COLOURFUL FEST: HCM City will host the annual “Trên Bến Dưới Thuyền” (On the Wharf - In the Boat) Floating Flower Festival 2023 in District 8 from January 6-21. VNA/VNS Photo by Quang Châu

HCM CITY — The HCM City will host its annual floating flower festival in District 8 to celebrate Tết holiday (Lunar New Year).

The “Trên Bến Dưới Thuyền” (On the Wharf - In the Boat) Flower Festival 2023 will be held at Bình Đông Wharf and Nguyễn Văn Của Street from January 6-21, or 5th-30th of the 12th lunar month.

The event aims to create a cultural space and tourism destination for local and foreign visitors during the Tết holiday, as well as to introduce special kinds of flowers and fruits of the southern region and the rest of Việt Nam.

According to organisers, this year’s festival will feature 666 stalls and boats displaying hundreds of various kinds of flowers and fruits from the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces of Long An, Tiền Giang, Bến Tre, Vĩnh Long and Đồng Tháp, and the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) province of Lâm Đồng.

The provinces will also set up miniature landscapes arranged with different kinds of flowers for visitors to have beautiful photos.

The organisers will also create a zone where ông đồ (calligraphy artisans) can offer calligraphy works for visitors hoping to have a prosperous and happy new year.

In addition, the festival will include performances of tài tử music on boats along Tàu Hủ canal, and a lion dragon dance.

There will be an exhibition on the city’s achievements in 2022, and live performances of flower and fruit arrangements.

Visitors will have an opportunity also to learn how to make tò he (toy figurines that are made of rice dough), and traditional cakes such as bánh tét (cylindrical glutinous rice cake) and bánh ú (small glutinous pyramid shaped cake) at the event.

The “Trên Bến Dưới Thuyền” (On the Wharf - In the Boat) Flower Festival is recognised as one of HCM City’s 19 annual signature festivities.

It is expected to become one of the city’s most-visited destinations in the Tết holiday. — VNS