Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel

As part of the series of events to promote the value of the World Heritage Site of Thăng Long, especially its intangible value, a programme titled Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival with many useful and exciting activities will be held by the Thăng Long – Hà Nội Heritage Conservation Centre. The programme is expected to bring a meaningful mid-autumn festival not only to children but also anyone who still has fresh memories of their own mid-autumn festival in their childhood.

Coming to mid-autumn festival at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel, children and adults alike will have a chance to take part in meaningful and fascinating activities such as visiting the exhibitions of valuable images and documents related to mid-autumn festival; visiting stalls of traditional mid-autumn products; watching artisans making traditional toys; and even making some types of toys themselves, such as masks, kites, pinwheels, Japanese origami, rice figurines and ceramicware. They will also be able to join many folk games such as see-saw, swinging, slides, triangular hills climbing, enjoy exciting lion dances, water puppet shows based on traditional stories, performances of kite decoration and flying, and meet with scientists and artisans.

Time:

The programme takes place for five days (from 19 September 2018 to 23 September 2018).

From 8:00 to 17:00 of 19 and 20 September 2018

From 8:00 to 21:00 of 21 to 23 September 2018

(Commencement ceremony is at 9:00, Wednesday, 19 September 2018)

Venue: World Heritage Site of Thăng Long Imperial Citael (19 Hoàng Diệu Street, Ba Đình, Hà Nội).

Programme Details:

* Exhibitions: Exhibition of traditional mid-autumn toys titled “Painting your mid-autumn pink” whose purpose is to encourage children to “choose environmentally friendly and safe toys”.

* Art performance: Lion dance (by troupe from Triều Khúc village of Hà Nội); water puppet shows (by troupe from Thanh Hải, Thanh Hà, Hải Dương), Decorating and flying kites (by the Conservation Centre for the Kite Culture of Vietnam) among others.

– 21 September – Friday:
Lion dance: 19:00 – 19:20; 20:00-  20:20.
Water puppet: 19:40 – 20:00; 20:30 – 20:50.

– 22 September – Saturday:
Water puppet: 9:00- 9:20; 9:50-10:10; 14:30-14:50; 15:30-15:50; 19:30 -19:50; 20:30 -20:50.
Kite show: 9:20 – 9:50; 10:00 – 10:30; 15:20 – 15:50; 16:30 – 17:00; 19:00 – 19:30; 20:00 – 20:30.

– 23 September – Sunday:
Water puppet: 9:00- 9:20; 9:50-10:10; 14:30-14:50; 15:30-15:50; 19:30 -19:50; 20:30 -20:50.

* Performance and interactions: Painting paper masks, making and decorating kites, pinwheels, experiencing paper-folding art/Origami (a unique feature in Japanese culture), making rice figurines and ceramicware, etc.

Participating artisans include the family of Mr. Nguyễn Hùng Cường – Runner-up of World Origami Contest in 2009 (The paper-folding art of Origami of Japan), Mr. Hoàng Điệp (Director of the Conservation  Centre for the Kite Culture of Vietnam), Nguyễn Đăng Hoàng (Deputy Director of the Huế Kites Club), the family of Mr. Hoàng Bá Nhất – an artisan specialized in mask making (in Thuận Thành – Bắc Ninh province); the family of Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Tuyến – an artisan specialized in making paper doctors (in Vân Canh – Hà Nội); the family of Mr. Nguyễn Trọng Tới – an artisan specialized in ceramic production (in Bát Tràng – Hà Nội); Mr. Đặng Văn Khang – an artisan specialized in making rice figurines (in Phú Xuyên – Hà Nội), …

* Games: See-saw, swinging, slides, triangular hill climbing, etc.

 * Schoolchildren education programmes:

+ Exploring an exhibition of traditional mid-autumn toys titled “Painting your Mid-Autumn Pink”.

+ Meeting with and talking to historians and artisans about two topics:

Telling stories of “Wise kings and talented court officials” through the cases of mid-autumn festivals in the palaces of Thăng Long Imperial Citadel.

Educating young generations about traditional paper toys

+ Experience and interaction that involve making mid-autumn toys, taking parts in games, watching art performances like lion dance, water puppet and kite-flying.

Thăng Long – Hà Nội Heritage Conservation Centre