Mid-autumn festival to celebrate Southeast Asian culture

Ha Noi's Viet Nam Museum of Ethnology will host a mid-autumn festival inspired by Southeast Asian culture from September 14-15, featuring a wide range of activities and games.
With support from Southeast Asian embassies in Viet Nam, the festival will give children from regional countries a chance to introduce their cultures through music, dance, folk games and workshops.
Through the event, Vietnamese children will understand similarities and differences of how the mid-autumn festival is celebrated across Southeast Asian countries, according to museum official Nguyen Thai Hoa.
Southeast Asian cultures will be creatively introduced with competitions to identify countries through songs, customs, currency, national flags and traditional costumes.
Museum visitors will be able to partake in a wide variety of folk games such as "walking on coconut shells" (from Laos, Thailand and Indonesia), the "pebble board game" (Indonesia, Philippines and Viet Nam), "hopping" (Myanmar, the Philippines and Viet Nam), "pick-up-sticks" (the Philippines and Viet Nam), "tug-of-war" (Thailand and Viet Nam) and "spinning tops" (Malaysia, Indonesia and Viet Nam).
Children will be photographed in traditional costumes and can sample food from various countries in Southeast Asia.
Children will also take part in workshops guiding them on how to make toys using traditional methods and materials.
They'll also receive a talk on tien si giay (paper figurine), a traditional toy of Vietnamese children symbolising fondness for learning, with a presentation from PhD Nguyen Van Thinh from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Other features of a traditional Vietnamese mid-autumn festival – the most eagerly-awaited festival for children – such as the legend of the festival and how it's celebrated will also be presented.