Flower festival marks 1,000 years of Thang Long-Hanoi

A flower festival to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi will be held around Hoan Kiem Lake in central Hanoi from the evening of December 30, 2009 to January 3, 2010.
This will be the first of over 80 cultural events in Hanoi and other provinces and cities nationwide to mark the capital city’s birthday in 2010.
Hundreds of different varieties of flowers from across the country, including peach and kumquat trees, chrysanthemums, roses, gladiolus, orchids, lilies and tulips have been gathered in Hanoi in time for the festival.
According to the organising board, visitors to the festival will have the chance to contemplate many unique artistic works made from flowers such as a 4.5m-high symbol of Hanoi made from 1,000 gold chrysanthemums and a 10m traditional long dress woven from 1,000 flowers. A selection of thousand year festival drums, including one extremely large drum and dozens of smaller ones produced by craftsmen from Lam Yen Drum Village in the central province of Quang Nam will also be on display.
By the statue of Ly Thai To, there will be a 6m-high tower of flowers surrounded by nine dragons woven from fresh flowers and fruit to represent the Ly dynasty during its 200 year reign.
A 5m-high flower vase with 1m diameter lotus flowers made from rattan in Hanoi’s Phu Vinh handicraft village will also be displayed along with a 70kg, 1.93m-high wooden carving featuring King Ly Thai To’s royal edict announcing the new capital, made by artist Tran Ba Nam over three years.
Images of Long Bien Bridge and Hanoi’s famous peach, kumquat and ceramic villages as well as a scene of the city’s old trams from last century will be depicted on a bed of colourful flowers, helping to recall Thang Long-Hanoi’s unique history.
During the festival, a flower arranging contest, a fashion show of Ao Dai ( Vietnam ’s traditional long dress) and a concert will take place to welcome New Year 2010.