Calligraphy written with Vietnamese characters :: This stylized work is by the painter Tran Dat, who is introducing a harmony between the shapes of Chinese characters and Vietnamese characters--which are based on the roman alphabet. If you turn the image on top counter-clockwise by 90 degrees, you can read the Vietnamese words. It is meant to be displayed vertically, so that it first appears as an ancient Chinese text. These four lines are from the poem "Travel in the South" by Nguyen Binh.
To the Vietnamese, calligraphic word writing expresses the soul of the people and their country. By using handwritten Viet characters, the artist hopes to make the Viet language more popular.
Modern Vietnamese Calligraphy
Art from Vietnam
I bought these two peices from Craft Link in Hanoi. It is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to assist small Vietnamese craft producers find market opportunities. The have sound basic criteria such as fair wages and environmental/employee safety and give preference to producers who are marginalized or disadvantaged. You can get some really great stuff here!
Chuc Mung Nam Moi
In the wee hours of the morning the electricity keep turning off--i kept waking up because the heat was stifling. I think the entire neighborhood stayed up all night talking and celebrating the new year--i could hear laughter the whole night. The beauty shop across from my bedroom window had business until 1 am.
Today, it is beautifully serene--just a few motorbikes driving by now and then, the sound of families laughing together. A truck full of dragon dancers playing their drums and cymbols interrupted the quiet briefly. Other than that, the absence of horns blowing and the deafening sound of the motor on the tuk-tuk garbage trucks has been heaven.
We exchanged wishes for the new year and lucky money red envelopes today. There were lots of smiles today from everyone!
The flags are all out on my street again (see the National Day photo from a previous post).
This year is Year of the Pig. It is actually the Year of the Golden Pig, which happens only once every 60 years. enjoy all the pig posts.
Today, it is beautifully serene--just a few motorbikes driving by now and then, the sound of families laughing together. A truck full of dragon dancers playing their drums and cymbols interrupted the quiet briefly. Other than that, the absence of horns blowing and the deafening sound of the motor on the tuk-tuk garbage trucks has been heaven.
We exchanged wishes for the new year and lucky money red envelopes today. There were lots of smiles today from everyone!
The flags are all out on my street again (see the National Day photo from a previous post).
This year is Year of the Pig. It is actually the Year of the Golden Pig, which happens only once every 60 years. enjoy all the pig posts.
pig envelopes
The bronzing and gold foil doesn't come through on these--but it was done nicely. I was surprised at how difficult it was to find envelopes with pigs on it since this is year of the Pig (my year!). Tradition is that you put money (just a small amount) in these and give one to each family member on Tet (Lunar New Year.) The money symbolizes the wish for wealth and prosperity in the new year.
Happy New Year!
Chuc Mung Nam Moi! In honor of the year of the pig--here are two delightful paper pigs. These were made in Vietnam with the Quilling technique, aka paper filigree.
emperor jade pagoda, saigon
through the dense incense smoke, i discovered this lovely marble carving.
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