grounds and next to Ngu Phung Flags
When receiving the signal, the buffalo are led to enter the fighting circle. The second signal notifies the buffalo keeper the moment to loosen the rope attached the buffalo’s nose and let them do their jobs: fighting each other to dead. The crowd is incredibly loud, urging the fighting along. Each match varies in terms of time as the stamina of each buffalo is different. At the end of the fight, the winning buffalo will be received by its owner and then granted with its own reward.
Buffalo Fighting Festival is definitely a must-see attraction of Do Son Town. Every year, the Festival draws a substantial flow of both international and domestic tourist come to enjoy the effervescent atmosphere of the festival.