Later on the same trip, I was in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and learned that in November 2015 a new open air pavilion for water puppet performances had been opened there. Water puppetry in the Museum of Ethnology The show was about one hour long and left a distinctive and lasting impression. The performance was concluded by dances of four animals sacred in Vietnam: a dragon, a unicorn, a tortoise, and a phoenix. It’s Hoan Kiem Lake in the centre of Hanoi, with the Turtle Tower on the island. Hence the name of the lake – “The Returned Sword”. After the victory, the Golden Tortoise God appeared to claim the sword back when Le Roi was boating on a lake in Hanoi. As legend has it, he was granted a sword by deities to win the war. There was also the traditional sketch of Le Loi returning the sword, Le Loi being a national hero and the leader of the resistance against foreign invasion in the 15th century. There were fourteen sketches, all in all, portraying agricultural work, catching frogs, chasing a duck-hunting fox, and fishing, among others. The show started with a folk music composition played by a Vietnamese orchestra on traditional music instruments: drums, wooden bells, horns, bamboo flutes, and cymbals. The audience comprised mostly adult foreign tourists, but some children too. The ticket cost 100 000 dongs, about 5 USD. I still happily bought it as it was my only chance to watch such a performance on that trip. When it was my turn in the short line at the ticket office, I was told they only had a few tickets left for the last performance of the day, at 8 p.m. I went to buy a ticket first thing in the morning on the day of the show. I had an opportunity to watch a show at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi. The world-famous Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre Water puppetry is a popular form of entertainment nowadays too, especially for local children and foreigners discovering Vietnamese folk culture. A water puppet show typically depicts Vietnamese day-to-day rural life along with important historical events and ancient legends. While puppets move around, directed by puppeteers standing waist-deep in the water behind the stage, singers tell their stories in songs. It also conceals puppet strings and puppeteer movements, improves musical and vocal acoustics, and provides a shimmering lighting effect.Įach water puppet is hand-carved and given five layers of lacquer paint to make it waterproof and add vibrant colours to the performance.
Water is both the stage and a symbolic link to the rice harvest at water puppetry shows. Villagers in the delta of the Red River and in other rice-growing regions of Northern Vietnam staged water puppet performances at religious and end-of-harvest festivals, and on other important occasions.
Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique folk art practiced since the 11th century.
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