Vibrant scenes of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Old Quarter. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Hanoi’s OldQuarter will host the opening of the traditional Mid-Autumn festival on September21.
Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, a member of the oldquarter’s management board, said the board will coordinate with local artisansto organise a wide range of cultural activities.
There will be an exhibition on the festivalheld at Heritage House, 87 Ma May street.
Meanwhile, there will be an exhibition offolk paintings at the Hanoi Old Quarter Culture Exchange Centre, 50 Dao Duy Tustreet. It will feature three famous genres of painting – Dong Ho, Kim Hoang andHang Trong.
From September 14-23, Kim Ngan CommunalHouse at 42-44 Hang Bac street will host artisan-led workshops on how to maketraditional toys such as star-shaped lanterns, paper effigies, paper kites andto he (figurines made from glutinous rice powder).
The 400-year-old art form of Te Tieupuppetry, which combines puppetry with folk stories, will be performed at 50 DaoDuy Tu street on September 22 and Quan De Temple, 28 Hang Buom street onSeptember 23.
Another activity, featuring paper masks,has been organised for Dong Lac Communal House at 38 Hang Dao street. Artisan NguyenVan Hoa, the last remaining practitioner of the art form in the Old Quarter,will demonstrate how to create these handmade masks.
“The traditional paper masks, as distinctand recognisable as the full moon during the Mid-Autumn festival, have foryears been a favourite toy among Vietnamese children,” he said.
At nighttime during the festival, gleefulchildren parade around the neighbourhood wearing the colourful masks andcarrying lanterns that illuminate the street.
The artfully crafted masks are bothcolourful and representative of the festivities. They are part of a traditionthat is cherished among locals. But in recent years, imported plastic maskshave begun to inundate the market. Despite these cheaper alternatives, peoplestill love the simplicity of the handmade masks – a tradition that stretchesback many centuries.
This year, the Mid-Autumn festival willtake place at the mural on Phung Hung street from September 21 to 23.
The festival will include traditional gamesand musical performances, with tug of war, blindman’s bluff, stilt walking,dances with bamboo poles and some board games featuring.
There will also be stalls with traditionaltoys and explanations of how to make them. Phung Hung street was revived withbeautiful murals recalling Hanoi’s history thanks to a community art exchangeproject funded by the Korea Foundation, UN-Habitat and the Hoan Kiem districtPeople’s Committee.
The area around the murals has become aspace for public art activities.
A path lined with lanterns will leadvisitors to the main stage at Ly Thai To Garden, where they can seeperformances by artists from Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre and the VietnamCircus Federation.
The festival’s other activities includetraditional toy making, folk games, a unicorn dance and a lantern procession.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of Vietnam’sbiggest celebrations. It is also known as the children’s festival because ofits emphasis on children. It is held on the 15th day on the eighth lunar month(September 24 this year).-VNS/VNA
VNA
