Vietnamese Tet 2024 display at Thang Long Imperial Citadel

30/01/2024

Lunar New Year is the biggest and most sacred festival of the year for our people, also known as “Tet To”, “New Year” or “Lunar New Year” to distinguish it from the Western New Year. Lunar New Year is the first festival that opens the year, marking the transition between the old year and the new year, the time to close the things that have gone through in the old year and wait for good things in the new year. Lunar New Year begins on December 23 of the old year and ends on January 7 of the new year with many customary rituals taking place in the royal court as well as in folk. All work is temporarily suspended to worship ancestors and gods, rest, reunite, visit and congratulate relatives and wish for luck and good things…

It can be said that Lunar New Year is one of the festivals with many unique customs and imbued with the indigenous culture of Vietnamese people throughout the territory of Vietnam. In particular, in a land with thousands of years of civilization, the Lunar New Year culture is even richer and unique, this place is the convergence and interference between royal culture and traditional folk culture.

To promote the value of typical royal Tet rituals as well as traditional folk Tet customs of Thang Long – Dong Do – Hanoi, the Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center organizes a series of activities. Tet lasts from January 20, 2024 (December 10, Quy Mao year) to February 18, 2024 (January 9, Giap Thin year) including many special activities:

Traditional folk Lunar New Year display space

Traditional folk Lunar New Year is displayed through recreating the Tet living space of a citizen family in the capital with customs such as worshiping ancestors and gods, hanging Tet paintings, and parallel sentences. Tet, lighting Tet firecrackers, wrapping banh chung, asking for New Year’s letters, wishing New Year, celebrating new year, enjoying Tet flowers… The ancient exhibition space, bearing the mark of the culture and architecture of the streets of the capital. old.

The space of traditional Tet customs represents the busy and bustling atmosphere of the last days of the year: going to the Tet market to buy food, cleaning, decorating the family altar and house, wrapping banh chung, making sausage, etc. making jam… In every family, there is the same excited atmosphere preparing for a prosperous and fulfilling Tet.

Lunar New Year program at Thang Long Imperial Citadel

Among folk art forms, water puppetry is a particularly unique traditional art form of Vietnam. Therefore, in the play through the language of puppetry, the artists of the Vietnam Puppet Theater introduce an overview of the history of Thang Long citadel, recreating typical cultural features and architectural features. ancient history is expressed through the images of mascots such as dragons, phoenixes, golden turtles… Although the puppets are made of wood, with the intelligence and creative skillful hands of the artist, wooden puppets becomes extremely funny, fresh and lively, making the program more attractive.

In the Year of the Dragon 2024, Thang Long Imperial Citadel offers interesting puppet shows on the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th days of the Lunar New Year at various time frames from morning to afternoon for visitors to choose from.

Exhibition of archives ‘Hanoi and the Gate Gates’

Thầy trò Trường THCS Nguyễn Tri Phương dâng hương tưởng nhớ Tổng đốc Hoàng Diệu

Pottery in the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long during the Tran Dynasty