There is a neighborhood in The Fifth District of Ho Chi Minh City called Leung Ru Xue Street Lương Nhữ Học (called Dashi Street before the liberation of Vietnam), and before the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a Mid-Autumn Festival market specializing in Mid-Autumn Lanterns and toys. From late July to mid-August of the lunar calendar, thousands of lanterns are lit up in Lantern Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to welcome the arrival of the annual traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, which is crowded with parents and children who come to buy toys and lanterns on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival. At night, the flower lights in the neighborhood are all lit up, and they are very distinctive. Every day from 5 p.m., especially on weekends and Sunday evenings. Local residents and vendors also hung red and round lanterns and small lantern cannons on the streets to decorate them, adding to the atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival comes, almost all families on this street will hang and sell a lot of flower lanterns, colorful, all kinds of flower lanterns, most adults like the traditional red paper flower lanterns, because looking at these flower lanterns will make them return to childhood, but children like those Chinese electronic flower lanterns, the price is generally 60,000 to 70,000 VND expensive 100,000 to 200,000 VND also has.
There are many people in this lantern street at night, parents take their children to buy lanterns, and young people will gather here to take photos while watching the lanterns. Unlike young people who like the lively atmosphere at night, many models, celebrities, etc... At noon, I will come here to take pictures, because it is more convenient for fewer people to take pictures at noon.
If you have the opportunity to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam, you can visit this lantern street and feel the atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Flower lanterns, also known as lanterns lồng đèn, originated in China. Legend has it that after Jiang Ziya sealed the gods, he did not have any duties, only a certain immortal gave him a substitute class when he traveled. Chinese New Year's Eve all the gods returned to their places, but Jiang Ziya had nowhere to go, and when the people saw that he was pitiful, they lit a lamp at the head of the high pole and asked him to squat under the lamp for one night. Over time, there are many types of custom paper lanterns that form lanterns, including marquee lanterns, sheep lanterns, air death wind lamps, lanterns, Matsu wind lanterns and so on. In ancient times, its main role was lighting, made of paper or silk as the skin of the lantern, the skeleton was usually made of bamboo or wooden strips, and candles were inserted in the middle to become a lighting tool. There are many different styles of lanterns for decoration. It can be hung from a building or placed on the ground as a decoration. Paper lanterns can also be seen all over the world. Modern lanterns, on the other hand, usually place light bulbs in decorative glass covers.
In ancient China, fireflies were sometimes caught and placed in transparent or translucent containers as (short-term) lanterns. Many Asian festivals also use lanterns. During the Mid-Yuan Festival, lotus-shaped lanterns float over rivers and oceans, symbolizing the guidance of the lost souls of forgotten ancestors to reincarnation. During the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, you can still see the scene of lifting lanterns. Chinese other celebrations, sky lanterns will also be seen flying high.
Here, Chinese-style lanterns and various small goods fill the entire street, making people feel as if they are in China rather than Vietnam. There are more than a hundred merchants on Lantern Street, specializing in various lanterns and small goods, in addition to lanterns, various hanging ornaments in Chinese style are also popular. Here, the price of the lantern is generally not marked, but the price is generally how much the merchant says is how much, and there is very little room for counter-offer, because there are more than a hundred merchants here, the competition is fierce, the price is very fair, and it can be compared around.
Craftsmen and craftsmen use their housekeeping skills to use thin bamboo sticks as skeletons, mount colored paper on the outer layer, and make flower lanterns of various shapes such as unicorns, rabbits, frogs, carp, shrimps, etc.; Children are accompanied by their parents to go to the market and welcome the lanterns. From the children's paradise books and periodicals in the 1950s, it was learned that in the early days, children's flower lanterns were mostly upright with bamboo poles facing the sky, and later developed into hanging flower lanterns, with colorful shapes; Butterflies, white rabbits, carp, sailboats, airplanes, birds, roosters...
Today, there are various comic character-shaped battery music lanterns, which are convenient but not as cute as traditional flower lanterns.
The lantern street not only sells a variety of traditional cellophane flower lanterns, electric flower lamps, but also the new domestic "wish flower lamp" is being welcomed by the market. In addition to music and lights, each flower lamp also has a variety of patterns, patterns on the singers, doctors, scientists, etc., each pattern represents the children's desire to grow up, very popular with children
The materials used to make traditional Mid-Autumn Lanterns are relatively simple, mainly including bamboo, straws, red glossy paper, cotton thread, paste (glue), wire, gauze, candles, cotton paper, bamboo planers, scissors, etc.
Preparation steps:
1. Heat the bamboo in the steam chamber for half an hour, then take it out and dry it in a cool place, but it should not be over-dry, nor can it be exposed to strong light.
2. Use bamboo planing to remove the rough skin of the bamboo surface.
3. The length required to cut the bamboo strips; It depends on the size of the lantern.
4. Weaving method: complete the light stand in a crossed manner.
5. In the middle of the lamp stand, several circles of bamboo circles can be tied on the lamp wall.
6. Paste (mounting) lanterns, first mount cotton gauze, and then paste two layers of single light paper for lanterns (if there is no single light paper, fine cotton paper can also be). Mounting cotton gauze should first be diluted paste, evenly brushed on the surface of the skeleton, and then the cut gauze is lightly attached to the lampstand, and then brushed flat with a brush paste, here it needs to be noted that the brush that brushes the paste must be a clean brush, otherwise, the lamp surface will be a dirty mess. At the same time, the mounted paper must also be pasted without seams to be considered to be truly mounted.
7. Place the lantern in a cool, ventilated place to dry.
8. Painting. The painting takes the desired pattern according to the individual's taste, such as figures, eight immortals, flowers and birds, ladies, etc.
9. After painting, decide whether to write the text according to the actual situation. After the text and pattern are completely dried, brush a layer of tung oil, and then wait for the tung oil to dry, and the lantern is finished.
Under the dexterous hands of the craftsmen, these simple raw materials have been transformed into colorful five-pointed stars or animal-shaped lanterns.
In order to make a good Mid-Autumn Lantern, craftsmen need to spend hours, or even half a day. However, lanterns are sold at a relatively low price, with an average price of VND 15,000 to 40,000 a piece. Therefore, as of now, many people have switched to other jobs, and those who continue to work in this job must also work part-time other jobs due to the pressure of chai rice oil and salt.
