During the 12-day festival, visitors may enjoy a host of outdoor activities highlighting the nation’s culture, including rituals, exhibitions of handicraft products, pottery drawings and carved pictures, and martial arts performances.

An exhibition of the culture of Doai county at the festival features more than 200 antiques representing different periods from ancient time through the Dong Son period.

Visitors will also have a chance to contemplate the eighth-century Thanh Mai bell weighing 36 kg with a 28cm diameter. The bell has about 1,500 words carved on it, and images of popular pagodas and temples, and of village gates that are popular in northern Vietnam.

The event is considered a rehearsal for the Thang Long-Hanoi millennial anniversary celebrations in 2010.