Happy Vietnamese New Year and apologies to my Vietnamese friends for the lack of diacritical marks in the title of this post – my western keyboard isn’t up to the job.
If this post seems a little early to those of you here in the UK with Monday the 23rd in mind, take into account that Vietnam is seven hours ahead of us. And in Quang Nam province, where our lanterns originate, plans will have been in preparation for months. New Year’s Lunar events got under way in earnest on the 17th January with the Spring Flower Festival.
The Banh Tet (traditional sticky rice cake) Festival, for which thousands of cakes are made to donate to poor families in the region, continued the opening celebrations on the 19th January.
The Hoi An Lantern Festival will start this evening, New Year’s Eve, at around 9pm local time and be accompanied by fireworks and a lot of noisy bells and drum beating throughout the town on a circuit that takes in all the religious monuments and schools.
New Year’s celebrations, including poetry readings, kung fu displays, gymnastics, folk song performances and boat races, continue through until the 6th February.
Makes our New Year’s celebrations sound a little short and dull by comparison. Wish I was there right now.
