VietNamNet Bridge – In celebration of the mid-autumn festival for children, the Viet Nam Museum of Ethnology will host a festival beginning this weekend with the theme The Sea's Colours.

All together now: Ba trao singing will be among folk arts of the coastal region to be presented during the Mid-Autumn Festival at the Viet Nam Museum of Ethnology. — Photo courtesy Museum of Ethnology

Participants will have an opportunity to enjoy various activities and games including lion dancing on stilts, net knitting, fish-hook bending, water puppetry and treasure hunting, which are all typical activities in coastal areas. The experience will allow visitors to learn about the life and culture of coastal residents.

Folk songs from coastal provinces such as Binh Thuan, Quang Ngai, Ha Tinh and Nam Dinh will also be introduced.

Children, local and foreign alike, will have the opportunity to learn about many different folk arts which are popular in the coastal regions such as ba trao singing (performers sing and imitate rowing a boat) and playing bai choi (a card game in which players sit in a hut and play and sing at the same time).

Museum staff and young volunteers will teach children how to make moon cakes - the traditional festival food - and toys, such as star lanterns, coloured rice-paste toy animals and iron ships. This activity will help preserve and promote some of Viet Nam's traditional handicrafts.

Many interesting and useful activities will be organised, such as the chance to play folk games that will help children practise communication skills, improve their self-esteem and independence, and enhance their ability to explore new things.

These games were also expected to help them learn to avoid violent games and social evils, said museum curator Vo Quang Trong.

Notably, gifts will be presented to disadvantaged children living in some friendship villages, vocational training centres and the Ha Noi National Paediatric Hospital on the festival's opening day.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News