Every year, the Lami subgroup of the Ha Nhi holds a festival called the Long Dragon Banquet during the 12th lunar month.  The tables and dishes are arranged in the shape of a dragon.  Each family prepares a feast of special foods that they rarely eat at other times.  Typical feast foods are meat, birds, and fish.  Everyday foods such as carrots or cabbage are not served.

Chickens are killed and their livers examined to determine who should be the leaders of the feast.  This honor comes at a cost, since the leaders must sleep on one side of their body, abstain from sexual relations and from eating meat for one month prior to the festival.  During this time they must separate themselves, even from their own families.