A Space of Vietnamese New Year titled “Spring Fragrance” at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel

2 January, 2019

On the occasion of the New Year 2019, an exhibition space redolent of how Tết was celebrated in the past under the theme “Spring Fragrance” has been staged at the Reception Hall 19C Hoàng Diệu in the Thăng Long Imperial Citadel Heritage Site.

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In a space of miniature Hanoi Old Quarters, the image of traditional Tết has reemerged with a lot of colors and originality, involving a number of cultural practices such as the welcoming of dragon, the obtainment of calligraphy characters and the composition of new year pairs of parallels (câu đối), the distillation of flower-scented liquor presented to the king, and the display of folk paintings, etc.

The highlight of the exhibition introduces a wide range of images depicting cultural traits associated with the new year, including the tasting and enjoyment of alcoholic drinks and confectionery and the preparation of flower-scented liquor. The taste of Tết seems more salient and enhanced thanks to the meticulously distilled spirits and the tapioca cookies that were once very popular as a special gift to the sovereigns of yore.

Thăng Long culinary tradition was extremely diverse and unique. There was recorded evidence of villages that produced famous specialties for use by the royal court. In his well-known geographical book Dư địa chí, Nguyễn Trãi noted that the prefecture of Thụy Chương (now Thụy Khuê) of Thăng Long was widely known for its distillation of lotus wine during the Lý – Trần dynasties. Beside lotus wine of Thụy Chương, there was also chrysanthemum wine of Ngâu village (now Thanh Trì district).

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With vivid pictures, the exhibition takes the viewers back to a colorful collection of memories with twisting lines of flowers made of used newspapers, recalling the plain and simple but no less cozy and joyful Tết.

A collection of paintings made of pieces of waste fabric by Vụn. art is also on display, portraying Kim Hoàng pig paintings, Đông Hồ paintings of pigs eating taro leaves. These pieces of artwork were made from Vạn Phúc silk fabric by handicapped people, who with their hard work, creativity and dexterity have turned seemingly useless pieces of waste fabric into original artistic products.

The exhibition has attracted a large turnout of visitors during the Tết holiday of the Year of the Pig 2019.

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