In Điện Biên, Si La people have resided in Nậm Sin village since 1973, growing from an initial ten households to fifty-eight households with two hundred and thirty-eight residents by the end of 2025.

According to the village head, Lỳ Hồng Sơn, the festival is celebrated on the first Ox day of the twelfth solar month, marking the transition from the old year to the new. This period serves as a time for humans to harmonize with heaven, earth, and their ancestors, while sending forth aspirations for a favorable production cycle and a life filled with peace and sufficiency. Although the festivities span three days, the second day is regarded as the most important main ceremony when the entire village performs rituals to pray for favorable weather, bountiful harvests, and domestic tranquility.

From the earliest light of dawn, strong men take on the task of pounding sticky rice to make bánh giầy. Each rhythmic strike against the mortars echoes through the mountain walls and blends with the sound of the flowing stream to announce the arrival of the new year. Once the pounding is finished, the skillful hands of the village women shape the dough into round, white cakes that symbolize fullness and prosperity. Around six in the morning, the men bring pigs to the banks of the Nậm Sin stream for the ritual slaughter. This stream, which is intimately tied to both the daily and spiritual lives of the Si La, becomes the sacred space for the ceremony that opens the main day of the festival.

Families carefully prepare their worship trays with essential offerings, including a pair of squirrels, a pair of crabs, and a pair of fish. Squirrel meat holds a particularly vital and indispensable position because traditional beliefs view the squirrel as the totem of Si La people, linked to their communal history and spiritual life. Offering squirrel meat to ancestors demonstrates faith, gratitude, and a desire for protection in the coming year.

As the festive atmosphere spreads, residents visit each other’s homes to share joy and well-wishes. Every household prepares a feast to welcome guests, featuring local products made by the family. Warm cups of wine are shared alongside simple yet heartfelt wishes for granaries full of grain and thriving livestock. Upon leaving, hosts gift their guests the fragrant rice cakes as a sincere farewell and a promise to meet again in the next season.

At the entrance of the village, the air is filled with vibrant celebration as young men, women, and children don colorful traditional costumes to participate in dances, love songs, and folk games such as tù lu spinning, tug of war, and còn ball throwing. These sounds of laughter and the rhythmic beat of drums and gongs echo throughout the forest. The third day of the festival is dedicated to Filial Piety Day, when married daughters return to visit their parents regardless of the distance. They bring gifts and blessings to express gratitude for their upbringing, reaffirming the family values that Si La people have preserved for generations.