Monday, August 27, 2018

Related Tours A story of Dong Ho Folk Painting

Among lots of folk paintings of Hang Trong (Hanoi), Kim Hoang (Ha Tay province), Nam Hoanh (Nghe An province), Sinh (Hue city), etc., the paintings of Dong Ho seems to be the most popular. During your trip in Vietnam, you can see this kind of painting hanging on each house, especially whenever the Vietnamese Tet comes since it has been used to be a precious decoration to celebrate the biggest occasion of the Lunar New Year Festival.

Tet Dragon dance, folk art picture from Dong Ho

Particularly, in the past, Vietnamese people bought Dong Ho pictures, hung them on their wall for a year and then replaced them by new ones when a new year was coming. Until now, Dong Ho Painting has not only symbolized for Vietnam’s folk culture but drawn inspiration for many a poets and musicians of Vietnamese generations as well.

What Dong Ho Painting attracts 

Except for each painting’s beautiful lines and lay outs, people are impressed by its folk feature, which is clearly expressed in its color and paper, both of which are handmade and derived from materials available in nature.

What attracts people at first in each Dong Ho painting is its special paper, which is made of bark of tree, called “do”, and powder of seashells and glutinous rice. While the seashells create a sparkling white background, the glutinous rice makes the paper more supple and able to conserve colors for such a long time.

Meanwhile, the second impression is wide range of colors of paint used in Dong Ho pictures, made from various kinds of natural materials, which can easily be found in Vietnamese countryside. For instance, the black color is taken from ash of burned bamboo leaves, the red one is from red gravel and the yellow is from flowers. They’re such striking and lively colors that introduce you the whole Vietnamese village through each line and each color block. 

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