President Tran Dai Quang attends the 2018 spring festival at the Culture and Tourism Village of Vietnam Ethnic Groups, February 24, 2018. (Photo: VNA)

The spring festival, which opened Saturday, involves 200 village patriarchs, intellectuals, and artisans from 21 ethnic communities, the largest number ever recorded. In his opening address, President Tran Dai Quang urged better preservation of ethnic minority culture and more incentives to improve ethnic people‘s livelihoods, education, and healthcare.

President Quang planted a memorial tree, erected a “nêu” tree (a tall bamboo tree with red garment strips used to ward off evil spirits) and opened the “Gầu Tào”, the most important festival of the Mong minority, where they express gratitude to Heaven and Earth and pray for good luck and happiness in the new year.