Mid-Autumn Festival 2017 at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel

Building on the success of the Mid-Autumn Festival 2016, Thăng Long – Hà Nội Heritage Conservation Centre this year continues to organize a similar event for children on its premises.

Lion dance

This year’s programme continues to present a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival featuring many useful and interesting activities for children, particularly the school education programme which helps young kids to understand more about mid-autumn festivals of the past through documented works of the French researcher Henri Oger and Albert Kahn Museum. Children will also have a chance to talk directly to historical and cultural researchers and artisans as well as experience traditional games and craft making process.

Time: between 28 September 2017 and 4 October 2017.

• Starting from 9h00 Thursday 28 September 2017.
• Opening time:
  • 8h00’ – 21h00’ for Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
  • 8h00’ – 17h00’for Thursday, Monday, Tuesday.
• Closing: a festival party will be held at 19h00- 21h30 Wednesday 4 October 2017

 Venue: Thăng Long Imperial Citadel, 19 Hoàng Diệu Street, Ba Đình District, Hà Nội).

Programme Content:

• Exhibition activities: Based on drawings by Henri Oger and precious documentary photos owned by Albert Kahn Museum in France, a space displaying toys typical of mid-autumn festival of early 20^th century will be restored. The space is filled with stalls displaying traditional toys normally associated with mid-autumn festivals.
• Art performances: Lion dance, water puppetry, conventional puppetry, music.
• Demonstration and interaction: Coloring masks, making mid-autumn cakes, star-shaped lanterns, cylindrical lanterns, Buddhist monk lanterns, rabbit lanterns, glutinous rice figurine (tò he), paper doctors (tiến sĩ giấy) the stick-and-moon man, and making ceramic items in the shape of pets.
• Artisans who will be taking part include the family of Mrs Đinh Thị Tú Anh  who makes moon cakes well-known with Phương Soát Bakery on Hàng Đường Street; the family of Mr. Hoàng Bá Nhất who makes masks in Thuận Thành – Bắc Ninh Province; the family of Mr. Vũ Văn Sinh who makes revolving lanterns in Thanh Oai – Hà Nội; the family of Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Tuyến who makes paper doctors in Vân Canh – Hà Nội; the family of Mr. Đỗ Văn Kỳ who makes rabbit and Buddhist monk lanterns in Thường Tín – Hà Nội; the family of Mr. Lương Mạnh Hải from the pottery village of Bát Tràng – Hà Nội; Mr. Đặng Văn Tiên who makes glutinous rice figurines among others.

Children trying to make star-shaped lanterns

• Traditional games and fun activities: carrying rice across a bamboo bridge (gánh lúa qua cầu), see-saw, boomerang, wooden horse, sack race (bao bố), tug of war (kéo co), stick-and-ball (chơi chuyền), clay crackers (pháo đất), board game (ô ăn quan), blindfolded drummer (bịt mắt đánh trống).
• School education programme:
  • Sightseeing for a purpose: exhibition of mid-autumn festival toys late 19^th and early 20^th centuries; watching documentaries about traditional mid-autumn festivals through the drawings by Henri Oger; photos courtesy of Albert Kahn Museum in France about Mid-Autumn Festivals during the 1913-1916 period;
  • Talk to the expert: Talking to cultural and historical researchers about the traditional mid-autumn festival and watching artisans introducing and demonstrating the production of mid-autumn festival toys;
  •  Experience and interaction: making mid-autumn festival toys and taking part in traditional games, watching art performances like lion dances, water puppetry, conventional puppetry and music.
• Mid-Autumn Lantern Procession and Partying: featuring such activities like lion dances, lantern procession welcoming the moon, art performances, games and parties.

Thăng Long – Hà Nội Heritage Conservation Centre