The Boat Race Festival is held in the summer, especially in the lunar months of May and June, in Phu Tho province, northern Vietnam.

In Bach Hac village of Viet Tri city, the boat race is held annually on the 20th day of the 5th lunar month. Bach Hac has four cycles of twelve years, namely Tien Hac, Dong Nam, Than Truc, and Bo Dau. Each cycle has a boat that is painted a different color: Tien Hac is blue, Than Truc is red, Dong Nam is white, and Bo Dau is yellow. The clothing, flags, and oars of the boatmen must also be the same color as the boat.

Each boat has 24 oars and is rowed by 48 boatmen and a person who beats a wooden drum to keep the rhythm. In the morning of the sacrificial ceremony, the boats sail from the gate of the Bach Hac Communal House to Tho Son ward, Viet Tri city. Afterwards, they are rowed back to their starting point.

The Dao Xa Boat Race takes place on the large Dao Lagoon. Legend has it that one night, two imperial boats emerged from the bottom of the lagoon. The soldiers on the boats shouted for joy. Ly Bon, the king of the time, thought that the enemy had attacked and ordered his troops to fight. However, it turned out that there was a person on one of the boats who called herself a water nymph and said that she had come to help Ly Bon defeat the enemy. As a result, Dao Xa has a tradition of organizing the Boat Race at night to sacrifice to the water nymph.