The millennium festive mood has spread across the nation. As celebratory kites from across the nation are sent into the Hanoi skies, Ho Chi Minh City pays its own tributes to the capital with several activities celebrating the country’s scholarly and imperial traditions and Hanoi’s timeless beauty.
Hanoi kicked off a kite artistic festival themed “Hanoi – Peaceful Sky” as part of Thang Long-Hanoi’s millennium celebrations at the My Dinh National Stadium on Wednesday.
Fifteen kite clubs from the country’s main regions – North, Central, and South – together with 30 international kite artisans joined the event.
Organized by the Hanoi’s Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the People’s Committee, the festival included kite-crafting demonstrations and both a morning kite fly show and an evening one named “Night kite”.
Dam Sen Cultural Park in Ho Chi Minh City dressed up in imperial glory to host “Toward the capital - Thousand Years of Culture” from October 8-10, one of the southern city’s tributes to Thang Long-Hanoi coinciding with the northern celebrations.
Among the events planned for the festival are several competitions aimed mostly at high-school students and teachers mimicking ancient scholarly exams such as a prefectural exam an a calligraphy examination consisting of the reproduction of ancient characters preceding the current alphabet. The competitions are expected to draw 3,000 students.
The highlight of the event will be the Imperial Boat Race on October 9 organized by Dam Sen Cultural Park and the People’s Committee of District 1. Representatives from District 11’s armed forces will wear era costumes to compete on traditional boats.
HCMC also celebrates the capital’s stunning esthetics with “Visual Angles” photo exhibit taking place at the Women Cultural House of Ho Chi Minh, featuring 100 black and white photographic renditions of the capital’s timeless beauty by members of the HCMC-based Hai Au club for female photographers.
The club members have explored Hanoi’s picturesque streets and nearby villages experiencing local life and photographically recounting it’s daily life, culture and charming essence.
Though quickly becoming a modern metropolis, Hanoi’s Old Quarter, traditional craft villages and ancient pagodas still retain an eternal flavor and nostalgic photographic appeal.
The same exhibition took place at The Temple of Literature in downtown Hanoi in August.
Artist Dao Hoa Nu, head of the club, announced that Hai Au is planning to publish a book containing the club’s best repertoire to date on the occasion of the club’s 20th birthday.
