A variety of traditional cultural programs will be held in the capital city of Hanoi to celebrate the nation’s biggest and longest Tet holiday, the Vietnam News Agency reports.

Kids in traditional costumes are seen learning to wrap banh chung

The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is expected to organize several traditional activities such as banh chung (square glutinous rice cake) wrapping, calligraphy writing and cay neu (Tet bamboo pole) decoration on February 8, the 23rd of the 12th lunar month, better known as the Ong Tao (God of the Kitchen) Day, a long-held Vietnamese ritual to send the God of the Kitchen back to Heaven.

This would be an opportunity for foreign tourists to learn about ancient Vietnamese customs and observe how local people make preparations for Tet.

Additionally, the annual Spring Calligraphy Festival is scheduled to take place at Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature) from February 9 to 25 (from the 24th of the last lunar month until the 10th of the first lunar month).

Many Hanoians flock to the temple to ask for meaningful words written in calligraphy in the lead up to Tet to pray for good luck for their children’s schooling in the new year.

Le Xuan Kieu, director of the Center for Scientific and Cultural Activities of Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam, was quoted by the Vietnam News Agency as saying that the festival features 35 calligraphic works written in Vietnamese and Han Nom (Chinese-transcribed Vietnamese) scripts.

Aside from calligraphy, the festival will feature folk games, art performances and a flower-lantern releasing ceremony.

Furthermore, a cultural exhibition with its theme “Traditional Tet of the Vietnamese” is on at the Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center from now until February 24 (the 9th of the first lunar month), featuring folk paintings from Dong Ho Village in Bac Ninh Province, Hang Trong and Kim Hoang Villages in Hanoi.

SGT