On the full moon day of the 7th month (lunar calendar), people in many regions eagerly come to An Thai (An Nhon, Binh Dinh) to watch the festival: A roast pig is placed in the middle of the high platform, which group of martial artists can snatch it? consider that village won. Dumping truss is a unique cultural festival of the martial land of Binh Dinh. After nearly 60 years of "extinction of the Gypsy", since 2005, along with the policy of preserving national culture, Binh Dinh has restored the association.

An Thai (in Nhon Phuc commune, An Nhon) is a land along the Con River, once famous as one of the cradles of Binh Dinh martial arts. From this shore, after just a few minutes by boat, we have passed An Vinh (in Tay Son district) - a place also famous for martial arts. On that day, the Chinese people who "countered the Qing and restored the Ming" drifted to this riverside land to live and mingle with the Vietnamese community, enriching the cultural life, including martial arts, here.

Rig pouring festival in An Thai, An Nhon town

The truss festival was initiated by a number of Chinese families. Ngu Bang Hoi Quan Pagoda is the place where the truss pouring festival takes place, from the full moon day to the 16th and 17th of the seventh lunar month, held once every 4 years (just like… World Cup). Truss is an altar about ten meters high, made of bamboo and wood. On it is placed an altar of worship including incense, flowers, tea, fruit and a roasted pig. When the ceremony is about to end, the martial artists and strong people representing the villages enter, ready to jump, carry the pig and then run... "Trigger" - when the celebrant shouts, the competition begins. Highly skilled martial artists, jumping on the platform to try and grab the roast pig. Then have to wriggle, rush out of the crowd, bring the pig back to the designated safe place. In order to snatch the pig, the competition teams also had to assign people first, people behind, defenders, and "stoppers" to prevent other dangerous opponents from being able to snatch it back in their hands.

According to custom, the trophy pig will be split up to share with all the boxers present in the competition. The martial artists, or the martial arts village who have won the victory, are welcomed and respected by everyone and they believe that that year they will be lucky because they will be "lucky". Usually, martial arts studios in An Thai and An Vinh often win. Hence the sentence:

Tiếng đồn An Thái, Bình Khê

Nhiều tay võ sĩ có nghề tranh heo.

The truss festival is not only an interesting and attractive competition, but also a unique cultural feature of a countryside rich in martial spirit. During the days of the festival, there are many other rich activities. According to the elderly in An Thai, the festival is always accompanied by boi singing, freeing birth, lion dance... In those days, every house in An Thai hung lights with flowers, drums and flags fluttered open day and night. In Binh Dinh, there is still a song describing the assembly of rigs:

Đồn rằng An Thái, chùa Bà

Làm chay, hát bội đông đà quá đông

Đàn bà cho chí đàn ông,

Xem xong ba Ngọ, lại trông đổ giàn.

Now, this festival has been periodically restored, held every 5 years. That is good news for those who love the martial arts land of Binh Dinh, so that on the full moon of July, they will "regain the rig".