Hanoi Flower Festival closes with traditional ceremony

The event closed on January after an impressive closing ceremony with quan ho and hat xam singing, tea-making rituals and calligraphic art performances.
Nguyen Khac Loi, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that nearly three million people visited the festival. From December 30 to January 3, Dinh Tien Hoang street hosted the events and was the destination for Hanoians and tourists. This is the opening event for the 1000th great anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi of 2010.
Three national records were recognized during the festival: a 10m long ao dai made of 1000 silk and dried flowers, the largest wood-engraved piece of “Chieu Doi Do” (Edict on the Transfer of the Capital) (written by King Ly Cong Uan on the move of Vietnam’s capital from Hoa Lu to Dai La – Hanoi at present), with a height of 1.93m, width 1.27m and weight 79kg; and the biggest flower vase made of rattan, which is 6.5m high, 120kg in weight and 1.2m of diameter.