The Chinese Community in Ho Chi Minh City will light up a colorful evening tonight to celebrate one of their most important holidays, the Lantern Festival.
Festivities will start at 5pm with an hour-long parade featuring dancers and performers leaving from Lao Tu Street, along Luong Nhu Hoc, Nguyen Trai, Tran Xuan Hoa and Tran Hung Dao, to District 5’s Cultural Center.
After the opening speech by the Director of the Center, Mr. Nguyen Huu Son, the spring festival will open with Chinese traditional games, like fishing, throwing a ball to find a lover, praying in front of a sacred lake, and puzzles. Other cultural activities like calligraphy and writing on paper to pray for luck and health will also take place.
The music show, the highlight of the festival, starts at 8pm. The show features tuong co (Chinese folk music) and traditional dances of Chinese ethnic minorities.
The Nhon Nghia Duong Kylin-Lion-Dragon Troupe will perform Bac su hy cau (A lion playing with a gem) while Thanh Nien Kylin-Lion-Dragon Troupe will try to break the Vietnamese record for breaking open coconuts with their heads.
The show will feature Vietnamese artists, Chinese performers, who are based in Vietnam, and visiting acts from China like the Chaozhu Troupe and Hainan Troupes.
The Lantern Festival is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year. During the festival, children go out at night to temples carrying paper lanterns. The event is the official end of Chinese New Year celebrations.
