Mid-Autumn Festival 2017 kicks off at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel
Mid-Autumn Festival 2017 kicked off in a delightful atmosphere this morning at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel
The commencement ceremony was attended by many cultural researchers and scientists, artisans as well teachers and students of the Trần Quốc Toản Primary School and the little kids from Kaola Preschool and Vườn trẻ thơ (children’s kindergarten), among others.
Band-cutting ceremony at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel
This is the second year in a row that Mid-Autumn Festival is held at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel, featuring many unique traditional cultural activities.
As they join the event, children have an opportunity to understand more about Mid-Autumn Festival of the past through the original collection of engravings made during the early years of the 20th century by a Frenchman by the name of Henri Oger. Among thousands of paintings about quotidian life, villages, streets and guilds, religious practices and mores, the organizing committee has singled out those that depict different types of Mid-Autumn Festival toys, confectionery, art performances to put on display and introduce to the public. At the centre of the exhibition are toys made of paper and bamboo, the likes of lanterns, lion heads, masks, paper doctorates, and wood and metals like drums, horses, vessels, flapping butterflies, among others. Traditional processes of making these toys are also demonstrated vividly. Other elements that must be mentioned include long-established customs like lion dance, dragon dance, lantern procession and drum beating.
Exhibitions of Henri Oger’s engraving paintings and the materials and tools used to make traditional Mid-Autumn toys like drums, lion’s heads, and metal vessels.
The exhibition also reconstructs a space of Hanoi Old Quarter of yore through colored photos taken between 1914 and 1917 by the French photographer Leon Busy, and currently housed at Albert Kahn Museum, in the Global Archive. This is the Street of Hang Gai which sold all sorts of popular but colorful toys for mid-autumn festivals, especially lanterns made of the simple and plain paper dó of Vietnam. These lanterns were vividly and colorfully decorated in traditional style, which makes them different from those made of glossy cellophane today.
A space that reconstructs and displays mid-autumn toys at the beginning of 20th century through photos archived at Albert Kahn Museum.
This year’s programe continues to feature various types of traditional arts typical of mid-autumn festivals, like lion dances, puppetry on land and in water, coupled with experiential and interactive activities in making traditional toys under the guidance of artisans, craftspeople and volunteers. Artisans like Vũ Văn Sinh, Nguyễn Thị Tuyến, Hoàng Bá Nhất, Nguyễn Văn Quyền, Nguyễn Lê Mạnh Hùng … have gone extra length and traveled long distances to come and instruct little kids to make traditional mid-autumn toys. They are the most typical dexterous and skillful craftspeople who come from Hanoi and different parts of the country. They are the guardians of traditional crafts handed down by our forefathers despite the hardship with which they have to earn a living out of these crafts. All they wish to do is for children today to keep beautiful memories of the plain, simple, but original and unforgettable mid-autumn festivals of the past.
The highlight of this year is the tradition education that attracts students from various schools in the city. Activities include sightseeing, experience and talking to researchers, historian and artisans and listen to their stories about mid-autumn festival of the past and present. These activities received significant attention and support from both teachers and students’ parents.
Meeting with Historian Lê Văn Lan to learn about mid-autumn festivals of the past and present.
The Mid-Autumn Festival programme will be held everyyear at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel in order to create a useful playing field for children while promoting research findings on the intangible cultural values of Thăng Long Imperial Citadel as a World Heritage Site, thereby contributing to the service of the community and the education of young generations.
This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival will take place from 28/9/2017 to 4/10/2017.
Some illustrative photos taken in the commencement ceremony of the Programme
These lion heads are a permanent feature during Mid-Autumn Festival nights.
Kids from Vườn trẻ thơ Kindergarten in a group photo of Mid-Autumn Festival at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel
Eagerness in coloring, painting ceramicware and making bamboo dragonflies
Foods that make Hanoi autumn
Joyous traditional toys
Children’s excitement with lovely puppets
Making bamboo dragonflies
Historian Lê Văn Lan talking to visitors to the site
Text by: Kim Yến
Photos by: Phú Lâm
