Western students walk on stilts and dance on bamboo poles to "touch Tet"

(Dan Tri) - About 10,000 students of Foreign Trade University, including hundreds of international students, enjoyed interesting Lunar New Year experiences.

The program took place today (January 14) with the name "Happy Tet, Peaceful Spring". The program was attended by nearly 10,000 domestic and international students of the Foreign Trade University, along with the school's staff and lecturers.

This is an annual event organized by Foreign Trade University with the desire to bring the bustling atmosphere of the traditional Tet holiday and help students, especially international students, experience the traditional cultural features of Tet.

Two German students experience wrapping Tet Chung cakes (Photo: My Ha).

Wrapping up the emotions of an old year about to pass to eagerly welcome a new year coming, this year's program "Tet Sum Vay - Xuan Binh An" with the theme "Tet Touch", not only recreates the cultural space of Vietnamese Tet with traditional beauty but also breathes into it the enthusiasm and freshness of the school's youth.

Here, domestic and international students from France, Germany, Japan, Korea, India, Laos, etc., are instructed on how to wrap and boil banh chung, participate in Tet flower arrangement and fruit tray display competitions, and try their hand at folk games such as bamboo dancing, stilt walking, and asking for calligraphy from calligraphers, etc.

Sharing with Dan Tri reporters, many international students were excited because this was the first time they experienced Vietnamese folk games during Tet.

Although very surprised, Hortense, from France, said she has been in Vietnam as an international exchange student for more than half a year, but this is the first time she has experienced Vietnamese Tet.

Wearing the traditional ao dai, Hortense said she felt comfortable and at ease. She did not hesitate to hold her classmate's hand to practice the bamboo dance and burst out laughing with delight.

Hortense (right) enjoys dancing (Photo: Ngoc Trang).

Jakob Christoph Winkler, from Germany, was excited to walk a section of stilts. He said he is a third-year student in Germany and has been in Vietnam for 2 weeks on an exchange program. This is the first time he has experienced many interesting traditional Vietnamese cultural games.

"I didn't expect the pot to cook banh chung to be this big and take so long to cook. I'm very excited to try wrapping the cake and look forward to tasting the finished product to see what it tastes like," said Jakob.

Meanwhile, Carl Philipp Friendrich Caspar Von Bismarck tried and tried but still could not walk on stilts. He excitedly shared: "Up to now, I have known many sports but have never tried anything as strange and interesting as walking on stilts. I tried to keep my balance in the air but the harder I tried, the easier it was to fall.

I think maybe because it's my first time experiencing it, I'm not used to it. If I have time, I will definitely go," the male student said.

Jakob Christoph Winkler, from Germany, enjoys walking a section of stilts (Photo: My Ha).

Sharing at the program, Associate Professor Dr. Bui Anh Tuan, Principal of the School, said that today's "Touching Tet" will be a memorable memory for the whole school.

Also within the framework of the program, many activities to honor and preserve traditional culture and charity activities were carried out such as: Charity fund raising "Warm Winter, Full Tet 2025" of the Youth Union and many activities taking place at the second base in Ho Chi Minh City and Quang Ninh .

The school also awarded scholarships to encourage learning on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2025 to 175 students with difficult circumstances who achieved good results in their studies;

In particular, the school's trade union represented in donating support to build boarding houses for students of Kim Son Primary School No. 2 (Kim Son commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province...).

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/sinh-vien-tay-di-ca-kheo-nhay-sap-cham-tet-20250114160344652.htm