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| Festivals |
| Mid-Autumn Moon Festival |
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The Moon Festival originates thousands of years ago and is celebrated in many Far East Asian countries that once used the lunar calendar like Vietnam, China and Korea and is considered the Children's Festival.
Some things about Mid-Autumn Moon Festival in Vietnam
Vietnamese people celebrate Mid-Autumn as a children's festival characterised by the sound of drums and the twinkle of star-shaped lanterns (den ong sao) under the clear and vast tropical sky of bright clear moonlight and cool wind. Meanwhile, in China, Mid-Autumn Festival is also called Family Reunion Festival. No matter how far they are from home, Chinese return to their native place to reunite with their families and to honour their homeland. Anyone far from family at Mid-Autumn Festival longs for a letter from home.
There are several legends connected to the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival was initially a harvest celebration celebrated on the fifteenth day of eighth month on the lunar calendar, during which, the moon appears larger than at any time of the year. The moon represents fullness and prosperity of life.
During the Moon Festival, it is customary to give boxes of moon cakes (Banh Trung Thu) to family and special friends. The traditional moon cakes are usually very rich in taste. They have a bright yoke in the center to represent the moon. They are filled with lotus seeds, orange peel, ground beans.
Traditionally, during the night of Moon Festival, children parade on the streets, singing with colorful lanterns in hands. There are several different shapes of lanterns including butterflies, fishes, and stars. There are also lanterns which spin around when a candle is placed inside (den Keo Quan), symbolizing the seasonal spinning of the earth around the sun.
The flower dance and dragon dance are popular during Moon Festival. The Lord Earth, called Ong Dia, is the dancer who dances around the dragon, urging it on. Ong Dia has a very round, happy smiling moon-face. He represents the prosperity and wealth of the earth.
The Festival is exceptionally interesting for the children who play happily with the bright new toys. The toys are made from various different forms: the lion lead, the animal in folk tales and stories. The lanterns are colorful and of various kinds, such as the rabbit, the carp, etc. Besides traditional carton paper toys, plastic and bamboo plates, ships, tanks, etc. made of plastics with batteries and having remote controls are also on sale. This is understandable due to the economic improvements of the people. Whether organized in the city or countryside, the preserved tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival is reflected in the way the children play games such as seek-and-hide, lion dancing, lantern marching, etc.
The welcome-the-moon party in the evening is a good opportunity for the children not only to enjoy the food, but also to learn more from their grandparents and parents. They are told how to prepare the party in the most attractive way. To decorate the party, there is always a "doctor" made of paper or dough, which reminds the children of the high achievements to be obtained in their studies. The time to start enjoying the party is solemnly shared by the whole family and becomes the most sacred moment of the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the bright moonlight, clear sky and fresh environment, everybody is relaxed with a pure and detached joy.
Where should we go for fun in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City?
Mid Autumn Festival in Ha Noi
The Ho Tay Water Park (614 Lac Long Quan Road). Van Ho Exhibition Centre (2 Hoa Lu Street), and Giang Vo Exhibition Centre (148 Giang Vo Road) all have musical performances for children.
The Youth Theatre at 11 Ngo Thi Nham has variety shows for children.
At the Children's Palace (36 Ly Thai 16), beginning at 19:30 on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the eighth lunar month, there are activities such as film shows for children, cake and fruit parties, and a fruit and flower arrangement competition, children 's martial arts shows, musical performances, the unicorn dance, a lantern procession around Hoan Kiem Lake, and a distribution of gifts for children.
Mid-Autumn Festival in Ho Chi Minh City
Between the tenth and the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month, many organisations in Ho Chi Minh City hold "Full Moon Festival" parties for children. Activities include: lion dances, singing and dancing, lantern-making contests, and the floating of lit candle lanterns on lakes or rivers. Two moon fairies - the buffalo boy named Cuoi and his sister. Hang - distribute lanterns and moon cakes to children.
On this occasion, city residents pay special attention to disadvantaged children. The city arranges for some 5.000 children to participate in lantern processions along the main streets. |
| Vietnamese New Year |
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The more popular name for the Vietnamese New Year is Tet, where as the formal name is Nguyen-dan. Tet is a very inportant festival because it provides one of the few breaks in the agricultural year, as it falls between the harvesting of the crops and the sowing of the new crops.
Tet is the biggest and the most sacred festival. It is the most attractive to a majority of the Vietnamese.
Time to take place
Tet falls on a time when the old year is over and the New Year comes by lunar calendar. This is also the time when the cycle of the universe finishes: winter ends and spring, the season of birth of all living things, comes.
Preparations before New Year
The Vietnamese prepare well in advance for the New Year by cleaning their houses, polishing their copper and silverware and paying off all their debts.
They observe the custom of the kitchen god Tao for a week before the New Year, they believe there are three gods represented by the three legs of the cooking equipment used in the kitchen. The middle god is a woman the other two are her husbands. It was once customary to provide the gods with a carp on which to travel. The carp represents the second last stage in the process by which animals are gradually transformed into dragons. They buy the carp from the market, bring it home and place it in a bucket of water to place at the altar of the house before it is later set free.
A special rice pudding is eaten at New Year which must be prepared beforehand. The rice pudding is known as Banh chung or Banh tet. The pudding contains Mung beans and pork. New Year foods such as preserved sweets, beef, chicken, fish, oranges, coconuts, grapefruits and other seasonal fruits, especially watermelon. Watermelon is considered lucky because the flesh is red, so the choice of the melon must be taken carefully so as to find one rich in color. The seeds are often dyed red also and served as delicacies.
The last day of the year a plant such as the bamboo tree is planted in the courtyard of their homes. They decorate the tree with bells, flowers, and red streamers. The decorations are not for decorative purposes but are to guard the family against evil spirits.
During the middle of the day an offering is placed on the altar of the household for the ancestor's of the family. This is done every day throughout the New Year Festival and along with that incense is burnt at the altar.
They believed in the custom of the first person through the door in the New Year will reflect the family's future luck and wealth.
Giao thua
New Year's Eve, Giao Thua, is the transition moment between the old year and the New Year. It is one of the most important moments during the Tet holiday. By ten o'clock on New Year's Eve, all streets are deserted. Everyone stays at home awaiting the magic hour of midnight. The even of Tet is celebrated with fireworks. It is believed that the loud noise of the fireworks will scare the evil spirits away. Massive strings of fireworks, the longer the better, are attached to the front of every house. When New Year's Eve comes, everyone competes in firing crackers. Joss-sticks are lit on the family altar and offerings are made of food, fresh water, flowers and betel. Nobody dares sleep at this moment for fear of "loosing one age". All members of the family gather in the living room, pray together, then congratulate the New Year and wish each other the very bests for the coming year; everyone is congratulated and offered wishes for the New Year beginning with the eldest set of parents (usually the grandparents), then the rest of the family according to order.
Mong mot Tet
On the morning of the New Year's Day (Mong Mot Tet), everybody puts on new clothes and joyfully greets each other Happy New Year. Children vow to be well behaved and offer wishes to the adult (parents, relatives, or visitors). The adults, in return, give children money in a red envelop (Li Xi).
People will visit the most important persons to them on the first day, and the less important ones on the second and third days. The first visitor of the year to a house is the most significant, being a portent of the coming year's fortune. Particular care is taken to arrange in advance to have the visitor be rich, happy, and prosperous. After the initial greeting, visitors are served fruit candies and dried watermelon seeds. Tet is the most appropriate occasion for business people to treat each other generously. These Tet visits are taken seriously. It is also customary that people wish each other all sorts of good things. There are many activities at the pagodas, churches, and in the family. Relatives' graves are visited.
Entertainment
Lion Dance (Mua Lan) is a joyful entertainment at the Tet festival in Viet Nam. The Lion is the symbol of power and prosperity. Their dances, accompanied by firecrackers, frighten away bad spirits. Wealthy families used to set prize money and invite the Lion Dance team to come and dance in front of their house or store. Gambling is also a favorite during the three days of Tet and beyond.
For three days, one takes extra care not to show anger and not to be rude to people. When the holiday ends, people resume their activities in a new spirit following so-called opening rituals in which the ploughman will open the first furrow, the official applies his seal to the first document, the scholar traces the first character with his pen brush, the trader receives his first customer.
New Year with the Vietnamese today
While many Vietnamese today may not believe in these dos and don’ts, these traditions and customs are still practiced. They are kept because most families realize that these very traditions, whether believed or not, provide a continuity with the past and support the family with a strong bond and unique identity. |
| Tet Doan Ngo |
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This is the middle year festival for the prevention of disease and ward off evil spirits (the day of changing weather from spring to summer, this is the time easy to get pathogen). On the day of killing insects, every one has to get up early, eat fermented sticky and fruits. The worshipping is held at noon, hour of Ngo.
Tet Doan Ngo, or Tet Giet Sau Bo (Killing the Inner Insect Festival) comes on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year. The fermented sticky rice “Insect Killing Wine” (Ruou nep) the main treat of the day, one that has some complex reference to an inner bug that needs exterminating.
To make the wine, the sticky rice is boiled and, after it cools, it is mixed with brewers yeast. Fermented for two or three days, it becomes a sweet, thick liquid.
It is believed that Ruou nep kills all off any parasites in the body. Adults and kids alike eat Ruou nep, but adults are more inclined to take its curing effects with a grain of salt. Nobody knows exactly why Vietnamese people have this habit, but it’s often said, “Old people think it’s a good idea”.
The myth behind
Old ladies still tell a tale of two snakes Thanh Xa (the Blue Snake) and Bach Xa (the White Snake) to trace back to the origin of Ruou nep.
A long time ago, there were two orphan brothers living together in a small village. They were popular among the locals for their intelligence and kindness.
Thanh Xa and Bach Xa were two snakes, which after long lives, turned into spirits. The snakes fell in love with the brothers and transformed themselves into beautiful ladies to charm the men.
The brothers soon were attracted to the snakes, and they soon became an extended family. Thanh Xa got married the older brother and Bach Xa the younger.
They live happily together, but the men grew unhealthy with each passing day, they grew scared of daylight and lived in festering darkness.
Locals suspected the presence of a bad spirit, and luckily one day, a Taoist hermit passed through the village. The locals told him of the men’s affliction, and he conducted some spirit type tests and confirmed that the men’s house had a case of the evils.
The hermit brewed a wine potion, and told the locals to feed it to the men. The brothers must eat the potion’s solids and liquids in the early morning of the next fifth day of the fifth lunar calendar.
As soon as the men tucked into their special breakfast, their wives were revealed as the snakes they were, before disappearing in a puff of smoke, freeing the brothers.
Since that day, people have eaten Ruou nep on Killing the Insect Day, in the hope of driving away bad spirits.
Popular dish
Making Ruou nep is not exactly difficult. But it is a process that takes time and some elbow grease.
Rice picked from a paddy just reaped is the best. It must be dried and pounded carefully to save the part of the rice richest in nutrients.
The rice is steamed for about 30 minutes and washed in cool water, before being steamed again to make it as soft as possible. It is then left a long time to cool. The cooler, the better, as it prevents any sour taste in the pudding.
The cooled rice is mixed with yeast, before being left for two or three days to ferment, depending on the weather.
Ruou nep fermentation and flavour kits include 13 medicinal herbs and rice flour. The most popular mixes hail from Bac Ninh Province, about 40km north of Hanoi.
Little to no research has been done on the potion’s curative effects, but the habit and a long-held trust in such potions still exist. People treat families and friends to the pudding at Tet Doan Ngo, as an observance more than a cure. |
| Tet Han Thuc (Cold foods Tet) |
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It happens in almost the regions of the Viet.
Offering glutinous rice flour cakes stuffed with plum of brown sugar (banh troi), glutinous rice flour cakes stuffed with green bean paste (banh chay) to worship ancestors, an occasion for people to visit and tidy the burial graves of relatives, having fun in spring.
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| Full-moon day: the Day for Homeless Souls |
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On Ram Thang Bay (full-moon day), it is taboo for Vietnamese people to purchase clothes, unless they are for the dead, based on the concept that life on the earth is the same as in the hades.
Ram Thang Bay is the second most important festival in Vietnam after Tet, Lunar New Year. It takes place on the 14th to 15th of the seventh lunar month, and is a time to give thanks and praise to parents and ancestors. Its most important function though is to help lost souls by pardoning and looking after them.
According to a long-lasting traditional customs of the Vietnamese people, the Lunar July full-moon day is the day for " pardoning homeless souls". This is the only full-moon day of the year when worshiping to ancestors is only of ceremonial meaning, while the main purpose of this day is much greater and nobler. A longtime ago, it was a practice that on this day not only pagodas but also each family, depending on its wealth, had to make a vegetarian meal to pray to Cod for commuting prisoners, or helping the lonely and homeless deceased find the way home. In short, the Lunar July Full-Moon Day is the day for destitute, homeless or wandering souls. The vegetarian meal includes congee, popcorn, boiled sweet potatoes, salty sesame, rice pancakes, fruit, personal belongings made of paper and gosh money.
After the praying and worshiping ceremony, the vegetarian meals, paper hammocks, parasofs and paper elephants are placed at cross-roads for children and beggars. Everybody believes that not only the living but also the homeless dead can eat to satisfy themselves and be consoled on this day. The typically Buddhist kindness can be felt everywhere in Vietnam, even in the most distant and remote areas. In many regions, the July full-moon day is considered as the mid year Tet festival. Every family prepares a big feast and makes ceremonial offerings, which are almost the same as on Tet festival. The urban life style has become too busy, leaving not much time for festivals and ceremonies. However, according to the elders, there used to be 5 to 7 flat baskets full of vegetarian dishes put around Dong Xuan and Bac Qua Markets on this day. These are the contributions made by people living around the markets and market traders wishing to do something out of charity.
On July moon-full day, very solemn worshiping and prayer ceremonies are also held at pagodas by Buddhist priests. Pagoda altars are laden with flowers, fruit and vegetarian meals that are prepared by pagodas and disciples. The July full-moon day is therefore not only of noble meaning, but also of materialistic character for the worlds of both the living and the dead, according to the samara theory of Buddhism.
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| Lim festival |
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The Lim festival, opening on January 13th (lunar year), is the leading Quan Ho song festival as many famous Quan Ho Song villages in the area take part in it.
Speaking of Lim festival is dealing with Love Duets which annual happens from 13th to 15th of 1 lunar month at Noi Due, Tien Son, Bac Ninh (30km distance from the North of HaNoi). Lim pagoda lying on red-soil Lim hill is very large and airy with a lot of eucalyptus and couch trees and is a place worshipping Bodhisattva kwan Yin, Van Tuong pagoda is a place of offerings of village elders. Inside, Buddhist priests hold are mony, outside, Buddhist nuns recite the Buddhist scriptures and sing the oldest Love Duets. People here though are farmers and craftsmen like people in other villages, they like singing and they have created a kind of original art which is Love Duets. This is a kind of repartee singing between men and women. From these singing events, many have failed in love and became couples. They' often sing lyrics with pianissimo, ligature melody and a lot of refrains to sing the praise of the heartfelt emotion of human, sing the praise of love, loyalty, friendship and country.
During festival, young men and women from other villages come to Lim hill, Lim pagoda together to sing. They are called brothers and sisters groups. Most village people can sing since small. Growing, they have more chance to meet and sing to each other. Even become elders, they still sing. The artists in Love Duets villages are those who have beautiful singing voice and master hundreds of Love Duets tunes. In many places, people sing Love Duets inside, on the hill and on boats. In order to welcome singing partners visiting and taking part in village festival, people sing inside. Hosts and hostesses welcome guests in early morning of the day occurring festival, lead them to pagoda to kowtow Buddha then come back home. Love Duets singing events take place familiarly, naturally as soon as guest comes in singing greeting new year. They sing greeting, inviting betels, missing friends, exchanging emotion and repartee tunes. Then they sing to part with each other and promise to see in next years festival.
No one knows when Love Duets event start taking place, just see men hold umbrellas and women wear flat palm hat with fingures, dressy in lots of clothing. They meet and invite each other by songs in which they show happiness as they meet again. Love Duets rouse great love in the hearts of brothers and sisters. That is the great love of traditional songs of their country, of green fields, rivers, hills and mountains, moss-grown communal house of village rising up in singers and listeners hearts noble and inviolable sentiments.
During singing session, one part sings ahead. The latter will sing in contrast a song which is of tunes the same or nearly the same as the former's. Singers can sing about anything as village gate, communal well, cloud, flowers, butterflies, small bamboo trees, banian trees, conical hats, umbrellas, sedge mats... and they sing passionately. Brothers and sisters will sing all a watch, no the superior, no the inferior. Each has their ovon grace and charms. Normally, each singer can sing nearly 200 Love Duets tunes and they can sing from dusk up to tomorrow early dawn.
Young men and women who want to find their partners often come up hill to sing. There men hold umbrellas while women are wearing flat palm hats, no care of sunny or rainy weather. They even can sing all night to show their love sometimes ebullient passionate, sometimes graceful and be fervent with amorousness.
When singing on boats, each pair of men and women sit on a coracle on village pond. Village people
gather tightly at the edge of the pond. Which pairs sing beautifully and be loved will get cash bonus, which is called "Wishes money" and be packed in a red paper, from audiences throwing down.
There are about 500 Love Duets songs, but people just sing beloved songs. Art groups and creating artists consider these a varied, plentiful supplementary subject sources. The vitality of Love Duets is very durable. They are handed down from the former generation to the latter generation and they are heartily welcomed every where. When watching Love Duets singing, audiences not only be passionately deep in enjoying the voice of singers, but also watch their appearance and clothes.
49 Love Duets villages observe New Year's Day on 12th of 1st lunar month every year. They pack "Chung" cake (square glutinous rice cake) on these days and prepare for the festival on the next day singing Love Duets to Bac Ninh people in particular and to Vietnamese as a whole is considered immarterial cultural value which is needed to be maintained and preserved. Love Duets to composers or nationalists, is an interesting and attractive studied subject and needed to be surveyed and exploited more deeply. |
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