HÀ NỘI — A special event celebrating mid-autumn festival in ASEAN countries will be held to enhance mutual understanding among the bloc.

The festival runs from today to Thursday at the Việt Nam Exhibition Centre for Culture and Arts (VECCA) in Hà Nội, featuring a range of activities for children.

It’s a chance to introduce traditional mid-autumn celebrations in different countries to Vietnamese people through costumes, toys, masks and decorative objects.

An exhibition displaying the typical practices, costumes and handicraft products used by Vietnamese people for mid-autumn festival is also being held.

Art researcher and lecturer Trang Thanh Hiền from the Việt Nam Fine Arts University will stage a talk show on the history of masks in the country and throughout the world, the connection between masks and people’s cultural life, as well as the significance of masks in Việt Nam’s mid-autumn lantern parade.

Visitors to the event can enjoy arts performances and lion dances, enter quizzes, and take part in folk games such as tug-of-war and blindfolded pot smashing.

Children can also try their hand at arranging mâm ngũ quả (five-fruit tray) and make traditional masks, moon cakes, mid-autumn festival lanterns, and tò he (toy figurines).

The programme will also include an exhibition displaying outstanding entries from a children’s painting contest on traffic safety.

The highlight of the programme is an outdoor space of installation art themed ‘Way to the Moon’. Artists used traditional children’s toys and agricultural equipment to create an artwork explaining the origin of the mid-autumn festival. A sound and light system will create visual effects for visitors as well.

The festival is hosted by the VECCA, the Việt Nam Women’s Museum and the ASEAN Women’s Circle in Hà Nội, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

It opens to the public from 8.30am until 10 pm at 2 Hoa Lư Street, Hà Nội, with entrance free. Art and musical performances are held in the evenings. — VNS