History lessons from lanterns

Thanh Tuyen Festival is not only unique because of the biggest and most beautiful lanterns, it is not only a day of fun on the full moon night, but it is also the first history lessons for children.

On the evening of September 26, 2015, tens of thousands of people flocked to Nguyen Tat Thanh Square (Tuyen Quang City) to participate in the Tuyen Quang Festival, watching giant lantern models... This is the biggest and most unique Mid-Autumn Festival and has become a "specialty" of Tuyen Quang City, Tuyen Quang Province. The festival is not only a happy day for the people of Tuyen Quang, but it also contains educational lessons about the spirit of solidarity and patriotism for children.

Lantern model about the story of Saint Giong fighting the An invaders.

Before the festival, while grandparents and parents are busy coming up with ideas, contributing money and effort to build the most beautiful and meaningful lantern model in their neighborhood, students are also eagerly waiting for the day to carry lanterns and enjoy the moonlit night feast...

Thanh Tuyen Festival is not only a Mid-Autumn Festival, but also a meaningful activity in educating the spirit of solidarity. In the process of parents, grandparents and the neighborhood group joining hands to make lanterns, it unintentionally connects the close relationship between families, each family has the consciousness to contribute, those who have contributed their labor, those who have contributed their money, joining hands and efforts to give their children a happy festival, so that their childhood will have memorable memories.

Nearly 100 giant lantern models, brightly lit, parading on the streets, not only bring a unique cultural feature in celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Tuyen Quang, each model is a creative idea, also very humane. What is special is that behind those models is a profound lesson about humanity, about behavior, about patriotism and about the heroic history of the nation.

Model "Echoes of Dien Bien" with the story of Dien Bien Phu Victory.

The idea of ​​building models is often taken by the neighborhood groups from fables and fairy tales for children. These are the story of the rabbit and the turtle racing, the story of two goats crossing a bridge, the story of the young rooster, the story of the carp turning into a dragon... each model is associated with a story, which the children in that area can tell in detail when asked. These stories are lessons about how to live and behave for children.

Not only are there fables and fairy tales with lessons on social life, many residential groups also build lantern models from historical stories and achievements in the fight against foreign invaders. Children can both have fun and learn historical stories through lantern models in their residential groups, such as the model "Tran Quoc Toan goes to war" of the people of group 9, Tan Quang ward. The model "Echo of Dien Bien" of Phan Thiet ward tells about the Dien Bien Phu victory, the model of Hung Dao Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan commanding the navy in the Bach Dang battle in 1228, defeating the Yuan-Mongol army, the model of Saint Giong pulling bamboo to fight the An invaders... Each lantern model is a heroic historical story of the nation told by fathers, mothers, grandparents to their children.

Lantern model "Pride of Vietnam"

Nguyen Hoang Long, a student at Hong Thai Secondary School, proudly told about his group's model: "My group's lantern model is an image of hero Tran Quoc Toan going to war, the young hero crushed an orange, with a flag embroidered with six golden words, teacher."

Not only Hoang Long, but many children, when asked about the story of their ancestral lantern, all told it fluently. Standing in front of a model of a man riding a horse, holding a bamboo stick, Pham Ngoc Thanh, a 4th grade student at Le Van Tam Primary and Secondary School, and Le Thanh Phong, a 6th grade student at An Tuong Secondary School, all told it very clearly: My parents told me since I was making lanterns that this is a model of Saint Giong fighting the An invaders. Because the iron sword was broken, he pulled up bamboo to fight the invaders...

Besides the model of “Echoes of Dien Bien” of Phan Thiet ward, while a 6th grade girl in Hanoi who went out with her mother answered that she did not know and did not understand what that model was, Vi Minh Tuan, a 5th grade student at Phan Thiet Primary School (Tuyen Quang City) answered very clearly: “This is an image of the Dien Bien Phu victory. This is an image of the militia carrying food into the campaign, and this is an image of the soldiers raising the victory flag high on the roof of the De Castries bunker”. When asked if he had learned it in class, Tuan shook his head: “I have not learned it, but I have heard my parents and grandparents tell stories since making this lantern”.

Residential Group No. 1, Tan Quang Ward (Tuyen Quang City) has created a very unique lantern model, which is the shape of a dragon symbolizing the map of Vietnam, with Truong Sa, Hoang Sa, behind is the image of a bright red flag with a yellow star and the words celebrating the 70th anniversary of independence... Mr. Nguyen Huu Tuan, Secretary, Head of Residential Group No. 1, Tan Quang Ward said, this year to celebrate the 70th anniversary of independence, we made a lantern model with the theme "Pride of Vietnam". The people took the idea from the origin of the descendants of Lac Hong, the image of the map of Vietnam in the shape of a dragon to express pride in a Vietnam rich in historical and cultural traditions, the spirit of fighting to preserve independence... When we made this model, many children were curious and asked questions, we explained to them the meaning of the model, with the desire to contribute to educating patriotism and national pride for the children...

Over the years, the Thanh Tuyen festival is not only a meaningful cultural activity, but it has also become a lesson in being human and a first history lesson for children.

According to News