Young people return to the old Mid-Autumn Festival through traditional toys

From the beginning of the 8th lunar month, many artistic activities about the Mid-Autumn Festival Ha Noi Held at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, Hanoi Old Quarter Cultural Exchange Center, Hang Ma,...

Here, traditional toys such as clay figurines, star lanterns, and lanterns are displayed and widely introduced by artisans. This is also an opportunity for young people to talk and learn about the origin, production methods, and cultural values ​​surrounding traditional art products.

PHOTO: GIA AN

While admiring the star lanterns, Doan Linh Huong, a student at Hanoi Law University, expressed her special interest in this familiar toy. Huong said she really likes traditional Vietnamese toys and is especially impressed with the star lanterns.

“When I was little, every Mid-Autumn Festival, when I passed Hang Ma or went to the neighborhood party, my parents bought me a star lantern. I was really attracted by the light shining through the cellophane, creating many colorful colors. To me, the star lantern was like a familiar signal that Mid-Autumn Festival had arrived,” Huong said.

PHOTO: GIA AN

Each traditional toy carries within it knowledge about history, culture, and society and is conveyed in its own way, close and familiar. The law student hopes that more and more young people will learn more about traditional toys through activities and events to better understand the cultural values ​​behind them.

Having read about clay figurines for a long time, Nguyen Hong Phuc, a student at the Foreign Trade University, has just experienced them in real life this year. “As soon as I heard that artisan Phung Dinh Giap was in Hanoi this Mid-Autumn Festival, I arranged my work to meet him and listen to him share interesting stories about clay figurines. Knowing each stage of making figurines and his dedication to preserving traditional cultural identity through this small folk toy, I felt his great love for traveling from afar, bringing with him many products to introduce and spread cultural values ​​to the community, especially young people,” Phuc expressed.

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Meanwhile, Hoang Thu Trang, a student at Foreign Trade University, said that as a former literature major, she had researched and written articles on traditional Vietnamese culture, especially the Mid-Autumn Festival with many toys associated with young people.

“For example, this figurine is a special part of my memory. Even though I am grown up, I am still very excited to hear the artisans who make figurines tell stories, share how to knead dough, mix colors, create shapes and make my own figurines,” Trang said.

PHOTO: GIA AN

Pham Hong Quan, a student at the National Economics University, believes that the Mid-Autumn Festival is an opportunity for young people to return to ancient cultural values. Quan confided: “As a generation that inherits good cultural values ​​from their ancestors, I hope that young people will continue to preserve and promote these precious traditions not only domestically but also internationally. With traditional toys such as clay figurines, lanterns, and paper kites, it is easy to learn about them through articles and social networking sites such as YouTube, TikTok, etc., because you can read the content and still see the details of how to make them easily.”

PHOTO: GIA AN