Doan Ngo (Doan Duong) is the traditional New Year of Vietnam and some East Asian countries, taking place on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. In the days of the Dragon Boat Festival in feudal dynasties, in the royal court and in folklore, there were different rituals and customs.

Painting of the fan ceremony in the palace.

In the royal court, under the Le dynasty, the king and the court solemnly held ancestral sacrifice ceremonies, regular court ceremonies, and bestowed banquets, giving fans to the mandarins, demonstrating the authority of the divine son and carrying deep human values. sharp. Rituals are held at Thai Mieu and Chi Kinh Palace. On the Dragon Boat Festival, there is a special ceremony that is the ceremony of giving fans. King proceeded to give fans to the mandarins. Before that, the court assigned the Ministry of Households to allocate wages to prepare the fan board for the Lunar New Year. Dao Xa village belongs to Ngoc Department general, Duong An district, Thuong Hong district, old Hai Duong town (now Dao Fan village, Bai Say commune, An Thi district, Hung Yen province) was assigned the responsibility of making fans such as ivory fans. elephants, tortoiseshell fans… to serve the life of the royal court, mandarins, aristocrats and popular fans to serve the people’s life. After the fan was finished, he was allowed to enter the Temple of Literature, the Temple of Literature, and the King ordered it to be given to His Royal Highness, Vuong Than, incumbent literary and martial mandarins, military bases, and teams belonging to the Ministry. Fan-giving ceremony is also held at Chua Palace. The king’s grace to give fans a deep meaning is to give “Blessings, Health, Peace”.

Painting of Dao Xa village as a fan.

In addition to the special features of the royal rituals, in folklore, the Lunar New Year also has very unique customs, including the custom of wearing five-color amulets. The five-color amulet (also known as the string of life, tassel of the bag charm) is sewn from pieces of silk or scraps into the shape of local fruits and tied with five-color thread with tassels to repel insects against the wind. jewelry, good luck, peace. In the 20th century, there was a small street in Hanoi specializing in making five-colored charms on the occasion of the Lunar New Year – that is, Hang Acne. This is a street of poor people, living on small business in the market and sewing and sewing for tailor shops. Also, because they did not have capital, these poor people bought rags of different colors from tailors and brought them home to sew hats, bibs for children, multicolored apron hats with small glasses, they made strings with iridescent threads. “bag talismans”, tin charms. After the August Revolution, Hang Acne Street was changed to Hang But City. The old name of Hang Acne street is associated with a unique custom on the Day of the Dragon Boat Festival that has entered the memory of Hanoi people for a while.

Painting of Hang Mien Street selling tassels and bag charms.

To create more tourism products to serve visitors, every year Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center organizes display and exhibition activities to introduce traditional culture and unique customs. of his father during the Lunar New Year. In the context of the prevention of the Covid-19 epidemic, this year’s Doan Ngo Tet exhibition with the theme “Doan Duong Good Wind” continues to be implemented in an online form, helping visitors who do not have conditions to go to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. Long can still access useful display content, learn unique customs in the royal court, and experience epidemic prevention in folklore.

This year’s exhibition has many new features such as: for the first time displaying and introducing a royal fan with a size of 2.4m with a poem by King Le Hien Tong written on the fan in 1503; some fan models for kings, queens and mandarins are modeled based on sources; The five-color amulets were restored based on the artifacts kept at the Quai Branly Museum (France) and the colorful space of a shop on the old Hang Acne street. In addition, the customs of the Lunar New Year such as: picking Southern medicinal leaves, washing hair with fragrant leaf juice, relaxing incense, etc. are also introduced along with buffalo-shaped wormwood leaves corresponding to the year of the New Year of the Ox.

Online display time: From June 10, 2021, Website: trungbayonline.hoangthanhthanglong.vn.