Local people perform xoe dance, which is significant to Thái people, at the Mường Lo Festival last year.

A representative of the Guinness World Records will attend the festival to recognise this performance, Le Hai Yen, director of the ceremony, said during a press conference yesterday in Hanoi.

The festival is held annually to introduce beautiful landscapes, culture and promote tourism in the province.

This year the highlight of the five-day festival is the xoe dance, during which people hold hands and perform six traditional acts including welcoming, clapping hands, performing in a group of four, moving back and forth, waving scarves and offering wine.

They will shape a circle symbolising solidarity, a pattern on brocade, terraced fields and orchid flowers, all highlights of the northern region.

“During the festival in 2013, we set a Vietnamese record with a xoe dance performed by 2,013 people,” Yen said.

“Xoe is a unique type of traditional dance of ethnic Thai communities in the northern region of Vietnam,” said folk artisan Lo Van Bien, who has preserved much cultural heritage of the Thai and has composed songs for the Mường Lò Festival.

“It depicts the daily lives of Thai people and shows their wish for a peaceful and prosperous life. It has a strong attachment that and plays a significant role in our lives. There is no border between classes, ages and genders. When music starts, all people dance together hand in hand.”

Duong Van Tien, deputy head of the provincial People’s Committee, agreed.

“For the people, xoe dance is very popular, it’s performed in all festive activities. People have developed, protected and handed down through generations over hundreds of years.

“Setting a record xoe dance is very meaningful because it may be a factor for UNESCO to consider recognising it as world intangible heritage,” Tien said. He said he expected the festival will attract 750,000 visitors.