On 16, 17th of second lunar month, Phu Ninh district will hold a festival. Legendarily, when the King Hung and his general go to Ham Rong market (current Phu Ninh), they met two fighting tigers, and then they immediately kill them to get the meat. Therefore, every four communes of Cao, Phu Man, Ngoc Tru, Ngoc Khoi buy a buffalo each and let them fight to offer the ancient hunters of King Hung era.
When they buy, they have to ask for permission from the God. The buffalo has to be raised. Though there are four buffalo but on 5th of lunar May, there are only two buffaloes are killed and the others are left until 10th of lunar October.
On the market day, people wash the buffalo, and on 5th of lunar May, the whole four are let to fight. The two loose buffaloes are killed and the other two winners come to the final on 10th of lunar October. When people kill the buffalo, they do not place them in the dish but on the baskets made from rope. In the middle of the basket, there is banana leaves to place the meat on to offer. After the offering, people gather and eat right at the market.
From time and war, from 1945 to 2008, the Phu Ninh buffalo fighting festival is not organized. Until 2009, Phu Ninh restored and held it in the middle of lunar February. This is one of the unique festivals which are listed in the program of Back To Origin tourism along with the King Hung Temple festival.
Like other different buffalo fighting festival, Phu Ninh festival is also divided into three rounds: group stage, semi final, and final. In each game, from the two sides of the fighting area, two buffaloes (ong cau) are lead to come in one moment. They are let to fight with many interesting position and match. Some games last for tens of minutes which earn a lot of support from the audience. However, in the opinion of the local people, eating the meat of fighting buffalo brings luck. Therefore, all the buffalo will be killed to sell meat whatever their result is.