Tag: Vietnamese culture

Neighborhood Lion Dancers Stop By

Last night was Tết Trung thu – the Mid-Autumn Festival – in Vietnam (and China and elsewhere in this part of the world). In Vietnam, I associate this traditional holiday with the Lion Dance more than anything else. The neighborhood dancers that came to our home, schoolboys who all live nearby, stopped by last night to perform and bring Minh and I good fortune in the year to come. Plenty of neighbors were on hand to watch – Lion Dance performances are great fun for all. For the record the boys have been practicing their drum act for the last six weeks or so about 50 meters from my house in a place used by the government’s neighborhood committee. Rehearsals finally came to an end with last night’s performances. Another reason to welcome the arrival of Tết Trung thu.

After the drum concert concluded, the lions arrived to do their dance. Some of the troupes that tour downtown areas do elaborate acrobatic acts that draw large crowds. The dance at my home was much simpler, but also considerably more intimate and no less enjoyable than slicker acts elsewhere.

After performing in the courtyard outside my home, the lion’s moved inside for a brief tour of the house to spread good fortune throughout. Some neighborhood kids grabbed front row seats for the festivities.

Finally, the dancers concluded their performance with a bright send-off, before moving on to the house across the street.

Mid-Autumn Lion Dance, Hoi An

Monday evening was the culmination of the Mid-Autumn Festival (Tết Trung Thu) in Vietnam with a huge full moon in the sky and troupes of lion dancers on the streets entertaining holiday crowds.

The image above shows a small troupe performing along the street in front of a restaurant. In addition to the restaurant’s customers, a crowd of passers-by has gathered to watch the show. The lion below – two young men standing one on top of the other – was part of a well-known act that attracted a large crowd for its performance. The troupe arrived with two truckloads of equipment that it set up before the performance got underway. The photo shows only the first of several acts. I tried but failed to get this pair jumping along the row of pillars visible at the bottom of the image. I was standing on a tiny patch of grass amongst a big crowd and unfortunately could not get the combination of movement, light and reasonable focus needed to make an acceptable image. Feeling frustrated and claustrophobic, I decided to leave, figuring I could try for the motion image again next year.

Flowers at the Gate, Hoi An

To celebrate Tết, Vietnamese decorate the entrance ways to their homes and places of business with flowers, in some cases with two simple flower pots on either side of the entrance, in other cases with elaborate flower displays that can transform otherwise grey Hoi An streets lined with ramshackle buildings into rainbows of color.

The Fish Market at Phan Thiết

Phan Thiết, a city of more than 200,000 people, lies on the coast of the East Sea about 165km east of Saigon. For ten or twelve km on either side of its urban center, large areas administered by Phan Thiết stretch along the coast. To the east is Mũi Né, a well-known tourist destination drawing both Vietnamese and international visitors to its beaches, sand dunes and recreational activities.

Phan Thiết has a large fishing fleet and a wholesale fish market that sells the fleet’s daily catch early in the morning pretty much every day. It seemed worthwhile to visit the market with cameras, so my Ke Ga host, Mark, and I got ourselves up and on the road to Phan Thiết by 6am. The market was still active when we arrived around 7am, though there were already signs of people getting ready to pack up and go home.

No shortage of hairy eyeballs targeting the guy with the camera.

This guy gave life to the expression “built like a brick shithouse.” He did not have a warm, friendly look on his face, so I decided a profile shot was the better part of valor.

The market was definitely the place to go in Phan Thiết for fashion statements.

It’s a long, early morning at the market.