Goethe-Institut - Blog Cityscapes - Hanoi

Rites and rituals—How does my city celebrate?

nospam@example.com (Tran My Hang) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:20:53 +0100

I remember that my family usually buys about 20 chickens just for the 3 days of the Tet Holiday. Not just chickens—we buy mountains of meat, vegetables, rice, candy, beans... We prepare food like we’re feeding an army.

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Hanoi: Christmas and Tet

nospam@example.com (David Frogier de Ponlevoy ) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:43:00 +0100

December. Blog theme: celebrations. Time to talk about Christmas. Wait a minute, stop. There is no Christmas here. At least not in Hanoi. December is not a month of celebration in Vietnam. This doesn’t mean that there are no Christmas decorations. There are a lot. The city is full of them. Probably a kind of universal December ornamentation. But real Christmas spirit appears rarely. And why should it? After all, the majority of Vietnamese are not Christians.

The big celebration takes place in January or February, as I wrote in my first blog entry. So this closes the circle. Tet is the main festival of the year. The festival that is the central event of the annual calendar. The festival during which the entire country falls into a deep sleep for at least a week. At least outwardly. Inside the homes there is plenty of time for family gatherings, food, family gatherings, food and more food. In my experience it is not unusual for families to buy bigger refrigerators before Tet, just to make sure that the frozen chickens will last for three weeks. Because it can take up to three weeks before the shops have reopened all over the city and holiday prices have returned to normal.

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Rites & Rituals

nospam@example.com (Nguyen Viet Hung) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:19:09 +0100

The festivals in Hanoi bring people more pent-up feelings and the need for change. Still the old rite, bringing many forms that only seems appropriate to old people. Many people have the same thoughts as the formal ceremony is increasingly away from the life of Hanoi people, especially young people who are always demanding new stories, new ways of enthusiasm...

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Hanoi Sidewalks: Not for walking!

nospam@example.com (Tran My Hang) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:07:00 +0100

If you want to walk in Hanoi, you might have to walk in the street, not on the sidewalk, because most of the sidewalks in Hanoi are for business or parking, not for walking.

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Jam... if you can!!!

nospam@example.com (Nguyen Viet Hung) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:44:54 +0100

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Hanoi: Sun shirts and pajamas

nospam@example.com (David Frogier de Ponlevoy ) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:28:46 +0100

It is quite possible that Hanoi's women dress fashionably. The high heels would at least seem to indicate it. High-heeled shoes are not exactly the most practical footwear on a motorcycle, and yet you see them everywhere. Also the fact that many women prefer the clunky automatic scooter, on which one does not sit with legs apart in order to operate the clutch, suggests a certain fashion sense. After all, these scooters do permit them to wear short skirts. So probably Hanoi women do dress fashionably. It’s just that – you don’t know. You can hardly see it. Because the most important piece of clothing on Hanoi's streets is something that we will simply call the sun protection shirt.
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Heeleds and new choices

nospam@example.com (Nguyen Viet Hung) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:06:29 +0100

Ao dai - the traditional costume of Vietnam, but now, whether the role of this outfit is also like the old days?
Hanoi now needs modern, dynamic ... not have room for a graceful, willowy ...
Ao dai slopes away from everyday life, their own revenues in the opportunity to appear alone, that nostalgia ...

Festival...

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Hanoi: Paper and plastic

nospam@example.com (David Frogier de Ponlevoy ) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:24:53 +0200

Hanoians don’t like plastic. At least not when it comes to money. In Hanoi, you don’t pay by card. You pay cash. As often as possible.

This obviously applies to food (many restaurants don’t even have a card machine, and if they do, then it is often mysteriously broken), but it also applies to the purchase of a refrigerator. Or the purchase of stocks and bonds. Or cars. A friend always carried a suspiciously large handbag with them, and when asked about it one day casually answered: "Oh, that's the money for today’s stock purchases. I'm on my way to the bank.".
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Cents and sensibilities

nospam@example.com (Nguyen Viet Hung) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:41:12 +0200

Supreme power
Money is so powerful and we can see how money affects every aspects of our life, especially in city like Hanoi- a growing city. It changes everything, even on culture with its core values and philosophy.

Noi Bai International Airport (Hanoi) – where people are waiting for a gift from India- the cradle of Buddhism. Buddhism- a popular religion in Vietnam that guides people to a pure and upright life, without thinking high of material and personal desires.
But here instead of being faithful with its philosophy, the monks are coming in luxury cars- the ones that all the riches in this small country are dreaming of.

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Green spot in Hanoi: Of Turtles and weddings

nospam@example.com (David Frogier de Ponlevoy ) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 06:15:34 +0200

One of the best places to relax in Hanoi is green.

But it doesn’t consist of plants or grass. It consists of water. And the green is probably from an overgrowth of algae. But that doesn’t matter. Hoan Kiem Lake in the city center is still a green oasis, in the truest sense of the word.

The lake isn’t large. If you walk briskly you can go all the way around it in a good half hour. And unlike most places in Hanoi, you can actually do that here: walk. The sidewalk around the lake is free of parked motorcycles, free of street restaurants on the pavement, free of local residents who "just want to put this piece of furniture here for a few minutes". There is space.
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Ha Noi: Thirsty for green

nospam@example.com (Tran My Hang) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:59:00 +0200

By My Hang

Beside a Ha Noi of building sides, there is another Ha Noi, in which plants can grow up in every small empty angle of houses and streets.

Mosses with a wet color on old brick walls.

Wild bushes calling wild bees and birds on roofs.

A pot of onion trees looking so fresh in a smoky kitchen.

There are so many ways trees can chose to survive in such a cramped and crowded city like Ha Noi.
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Hanoi, do we still have green for tomorrow?

nospam@example.com (Nguyen Viet Hung) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 06:03:31 +0200

Urbanization, highest cost of rental property in the world. Green of open spaces are disappearing in urban areas. But for Hanoian, they always find a green space for their own, though it is a little corner with light green. Perhaps it is a way to cool our soul.

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Ha Noi Culture: Inside my family

nospam@example.com (Tran My Hang) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:21:58 +0200

by My Hang

The different thingkings among gererations enfluence deeply to family cultures

Yesterday I got a new “ao dai” – the traditional dress of Vietnamese women. I really wanted to take a photo of me in the ao dai with my whole family, including my grandfathers, my parents, and my brothers. Eventually I got the photo. The background of the photo is a vase of lotus and a tea pot on the table. It is a nice photo. But it was very difficult for me to gather all the members of the family for that photo.
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Hanoi: Center of classical Vietnamese culture?

nospam@example.com (David Frogier de Ponlevoy ) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 12:34:13 +0200

The trouble with culture is always that no one can precisely define it. Culture - what is that actually? Are centuries-old poems culture, even if hardly anyone knows them today? Or is Vietnamese pop music culture? Meeting with friends and family, is this not just as much a part of Hanoi culture as museums are? Or maybe even more culture - popular culture.

Hanoi likes to consider itself the cultural center of the country. After all, the city did become the capital 1,000 years ago. After such a long time, of course, a lot of culture accumulates. And over the course of history Hanoians were true masters in absorbing cultural influences from outside, and making them their own. Other countries and cities may have looked askance at the "foreign" and stewed in their own juices. As far as I can see that was rarely the case in Hanoi.

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Hanoi and the culture

nospam@example.com (Nguyen Viet Hung) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:41:21 +0200

Ha Noi is manoeuvring and developping incessantly. In that context, a lot of traditional habits are lost or buried. Fortunately, services of devine worship are still remained. I don’t know exactly when our ancestors started to burn votive papers and to incense, but the Ha Noi people have done it on full moon and on first days of month for thousands of generation. They want to express a sincere respect for ancestors. As one of citizens of Ha Noi, I also keep that habit. And I belive that our traditional custome will be followed closely by our descendants.

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