H’Mong ethnic people in northern mountainous provinces always welcome the lunar New Year with colourful festivals. This year’s spring activities are more interesting thanks to the return of a festival named “buttock flapping”, a tradition that had disappeared for many years.

Since early morning, people flock to the communal common grounds. Together, young H’Mong boys and girls play many traditional folk games such as “còn" throwing, duet folk singing, and “khèn” dancing, and then comes the buttock flapping.

The custom is only observed on the first days of the New Year. It is considered a declaration of love between a boy and a girl. According to the tradition, the couple has to lightly smack each other’s bottoms nine times to make the romance official.

For H’Mong people, this custom is not just for fun, though. It’s a very special and unique cultural tradition. Boys and girls often know each other in advance and they just use this custom to declare their love out loud.

The revitalisation of the Mong people’s custom is expected to contribute to promoting H’Mong ethnic cultural values to visitors.

The sunlight of a New Year day is coming down. But on the hill slopes, H’Mong boys and girls are still holding each others’ hands, flapping their buttocks to express deep love for each other.-VNA