A group of residents in Hanoi, Vietnam, took turns to scale a pole covered in cooking oil in order to reach prizes hanging at the top.

Footage from February 7 shows locals one by one attempting to climb the greasy 4-metre-tall pole.

Prizes were enclosed in red envelopes at the top of the poles and a handful of competitors were able to snatch a few off.

Locals believe that the more people from their village that are able to complete the challenge, the better a year their area will have.

The challenge of climbing iron poles smeared with cooking oil to receive prizes at festivals in Vietnam
Video captured the moment of The challenge of climbing iron poles smeared with cooking oil to receive prizes at festivals in Ha Noi, Vietnam.
According to the locals, the Challenge is held during the New Year's festival. An iron pole 4 meters high is lubricated with cooking oil. The participant's task is to climb the iron pillar and get the reward in the red envelopes. The people believe that the more people get the reward on the pole, the better their village will have that year. So the participants all tried to climb up the pole and get the red envelopes