The Museum of Ethnology holds joyful activities to celebrate Tet

February 15, 2015

(VOVworld) – The Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi has cooperated with Lao Cai province to hold ethnic folklore music shows and games during the traditional lunar new year festival.

People play tug-of-war at the Museum of Ethnology in a spring festival

The festival will introduce cultural characteristics of the Mong, Dao, Nung, and Bo Y in Lao Cai province and their festivals like Gau Tao, pan-pipe dance by a “Thang Co” hotpot, and ritual and wedding dances of the Dao. Visitors to the Museum can play various folk games of the Tho, Si La, San Chay, Dao, and Mong.

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Artisans from northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, and Hai Phong will perform puppetry, make To He, print Dong Ho paintings, write calligraphy, and produce earthen firecrackers.

During the 4^th and the 5^th day of the lunar new year, visitors will experience unique games by ethnic people in Lao Cai and other traditional activities in the north and a firework display

The Museum of Ethnology holds joyful activities to celebrate Tet — Talk Vietnam

Young woman’s social enterprise revitalises do paper-making trade | VXArtNews

VietNamNet Bridge -Do (poonah) paper, used to make the famous folk painting Dong Ho, has been given new vitality thanks to an art project created by a young NGO employee, Tran Hong Nhung.

Visitors learn how do paper is produced during a Dance of Paper workshop.

For Nhung, who works for a German NGO in Ha Noi, her connection with the traditional handmade paper in northern villages was fate.



The endeavour, a company selling modern products made out of do paper and hosting workshops on the handicraft, began four years ago. Nhung helped a Vietnamese-German friend learn more about Vietnamese calligraphy, which is often beautifully featured on the paper. The duo accumulated a lot of knowledge about the papermaking process and its long history.

“I was worried by the critical fact that there are only a few households in the North that still do this craft, but on a very small scale,” Nhung said. “It is impossible to preserve authentic calligraphy if we can’t preserve our traditional papermaking.”

After a time, Nhung’s friend became disinterested and the project was put on hold. But in 2013, Nhung decided to return to it because she didn’t want to waste the effort they had already put in.

To devote more time for her “spiritual child”, as she calls it, Nhung started working part-time at the NGO.

On her journey toward preserving do paper, Nhung teamed up with two young people, Duong Hoang Linh and Nguyen Hong Nhung, who became the project’s art designer and technical adviser, respectively.

With her business mindset coming from a Foreign Trade University bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree on Business Management in France, Nhung, CEO of the project, said she thinks the key to preserving the paper-making is to increase the amount of products made with the paper.

“Like any other farmers, the do tree growers just care about economic benefits. Once the paper is being used widely, the demand for raw materials will increase, and growers definitely will invest more in this kind of plant,” Nhung said.

Using modern designs for do paper products can increase consumption of the material, Nhung said. So she and her teammates aimed to create products with both traditional and contemporary features.

In January 2014, the group officially launched their product line, including notebooks, matchboxes, photo albums, postcards and calendars. They use typical Vietnamese images, such as street vendors or a tangled mass of power lines, to adorn their unique products, which are available in many souvenir shops in Ha Noi, HCM City and Hoi An.

Stable income

The products not only helped create more demand for do paper, they created a stable income for the project so it could expand.

Product line: Some of the do-paper notebooks created by Nhung and her team. - Photos courtesy of Zo Project

“Before the market would accept our products, we all had to spend our own savings for this ‘spiritual child,’” Nhung said.

She also held workshops that gather young people and expats living in Ha Noi to learn about do papermaking and its history.

“I’m very happy to see most of my workshops’ attendees and project’s volunteers are young people,” Nhung said. “It’s the young people who are working to preserve traditions.”

In March last year, Nhung also started Vu Dieu Cua Giay (Dances of Paper), an art event where young artists can showcase their works created from do paper.

Sponsored partly by the Danish Embassy in Viet Nam’s Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF), the event not only encouraged artists to use the traditional paper more, but also helped do paper makers understand the importance of their job.

“The do paper makers were quite excited, because none of them could imagine their paper being used in such creative ways,” she said. “The event seemed to give them more meaningful reason to continue their job.”

Nhung said she intends to turn her two-storey rental house into an art space displaying artworks and products using do paper.

She has kept in close contact with artisans in Dong Cao Village in Bac Ninh, currently the only village in Viet Nam producing the paper. Nhung said she hoped to connect different papermaking villages so they could exchange their experiences and preserve the traditional craft.

The project recently won a Social Enterprise Support Programme award for 2014, and earned a US$10,000 grant. The award seeks out and gives support to social enterprises during critical development periods to enhance their effectiveness and social impacts.

With the grant, Nhung and her team will invest in new products and research.

In the summer, Nhung will travel to northern mountainous provinces to learn about the regions making the materials, and make a proposal on the long-term economic benefits of do trees.

VNS

Filed Under: Vietnam, WorkshopTagged: Before the market would accept our products, we all had to spend our own savings for this 'spiritual child, Business Management in France, dance of paper, Dances of Paper, Danish Embassy in Viet Nam's Cultural Development and Exchange Fund, Dong Cao Village in Bac Ninh, Dong Ho, Duong Hoang Linh and Nguyen Hong Nhung, For Nhung, Foreign Trade University, German NGO in Ha Noi, HCM City and Hoi An, I'm very happy to see most of my workshops' attendees and project's volunteers are young people, In January, In March, It is impossible to preserve authentic calligraphy if we can't preserve our traditional papermaking, It's the young people who are working to preserve traditions, poonah, Social Enterprise Support Programme, Stable income, The do paper makers were quite excited, because none of them could imagine their paper being used in such creative ways, The event seemed to give them more meaningful reason to continue their job, Tran Hong Nhung, Vu Dieu Cua Giay, Zo Project

Young woman’s social enterprise revitalises do paper-making trade | VXArtNews

Exhibition centre can preserve Dong Ho folk paintings?

The 5,000sq.m Dong Ho Folk Painting Preservation Centre was recently inaugurated, but can it preserve this folk art?
Mr. Nguyen Dang Che, one of several craftsmen of the Dong Ho village in Thuan Thanh district, Bac Ninh province, on July 25 inaugurated the Centre for Dong Ho Folk Painting Preservation.
Che opened this centre to honour Dong Ho paintings and gather historical evidence, current products, production procedures, etc. of this famous craft village.
The centre has three houses built in an old style.
The first house exhibits remnants of Dong Ho folk painting arts comprising over 100 wood blocks of 60-100 years old which were handed down by his ancestors; and six sets of ancient paintings for which the wood blocks have been lost. The most valuable set is paintings based on a tale named Thach Sach, which are estimated at 100 years old. In addition, the room has over 170 topics of paintings, and this is a nearly all the painting topics created in the history of Dong Ho village.
Next to this house is another that displays all current paintings made by Che’s family and restored ones.
The last house of 250sq.m is a place that sells all products from paintings to wood blocks, and for making votive papers for tourists.
Visitors can also watch the process of how a Dong Ho painting is made.
Che said it would be difficult to maintain this centre without linking it to tourism activities, displaying and selling paintings; but it is a good thing that Dong Ho village has a place to preserve values of this folk art.
However, Che still wistfully remembers the past, when the wharf on Duong River was very busy and crowded every Tet holiday, with traders from throughout the country coming to Dong Ho village to buy paintings.
Nowadays, the village has only three families producing Dong Ho paintings. Other families are making votive papers.
He is also unhappy that most young people come to the centre solely to satisfy their curiosity about this folk art. He wants young people to come to the centre to understand the meaning and the simple wishes of the old people depicted in each painting and the value of Dong Ho paintings in comparison with other folk painting genres like Kim Hoang in Ha Tay and those of Sinh village in Hue city. He wants them to know the history of this craft village.
Che received support from local authorities to open this centre but he said such a centre can house only the visible part of this art, not the soul of it. He hopes that Dong Ho painting art will be developed by Dong Ho villagers.
Nguyen Huu Bac