VIETNAM: LANTERN CELEBRATIONS

Hanoi is celebrating its millennium as a capital city this year. There are festivities all over the country. This week was Hoi An's turn which accounts for the floats among the lanterns. Enjoy the night lights, and the lanterns both festive and commercial. Next post, I'll show you the city by day. It's one of the few old cities in Vietnam that didn't get obliterated and is well worth a look. also a taste! Its restaurants have the best cuisine in the entire country!

Hoi An: Vietnamese Lanterns

Hoi An is also famous for its lanterns. Since 1998 on each lunar 14th night Hoi An goes back 300 years. Electricity in downtown Hoi An is switched off, and the streets are illuminated by these colorful silk lanterns.

If you want to buy one of the silk lanterns, you will find many souvenir shops in the four main streets in Ancient Hoi An: Tran Phu, Nguyen Thai Hoc, Le Loi and Dach Dang

Lanterns

Hoi An at night

Much has been written about the peaceful, ancient town of Hoi An. For those wanting to learn about it, they can easily find a sea of relevant information and images on the web.

However, local and international tourists have kept flocking to the town in droves since UNESCO recognized it as a world cultural heritage site in 2000. Hoi An is a completely different world for both local and international visitors.
motorcycles on the Vietnamese road will certainly feel at peace and relaxed when they step into the streets of central Hoi An at night. The town turns busier and livelier in the nighttime as visitors go for a stroll around town.
What’s most striking at night is the bright light beamed out by the silk lanterns of diverse colors hung on the façades or doorways of the wooden houses, stores or restaurants topped with moss-covered roof tiles.
Tourists on the bicycle or cyclo wheels are common sights at night as motorcycles are off-limits to the center of the culturally rich town.
Hungry souls can look for some cozy restaurants where they should taste some tasty local delicacies like Cao Lau and Wonton in addition to Western foods. Cao Lau is a spicy rice noodle soup served with pork, fresh herbs and veggies while Wonton originating in China is a delicacy made from rice flour and filled with pork, shrimp, egg and spices. Or they should have a round of drinks there, looking at people going up and down the street.
Hoi An is also particular in a sense that it is home to numerous tailors who offer made-to-measure suits and dresses.
The country has undergone a lot of changes in the past decade but Hoi An has remained untouched and successfully preserved its traditional features as a harbor town that used to be an important trading center of the nation where merchant ships from Japan, China, the Netherlands, India and Spain visited in the 16th and 17th centuries

An ethereal Hoi An ancient town

One of the most original hallmarks of Hoian is probably the glistening light reflected from the cagey lanterns at night. If Hoian used to light up the month before, nowadays it becomes a nightly custom on weekend.
Amid the tranquil atmosphere in this ancient town, the streets are scattered with shadows, all in a sudden, on each face, in each house seems become brighter in the dreamlike light of hundreds, thousands of lanterns, which is recalling a setting full of reminiscence about the old days.
If during the day, such reminiscence rests on the soft voice of female interpreters in the Tran’s old house, Guangdong Club House…, at nightfall, such reminiscence turns out more brilliant with lanterns swaying under the mossy roofs, beside the wooden columns engraved with the color of time, in front of the souvenir shop. Overflowing in the ancient town are black fares, which is recalling some tome at this age-old boat landing.
There, many women in “ao dai” are calculating the account books in the gently light of the central bulb, many elders in silk gowns and turbans are thoughtfully are playing chess on the veranda, their faces are immersed in the silk – like beams of the far and near lanterns. All of the electric equipment seems to be out of order and winding Tran Phu, Nguyen Thai Hoc, Le Loi streets … appear to be brought back by magical power to the former days, when Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese merchant ships … were voyaging across the ocean to reach Dai Chiem commercial port for exchanging goods. And lots of people who were enthralled by the landscapes and allured by the people had decided to choose this land as their lifetime residence.
The image of swinging lanterns has become part of Hoi An lifestyle. Between the many souvenirs shops are many households living by sharpening bamboo sticks, stretching silk, and drawing on silk; thus, many others are having a chance to behold lanterns in the shapes of sphere, hexagon, octagon, and long cylinder, square … of different sizes to be hung in front of each old house. Engulfed in the atmosphere are the lights of red, yellow, and blue, white … which are screened by a silk layer to eliminate its flamboyance, just projects soothing and charming light.
From a commodity for living, from now on lanterns have become part of Hoi An’s soul, every week they cast their charming light in Hoi An’s magnificent nights. If you came here, you couldn’t forget buying some lanterns, which could be foldable, very convenient, so that when you light them up, you will be dreaming of an glistening ancient ward in the mysterious light.

Lanterns

Red Lanterns In Hoi An

Red Lanterns In Hoi An, Vietnam

Hoi An Lanterns

Hoi An lanterns

Hoi An lanterns

The ancient town of Hoi An would lose its attractiveness and mystery if it didn’t have decorative multi-coloured lanterns. While trading with Vietnam during the 16th-17th centuries, many merchants from China and Japan contributed to the distinguished culture of Hoi An commercial harbour.

The lantern is the result of exchanges among Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese cultures famous for their various and specific identities. Originating from a popular appliance from life, the lantern has been lifted to an art of decoration. It now has a firm position in Hoi An inhabitants’ minds and lives. With skillful hands and bountiful imaginations, the lantern is made for different purposes. It is not only for living, but also an artistic work with pictures on silk. Having lost its initial shape, Hoi An lanterns nowadays can be seen in all different shapes and sizes.




Though made of diversified materials, lanterns with bamboo frames and silk covers are the most typical. You can choose lanterns with wooden frames, sometimes made from very precious wood, and on each side of the lantern is a painting depicting a legend. Once lighted, lanterns will illuminate with marvelous, mysterious and ethereal light as if the past of hundreds of years prior has returned to the present day.




Besides ancient houses of over 100 years old, lanterns are the most special things in Hoi An. Lanterns are seen everywhere in the ancient town, not only in lantern shops. At night, when all shops are closed, lanterns are lighted up. Tourists can see Hoi An people making lanterns on the pavement.

For many years, traditional coloured lanterns have enchanted visitors of Hoi An, particularly foreign visitors. Every year, tens of thousands of Hoi An lanterns are exported or bought by foreign visitors as souvenirs and gifts. As a cultural and tourist product, the lanterns have helped raise the incomes of Hoi An''''''''s residents.




Lanterns are not only a special handicraft item of Hoi An but also a unique characteristic of this ancient town, which can’t be found anywhere else in Vietnam