vietexplorer0034

Paintings are put on display at the Centre for Cultural Exchange on Dao Duy Tu street in order to celebrate the Year of the Cat. Paintings are often used in order to decorate local houses in Hanoi. The exhibition attracts plenty of foreign visitors who are keen to explore the country’s traditional culture. Lanterns featuring numerous paintings of zodiac animals are put on show. Paintings with different themes on the topic of Tet festival in Vietnam are introduced to visitors. A cultural event held at the Culture and Art Centre on Hang Buom street serves as a beautiful background for young people. Cat-shaped products are exhibited at 38 Hang Dao street. An old Tet space is re-enacted at Kim Ngan Communal House on Hang Bac street. Phung Hung mural street hosts a goods fair, art programmes featuring traditional music, and dance activities as a way of welcoming in the Lunar New Year...

Everywhere in the village is covered with the green colour of Dong (Phrynium placentarium) leaves which is typically used as a wrapper for Banh Chung, the traditional sticky rice cake, to be enjoyed over the Lunar New Year. Nguyen Minh, a villager and planter of Dong leaves for many years, said that each year she provides tens of thousands of leaves to the market. For each 100 leaves she earns between VND70,000 and VND100,000. Thanks to the fertility of the land located next to the Day river, Trang Cat is an ideal place to plant Dong trees. Dong leaves harvested in Trang Cat village are then transported to other localities in order to serve customers’ demand as Tet draws near. There are approximately 300 households located in the village, planting approximately 25 hectares of Dong trees. The Dong leaves of Trang Cat village are also exported to other countries for overseas V...