The days after Tet holiday (Lunar New Year) is expected to be no less exciting with dragon boat race, calligraphy fair and festivals featuring ethnic minorities` culture.
Tet holiday (Lunar New Year) celebration in Hanoi was bustling with numerous activities.
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Hanoi dragon boat race attracts four int'l teams.
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Hanoi dragon boat race attracts four int'l teams
Some 500 racers from 35 domestic and international teams will participate in Hanoi’s traditional dragon boat race scheduled for February 16 and 17, on a 600m course in West Lake – the area near Ly Tu Trong Park, and Thanh Nien and Nguyen Dinh Thi roads.
The festival is held by the Hanoi People's Committee in collaboration with Vietnam Airlines. This is one of the activities to realize the cooperation agreement between Hanoi and Vietnam Airlines on the capital’s culture, sports and tourism promotion.
According to the organizers, the festival will contribute to restoring and preserving dragon boat racing. It is expected to be an annual event to promote the city's culture and history and create a highlight to attract tourists to Hanoi and a playground for those who are passionate about sailing sports.
Emphasizing that this year's festival will be scaled up with the participation of numerous teams and athletes compared to the first one held in 2018, Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports To Van Dong informed that the participants will compete in the professional and amateur categories.
Specifically, professional athletes coming from Hong Kong (China), Singapore, Malaysia, Laos and various different Vietnamese cities and provinces will compete in male and female events (each team has 12 athletes) on January 16.
The amateur category consists of teams from around Hanoi who will compete in the qualification rounds on January 16 and the final round the next day. This category will also see various teams from foreign embassies, public agencies, and businesses competing on February 17 (the amateur team is mixed with male and female competitors).
The festival will be open to the public for free during the competing days on February 16 and 17 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Festival to honor Vietnamese ethnic groups’ culture
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Festival to honor Vietnamese ethnic groups’ culture.
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A wide range of activities will be held to honor cultural identities of 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups at a festival in Hanoi on February 12-13.
The “Spring colour in every corner of the country” festival will take place at the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism with the participation of 200 people from 25 ethnic communities of 17 provinces.
Dozens of the participants are from 11 ethnic minority groups in the border region such as Si La, Cong, Lu, and La Hu (Lai Chau province), Bo Y, La Chi, and Pu Peo (Ha Giang province), O Du (Nghe An province), Chut (Quang Binh province), Brau and Ro Nam (Kon Tum province).
There will be a music show, a re-enactment of the Aza koonh festival of Ta Oi ethnic group from Thua Thien-Hue, and “Tet nhay” (dancing festival) of the Dao ethnic people.
The Aza festival is a long-standing practice of the Pa Co – Ta Oi ethnic community in the central province of Thua Thien – Hue. It is a traditional custom to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new one while paying respect and gratitude for gods, praying for favourable weather and bumper crops for the upcoming year.
Meanwhile, Tet nhay festival is an important one of the Dao ethnic group, which is prepared carefully. Before the festival, male youths revise their dancing skills while the female ones embroider new clothes. It is the combination of various traditional popular art forms including dancing and singing.
Traditional calligraphy fair open for Tet
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Traditional calligraphy markets open for Tet.
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As the most important event of the year in Vietnam, the time before and after Tet (Lunar New Year) is the chance to celebrate many traditional customs, including calligraphy.
Since the days before Tet, the Center for Scientific and Cultural Activities of Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam has held the festival at Van (Literature) Lake in the compound of Temple of Literature and which runs until February 17.
There are 60 booths designed as bamboo huts where ông đồ (scholars) perform the art of writing, and children can come to enjoy traditional games and painting. A traditional handicrafts fair will also be held to showcase products made from silk, lacquer, pottery, rattan and ornamental plants.
During the festival, visitors have a chance to enjoy traditional music such as love duets, hat xoan (Phu Tho’s spring singing), cheo (traditional opera) and ca tru (ceremonial singing). At night, people release lotus lanterns to pray for good fortune. Visitors also join a culinary experience and learn how to make banh chung (square sticky rice cake), an integral part of the Tet feast.
Ha Phuong