Mid Autumn Festival in Vietnam

Today 3 July, so there are about 2 months for Mid Autumn Festival coming! With me, and all childrens are contemporary of mine, Mid Autumn Festival is bigger and more important than other Festivals in a year (ofcourse at that time we don't care so much about Children's Day 1 June, because it is Internatinally festival, but Mid Autumn Festival is the day for childrens only)...

You know, there are many Festivals throughout the year in Vietnamese culture (Vietnamese are onot only hard-working but also love festivals ). Each Festival takes place in a particular season and has its own special meaning following the Lunar calendar, there are four important festivals in the year: Tet Nguyen Dan (Lunar New Year) - at the begining of spring, Tet Doan Ngo (Double Five Festival) - at the begining of summer, Tet Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Festival) - during Mid Autumn and Tet Com Moi (New Rice Festival) - at the begining of Winter.

The Lunar New Year is considered the biggest and the most important Festival of the year while The Mid-Autumn Festival is the most beautiful one. During Mid-Autumn the moon is full, the farm work is finished for a while (in countryside), children's work-study is finished for summer holiday during 3 months, and the weather is cool and fresh. During this time, the Vietnamese always organize a number of typical entertainment activities that bear the stamp of their national culture identity.
About the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival, according to archaeologists, the Mid-Autumn Festival began in ancient times. They have discovered images of the Mid-Autumn Festival cast in a Ngoc Lu Bronze Drum by the ancient Vietnamese. According to Doi Pagoda's stele, the Mid-Autumn Festival was officially held in Thang Long Citadel in 1121 in the Ly Dynasty and featured boat racing, water puppetry dancing and lentern marching. During the Le-Trinh Dynasty, the Festival was held in the Lord's Palace and was described in "Tang thuong ngay luc" in details by Mr Pham Dinh Ho.

Another legend has it that the Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival came from China in the Chinese invasion period. The Mid-Autumn Festival in China appeared in the Tang Dynasty. After sweeping out An Loc Son bandits, Tang Ming Huang missed Yang Gui Fei very much. On the 15th day of the 8th Lunar month, the weather was windy with a bright and full moon. A fairy appeared to take King to meet Yang Gui Fei. The fairy made a rainbow with the top bordering the moon and the bottom connecting to the land. The King climbed to the Moon and saw Yang Gui Fei in the dancing troupe.

On his way to earth, the King could not forget the romantic atmosphere on the moon so he set up the Mid-Autumn Festival. Previously people only drank wine and enjoyed the moon during the Festival so it is called Tet Trong Trang (Moon Watching Festival).

Now, I will tell you about what we did in Mid-Autumn Festival, not only my family, every families at that time were like this. The Mid-Autumn Festival is held annually on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar month. In the old days all families cooked tasty food to offer to their ancestors in the daytime. In the everning the Mid-autumn festival party is prepared with moon cakes, candy and fruit all dyed in differentt colors. The girls (I have 2 old sisters and 2 young sisters !!!) are eager to decorate the party, cutting fruit into various kinds of flowers and kneading coloured dough into beautiful shrimp and fishes. (I often took some for taste before The Everning Mid-Autumn Festival began !!! )

Today the traditional customs are preserved in the festival but there are some changes. In some regions people buy moon cakes, tea, wine and fruit to offer their ancestors, or to give to their grandparents, parents, teachers, relatives or other people who help them. I real hate this!! It makes negative/passive and makes lose good-meaning of Mid-Autumn Festival of children.

In the everning, while waiting for the moon to rise, every family prepares to decorate the party to welcome the Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon cakes included banh nuong (baked cake) and banh deo (sticky rice cake) and many kinds of fruit . Most moon cakes are either round or square. The round shape symbolises the sky, square shape symbolises the earth according to the old legend. The Mid-Autumn feast of Vietnamese includes five kinds of colorful fruit, i.e ripe banana, red persimmon, sugar apple, soacked persimmon and grapefruit.

Today although there are many foreign-imported toys, children are still eager for traditional toys like star lanterns, decorative multi-colored lanterns, fish-shaped lanterns. Sun Wu Kung - shaped mask, Zhu Ba Jie - shaped mark, Bai Gu Jing -shaped mask, etc. In addition, the wooden drum is an indispensable toy of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The surface of the drum is made of leather with a handle. It is called "trong boi".

The dragon dance and lion dance are an indispensable part of the Mid-Autumn. They represent not only a unique culture activity but also signify a prayer for peace, prosperity and good health.After marching with lanterns in the lion dance troupe, We (are children at that time) gather in a place to sing folk songs and play traditional games. Until the moon is full, everyone serves out a mid-autumn festival, eats fruit and gives gifts to the elderly. Experiencing the ups and downs of history, the Vietnamese still preserve the traditional of the Mid-Autumn Festival every year. Everywhere, I think, the Vietnamese families gather and show their love and appreciation for their children. On this occasion the children play many traditional and exiting games and enjoy the feeling of being at the "centre of the universe"....

Where did Grapes and Wine come from?

When I write this blog entry, I afraid of who read it will misunderstand, will think that I am a Drinker, a "fan" of red wine. No, I just write what I know about Grapes Wine - the exciting drink which I just tasted.

According to legend, a king in Persia left a bunch of grapes in a porcelain jar. On the label, he wrote " danger: toxic". Because he had many imperial conbubines, he appeared to fall out of love with his first wife. It was believed that she was abandoned. She decided to kill herself by drinking water from the jar. However, she didnot die, but instead felt pleasant and optimistic. When she discovered the water was "precious wine", she changed her decision to commit suicide.... !!!

I've read in a book, wine has developed for a long time and become a popular beverage with the Western World. Wine is distilled from fermented fresh grapes or a mixture of grape juice and dregs. The French Gastronomy Acedemy describes wine as "an active liquid, which can cure illness, age and death" !!!! I will cover stories of grape origin and wine. I hope this provindes you with more information about wine (if you are also a wine's fan !!!)

Grapevines are among the oldest trees in the world. Vestiges of grape trees have been found all over the world, even from before the ruin of old civilisations. Originally, the grape tree was a wild species. Most scientists say that grapes originated in the Crimean Peninsula; however, it is not known if the people in this peninsula made wine.

Wine exicted solely in Egypt until 2000 B.C. After the year 2000 B.C, the Egyptians taught the Greeks to grow grapes. Then, Roman people were taught this method before spreading it to Gaulois people. In 4th century B.C, vine trees appreared in the Mediterranean, particularly in Fance. It was in France that they began the practice of keeping wine in wooden vessels.

Until the Middle Ages, churches played an important role in growing grapes and making wine. The world "wine" was repeated 500 times in the Bible. Priests grew grapes around churches and religious houses.

In 1864, pestilent insects started to destroy grape roots in the central region of France. In twenty years, they destroyed the entire vine - growing region in France. After that, French people imported the "Vitis Labrusac" grape from America to restore their crops.

Surprisingly, the wine growing industry developed again after the American sample was combined with the French.

Currently in France, there are eight million hectares of vineyards and six thousand types of grapes. This makes it the largest grape growing region in the world, with the biggest variety of flavour and colour.

The National Accession Academy of Wine (INAQ) was founded in 1935. People from many parts of the world still consider INAQ as the organization that ensures the quality of French wine because of its strict regulations.

In the early twentieth century, in Western countries, wine was not only a beverage but also a cultural topic like literature, music and art. !!!

Around the world, now I back to Vietnam. Twenty years ago in Vietnam (at that time I was just a little girl, 5 years old !!!), topics such as history and appreciation of wine could hardly be found amongst bookstore shelves. Today they sell very well. Like other cultures, the culture of wine is gradually intergrating into Vietnamese people's lives.

Ancient House

The people who are living in Saigon and getting acquainted with the incredibly speedy growth of modern buildings. Hoever, there were times they felt affected when the old architecture objects were destroyed and disappeared forever. Bitterly, that kind of feeling (though they ddidn't hope to get it) now does not exist, for finding an ancient pure Vietnamese house in this city is not an easy work.

Nevertheless, it's very lucky for somebody who hope to learn and contemplate a beauty of the past, for a more than 200 years old house which is in good condition regardless of historical changes still exists in the center of Saigon. The house located within the precincts of the Vicarage.

The house was primitively built close to Thi Nghe ditch by Emperor Nguyen Anh in 1788, it was Vicar Ba Da Loc (Pigneau de Behaine)'s house where Prince Canh ( the son of Nguyen Anh King) frequented to study with him. There were 5 wooden rooms with a titled roof. Being carved beautifully, the width and the depth of the house are equivalent; therefore if you have a top side view, you will see a square. Firstly, the house was called Tan Xa Palace. During the time that most houses were constructed by such simple materials like bamboo, this structure doubtlessly made a big impression on others for its elegance.

After Vica Ba Da Loc passed away, on September 11th 1788, the house was handed over to Vicar Liot before being closed for a long period from 1811 to 1864.
In 1864, after Vietnamese ambassadors came back from the negotiation about redeeming 3 provinces of Southern Vietnam in French, Emperor Tu Duc gave the house to a french vicar named Lefbvre (also know that Father Ngai). It was then moved to Saigon Zoo and Botanic Garden (Thao Cam Vien in Vietnamese) when this zoo was being built.

In 1900, the vicarage was built on Richaud Street (known as Nguyen DInh Chieu street now) and the house was also moved there to be used as a chapel. Since then, it has been restored twice time. The first time was around the middle of the last century when all the timber partitions were so terribly damaged that the workmen had to replace them by brick walls. The next repair was in 1980. The workmen spilled concrete into wooden colums to prevent termites. Thanks to the outside of colums which were still fine as well as skilfull restoring techniques, when seeing these ebony colums, we can see clearly the ancient traits of the structure.

At present, sometimes there are discussions about upgrading the chapel in the vicarage. Fortunately, finally the most ancient house in Saigon is still kept the ancient state.

The house is an attractive tourist spot for visitors so that they can learn more about the most antique Vietnamese architechture in the cityand sense the beauty of the house which hasn't been changed regardless of time.

Western tourists will be absolutely surprised to see their cultureal traits appearing on a Vietnamese house through delicate carving.

But, last but not least, who designed this house and who conducted the building process, etc...these are still mysterious thing that many people have questioned. !!!
That what I know about the ancient - oldest house of Saigon .