Festival · 2026-10-24

Co Le’s festival is still on, and Sunday is the close

Ninh Binh’s tourism center schedules the Co Le Pagoda festival from 21 through 25 October. Saturday sits inside that run. The closing rites are on Sunday. No hour or ticket for today is printed.

21–25 October 2026. Closing rites on 25 October. The hour today, and a fee: Check on arrival.

The Ninh Binh tourism promotion center’s notice, updated 20 October 2026, puts the Co Le Pagoda traditional festival on 21 through 25 October 2026, the 12th through the 16th of the ninth lunar month in the year Bính Ngọ. The place is the Co Le Pagoda special national monument in Cổ Lễ commune, Ninh Bình, and several other spots nearby. The center calls 22 October the main day and schedules the opening for 7:30 at Liên Hoa square. From 22 through 25 October the rites and the festival program continue, and 25 October is the day of the closing rites. Báo Ninh Bình, published at 16:40 on 22 October, reported that the commune held the opening that morning. It did not print 7:30. The paper says the festival marks 1,118 years since the birth of Nguyễn Minh Không, and that the yearly memorial day is the 14th of the ninth lunar month. It does not give that 14th a civil date. The center’s own pairing is 21 October with the 12th and 25 October with the 16th.

What can still be on the ground is listed, and almost none of it is timed for Saturday. The center expects the traditional trải boat contest on the Cổ Lễ–Cát Chử river from 22 through 25 October. The provincial paper, writing up the opening, lists a traditional chải boat race among the activities and does not give that race dates of its own. The center’s program also names the palanquins of the saint patriarch, the holy mother, the boat, and the rice, plus the palanquins of the clan gates; puppet shows; hầu đồng singing; amateur performances; Chinese chess; quan họ; lion and dragon dances; a women’s air-volleyball friendly; folk games; and food and OCOP stalls planned for the yard of the commune cultural house. The English version of the same notice, updated 21 October, matches those lines. Neither notice prints a clock for 24 October, and neither prints a ticket. Check on arrival. The photograph is the Cửu phẩm liên hoa tower at the pagoda. The file’s description places the tower in Cổ Lễ township, Trực Ninh district, Nam Định. The 2026 notice places the festival in Cổ Lễ commune, Ninh Bình.

Ninh Binh · Nam Dinh