Da Nang flower festival opens

The Tet flower festival opens at 29 March Park in the central city of Da Nang today.

Over 1,000 artworks made of flowers will be on display, along with other activities such as calligraphy, painting exhibition, a bird-singing contest and cuisine pavilions.

Artists from Hue, Hoi An, Ninh Thuan and Tien Giang will be participating in the festival. There will also be an exhibition of ceramics by the Cham people from coastal Ninh Thuan Province.

Two locations have been prepared for launching fireworks along the banks of the Han River. Fireworks will light up the sky over the river, reflecting the colourful lighting designs of Rong (Dragon), Tran Thi Ly, Thuan Phuoc and Han River bridges.

Book Road Festival opens in HCMC

State President Truong Tan Sang on January 28 attended the opening ceremony of the 2014 Book Road Festival in Ho Chi Minh City.  

State President Truong Tan Sang (6th from R) cuts the ribbon to open the 2014 Book Road Festival – Photo: QDND

Under the motto ‘Ho Chi Minh City – My beloved city,’ the festival featured activities to honor traditional Vietnamese cultural features and affirm the nation’s sovereignty.

The books in the festival were divided into four categories including ‘Books and Culture’, ‘Books and Knowledge’, ‘Books and Viet Nam’s sovereignty’ and ‘Favorite Books’.

Among 200,000 titles offered by Fahasa, the ‘Books and Culture’ category introduced a vast number of titles on southern folk music don ca tai tu, which was recently recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

There will also be a number of don ca tai tu musical instruments to increase the public’s awareness of the intangible heritage.

The General Publishing House introduces a series of books featuring the late General Vo Nguyen Giap and documentation of Viet Nam’s sovereignty over its territorial waters and islands.

The event would run until February 3./.

Thousands of local residents in Hue flock to the flower fair set up annually in front of the flag tower of the former royal citadel on threshold of the Lunar New Year.

The fair meets locals' need of flowers and flora, including trees, plants, cut flowers and flower in pots, and offers Hue residents chance to enjoy various species of flowers as well.

As Tet tradition, people buy fresh flowers for home decoration. This tradition is for the wish of a brighter new year and for respect to their ancestors by decorating the altar with fresh cut flowers.

However, local plantations failed to have the flora bloom in time due to extreme weather in the locality last year. This has driven the import of many other flowers.

According to owner of Hoang Thao plantation in the outskirts of Hue, almost no ochna trees have yellow blossoms. Locals get ochna tree from Binh Dinh Province instead.

Le Tuan Nhan, a grower of chrysanthemum in Hung Thuy District said unpredictable weather prevented the growth of his plants, resulting in short bodies of the plants.

Consumers hesitate with the flowers grown at the locality and they turn to Taiwain origin varieties of water rail, poinsettia, torch lily, and orchid; as well as kumquat trees and peach blossoms from other provinces.

According to shops selling flowers of tulip and lily grown in foggy Da Lat City in the Central Highlands, they run busy business as consumers favour these kinds of flowers.

Hanoi: Quang An flower market, a special treat

Quang An flower market on Au Co street in Tay Ho, Hanoi, has been bustling with a crowd of flower dealers and buyers these days in preparations for Tet or Lunar New Year festival.

As a big and well-known market in the capital city, the market place is getting busier and busier prior to Tet, the most important holiday of Vietnamese people.

Though situated outside the dyke of the Red River delta, sellers also sell flowers on the river dyke to meet the increasing demand for Tet.

This year, the market offers more varieties of flowers, which are transported from different areas: peach blossoms and chrysanthemum from Nhat Tan, Tu Lien kumquat, apricot blossoms from Ho Chi Minh City, roses from Soc Son, and cymbidium orchid and lys flowers from Da Lat.

Quang An market took shape from a temporary market in Nhat Tan district established to sell flowers grown at some well-known flower villages by West Lake such as Nhat Tan, Quang Ba.

When Tay Ho district was set up in 1996, the market was moved to its present location in Quang An district.

From Quang An market, which is open at night to early morning, except for Tet holidays, flowers are distributed to elsewhere in the city with most of the buyers being wholesale dealers.

In the pre-Tet period, the market is busy not only with flower dealers but also with young customers who come to enjoy the bustling atmosphere or buy flowers to decorate their home.

Visiting the flower market has become a hobby for many Hanoians as the freshness of colorful and fragrant flowers displayed there is a special treat to their souls.-

Vietnamese artists rock guitar festival in Sri Lanka

A pair of talented Vietnamese musicians successfully represented Vietnam at the Guitar Festival 2014 in Sri Lanka from January 25-27.

Nguyen Thanh Vinh and Nguyen Van Phuc wowed the crowd at the event, the fourth of its kind, along with 40 other leading guitarists from Sri Lanka and around the world.

The two Vietnamese stars and other guitarists performed different classical genres such as Flamenco, Acoustic, Jazz, Hawaii , Rock and Heavy Metal.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ton Sinh Thanh, along with many diplomats and senior officials attended the opening ceremony which took place at the Royal Institute in Colombo.

Phuc impressed the audience with his rendition of three pieces: “Nguoi Ha Noi” (Hanoian), “Sonata’s Chapter No 3” by Leo Brouwer and “Fuocco” by Roland Dyens. Meanwhile, his partner Vinh received thunderous applause after playing a repertoire of Vietnamese and Italian songs.

On January 26-27, the two artists performed in the major Sri Lankan cities of Kandy and Chilaw.-

Tomb-sweeping tradition in Vietnam

Whenever the Lunar New Year (Tet) comes, normally from the 23rd of the lunar December to the New Year eve, Vietnamese families visit their ancestors’ tombs and clean gravesites.

Everyone has his/her own job with someone uprooting weeds while the other grows flowers on ancestors’ gravesites or decorates the grave stones.

Vietnamese people believe everything, including the deceased’s tombs, should be clean and bright in celebration of the traditional New Year and to have God bless you.

The tradition seems more significant for old people today in busy cities, who are afraid of young generations’ negligence of the family value in the busy modern life.

80-year-old Thu Lien in Hanoi, for example, considers tomb sweeping day not only a chance for family reunion but also for children and grandchildren to fulfil their duties and show respect to parents and the ancestors as a whole.

That’s why tomb sweeping tradition bears strong family identity with big families always fixing a concrete date and writing down in the family records for younger generations to follow, thus strengthen the family unity and value.

At the gravesites, family members often sum up the family major events during the year for their ancestors and invite the dead to “fly home” to enjoy Tet with the alive.

After the tomb sweeping day, Vietnamese families often prepare a six-dish tray of food on the last day of the lunar December to welcome ancestors back home for Tet. A send-off party will be held on the third or fourth day of the lunar January, accordingly the local or family tradition.

Tet atmosphere envelops girdle cake village

Banh Trang or ‘girdle cake’ is an integral part of Tet to Vietnamese people, especially those living in the Mekong Delta. In the run up to the Lunar New Year, the atmosphere in Thanh Hung girdle cake village in Giong Rieng district, Kien Giang province gets heated as locals hurry to make enough cakes to provide for consumers during the holiday.

Founded more than 80 years ago, Thanh Hung girdle cake village has 80 households still maintaining the traditional trade.

Preparation starts at the beginning of the 12 th lunar month, with all production facilities stocked up with ingredients, including rice flour, copra and fuel to make more cakes than on an average day. Therefore, locals’ income also increases.

“We prepare enough rice and fuel for the orders we receive. We also employ more labourers than usual,” said Nguyen Hoang Liem from Thanh Hung commune, Giong Rieng district.

Thanh Hung girdle cake is famous for its delicious taste. On these days, more and more dealers come to this trade village to order huge quantities of this kind of cake. The product will travel to all localities across the Mekong Delta region, in particular, An Giang, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu provinces. It is mainly used to make spring rolls.

“On Tet days, we can sell more girdle cakes than normal days as consumer demand is higher,” said Le Thi Nga, Thanh Hung commune, Giong Rieng district.

The trade of making girdle cake not only helps locals get out of poverty and improve their lives, but also maintains a traditional cultural identity of Vietnamese people.-

Northern Vietnamese food tingles taste buds in HCM City

As the nation’s economic hub, Ho Chi Minh City is home to many food specialties from various regions around the country. During Tet festival, dishes with a decidedly northern flavour such as “chưng” cake and pork pies have brought happiness to families from this region who are unable to herald the Tet holiday in their hometown.

“Vietnamese culture has significant meaning whenever Tet comes. For people whose hometowns are in the north, a family meal provides such a lot of warmth, Dang Hong Nga from Ho Chi Minh City ’s District 1 said while shopping at a store selling dishes from the northern region, which are commonly called Hanoi traditional specialties. They include “chưng” cakes, pork pies, pickled onion and scallion head and Mai said these kinds of food are indispensible during Tet holiday.

After many years of experience bringing northern flavours southwards, Lê Chiến Thắng, owner of a store in Ho Chi Minh City is something of an expert. However, he said that due to the current economic difficulties, purchasing power has increased by only 20 percent during the festive event. In order to have a plentiful amount of goods, his shop had to order from last October.

Special offerings such as oranges, Buddha’s hand fruit and “diễn” grapefruit always sell well on the occasion. Each Buddha’s hand fruit costs approximately one million VND. A Buddha’s hand fruit is segmented into finger-like sections and it has spiritual meaning. He had to order this kind of fruit in the northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang and Hanoi .

As Tet is approaching, the number of customers is increasing. Foodstuff prices have all increased around 10 percent compared to the normal days, while transport costs have also been on the rise, he said.

In the heart of the dynamic Ho Chi Minh City, these dedicated food stores continue determinedly with their work, quietly bringing northern Vietnamese Tet flavours to people who opt not to go home for the New Year celebrations.-

Tourist Areas in the Mekong Prepare for Tet Festival

Tourist areas in the Mekong delta are busily preparing to welcome the Tet festival 2014.

Can Tho City in the Mekong Delta officially opened its first Flower Street on January 28.  It will be open for seven days of the Lunar New Year holiday.  Ancient houses and ecological areas such as My Khanh, Khuong Islet and Khuong Dien will be open for visitation.

Dong Thap Province tourism increased 30 percent every year compared to last year, said Deputy Director of Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ngo Quang Tuyen.

The province’s leaders are determined to invest more in tourist areas including Nguyen Sinh Sac Monument to honor Ho Chi Minh’s father, flower village of Sa Dec, Huynh Thuy Le Home Dec Town, and Tram Chim National Park where thousands of Sarus cranes reside.

Bac Lieu Province in the Mekong Delta spent over VND2,500 billion (US$118,825) building 21 hectares at Nga Mat.

Kien Giang Province’s Phu Quoc Island is ready to dazzle tourists with beautiful pristine islands.

There is no increase in price for tourism, said Director of Kien Giang Tourist Center Nguyen Dinh Trung.

An Giang Province considers tourism its biggest industry, said authorities. The province’s famous tourist sites are Cam Mountain, Ton Duc Thang Monument, Tra Su Cajuput Forest and Ba Chua Xu Temple.