Le hoi Nguyen Tieu or the first full-moon festival of the lunar year, one of the most important events for the Hoa (of Chinese origin) ethnic people, began last Friday at the District 5 cultural centre in HCM City.

The four-day festival, which draws on the still-fresh festive Tet (Lunar New Year) atmosphere, is attracting revellers of all ages, mostly from the large Hoa community in the city.

Beautiful lanterns hung up on a string remind beholders that Nguyen Tieu is also known as the “lantern festival”.

Eight lanterns believed to bring luck and prosperity will be awarded to winners cracking riddles.

One of the riddles read, “It is as white as snow, and it disappears under the depth of the flow.”

Another said, “The whole world is ahead yet the continents and oceans are not connected.”

The answers, respectively, are “salt” and “map”.

In a small pool are fish fry for children to catch and take home for prosperity. In the Chinese language, “fish” and “cash” are homonyms.

In the lobby are water-colour paintings by 38 Hoa painters like Truong Han Minh, Ly Khac Nhu, and Truong Van Y.

They are themed on spring celebrations, daily activities, and landscapes in which the buffalo is ubiquitous. In the Vietnamese zodiac, this is Ky Suu, or the Year of the Buffalo.

Performances

A stage, vivid with the colours and sounds typical of Chinese culture, saw artists from different Hoa troupes dressed in ancient costumes personifying legendary Chinese characters like Bat Tien (the Eight Deities), Phuc, Loc, Tho (the Happiness, Prosperity, and Longevity genies) conveying wishes to the crowd.

A curtain-raiser featuring dragon and kylin dances was followed by brilliant traditional dances and Chinese songs and theatre.

The show finished with gieo tu cau (tossing a “love ball”), an ancient practice in which a single lady tossed a ball and wedded the man who caught it. Of course, there was no groom-hunting and it was all in fun.

“It’s fun and we really love the colours and the greetings written in calligraphy and hung around,” Van, a middle-aged Hoa woman from district 3 who was enjoying the event with her family of eight, enthused.

Le Thi Huong of district 10, whose nephew was one of the winners of the lucky lanterns, said she was not ethnic Chinese but really interested in cultural features.

“The Chinese have a unique culture,” Huong, who is interested in world cultures, said, adding Chinese festivals are always a splash of colours, especially the lucky red and yellow.

The event included a calligraph of the Chinese character for happiness written 100 times by Hoa artists.

It wraps up today with a procession in which 1,000 people dressed as legendary characters or walking on stilts will take part.

Le hoi Nguyen Tieu originated in China in the second century BC when a Han dynasty king ordered people to hang lanterns to celebrate his coronation on the first full moon of the lunar year, according to historians.

VietNamNet/VNS