Coming to Hoi An, on the occasion of full-moon nights, tourists will have chances to enjoy a feeling like being lost in a fairy land with sparkling lanterns along with the ancient beauty of the long-standing city Hoi An. Under the eaves of houses tiled with double tiles, a plenty of lanterns full of shapes and colours reflect their shadows on Hoai River. Many aged people sit there, playing chess and chatting with each other, peacefully. Life in Hoi An always appears under the light of lanterns.
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| Nights in Hoi An with sparkling lanterns |
In royal palaces during Nguyen Dynasty in the past, lanterns were only lighted in occasions like special holidays and Tet or in banquets. Red lanterns were hang in front of an imperial concubine' room to announce that she was designated to serve for the king. Passing a long time with fluctuations of the history, nowadays lanterns have become a cultural product of Vietnam. In festivals organised in Hue, lanterns are usually hang in Dai Noi (Royal Palace) to make the festivities more attracting.
In Hoi An today, lanterns not only appear in full-moon nights but also nearly all stores, food shops, restaurants, resort, and so on. Going to every corner of this ancient city, travelers always find it easy to catch a view of lanterns hanging up. Lanterns have contributed in maintain the antiquity of the ancient city Hoi An. For that reason, until now the profession of making lanterns is still popular here. Lanterns' duty is not just simply for lighting but it has grown into a typical and distinct present or souvenir that tourists often find. Foreign tourists visiting Hoi An always try to buy some lanterns and bring them back home.
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| A souvenir shop selling lanterns |
Hoi An's lanterns are very various and original in their shapes. But one special feature of Hoi An lanterns is that all of them are made from the hands of clever and skillful artisans. First, people knit a frame for a lantern, and then create a shape for it like fruit-shape, cylinder-shape, oval shape, etc. After that, people start to embroider patterns on the cloth covering the shaped frame. Usually they embroider some words in Han ideogram (Chinese writing) or pictures of dragon, phoenix, fisherman, herdsman, Cau Pagoda, Ngo Mon (the major gate in the royal palace), or a girl rowing a ferry on Huong River in Hue, and so on. And the colours of lanterns vary with a number of colours, but frequently they are red, green, purple and yellow. People can light a candle or a small electronic bulb inside.
Lanterns are seen as a kind of cultural products that helps to beautify more for the ancient city Hoi An which attracts a lot of excursionists from many regions coming and enjoying the life here.
According to Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper
HANOI - HALONG - HUE - DANANG - HOIAN - MY SON - HOCHIMINH
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