This year’s middle autumn festival at the Việt Nam Museum of Ethnology will focus on the cultural identity of people in the southern province of Đồng Tháp in the Mekong Delta.Titled “Colours of Đồng Tháp Culture,” the festival will take place on September 30 and October 1 at the museum.
Visitors learn to weave coconut leaves to make toys at the Museum of Ethnology.
Visitors will have a chance to meet artisans from Đồng Tháp Province and the Đồng Tháp Mười inland wetlands to learn about their folk singing, local textile weaving techniques and culinary skills.The artisans will prepare various dishes with lotus as Đồng Tháp is known as the land of lotus flowers.
The essential activities of the mid-autumn festival – lion dance, folk games, traditional toys, mooncakes and cốm Vòng (Vietnamese green rice flakes from the famous Vòng Village, Hà Nội) – will be the highlights of the event.
An artisan instructs participants on making toy figurines, popular toys of the mid-autumn festival. — VNS Photos Minh Thu
A combination of northern and southern cultures, these activities will offer participants great opportunities to discover the Vietnamese mid-autumn festival in all its dimensions.
Cultural researcher Trịnh Bách will host a talk on the traditional mid-autumn festival and stories of toy figurines and lanterns used during the mid-autumn festival celebration.
The museum co-operated with the Đồng Tháp Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organise the event with the aim of promoting the culture and tourism of the province. — VNS
