To him is a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival toy that seemed to have been lost, but now it is restored by young artist Dang Van Hau (35 years old), loved by many people in the capital.
Coming to Hang Ma Street (Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi) in the days close to the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can see a big change, that is, traditional toys for young children are sold more. In particular, there appears a stall selling To He (color powder breed) researched and restored by young artist Dang Van Hau.
Born and raised in a family with many generations attached to the profession of making to he in Xuan La (Hanoi), 35-year-old artist Dang Van Hau has had more than 20 years of working with flour breeds. With the desire to continue the tradition and preserve the soul of the craft village, he researched and restored many models of To He with styles of Phu Xuyen, Dong Xuan, Pho Khach… which have been lost for a long time.
The stall of young artisan Dang Van Hau is the only one to display and sell the old Mid-Autumn toy powder sets, keeping the spirit of New Year’s Day for children.
“I am proud of the profession of making to he because I am the preserver of a cultural beauty of Vietnamese people in general and Hanoi people in particular,” Hau shared.
Artisan Dang Van Hau said: “The dough seed is an indispensable toy for the children of old Hanoi. The dough breed has 3 main styles: the Phu Xuyen breed (also known as the stork cake), and the stork breeder. Dong Xuan (the breed of our street) and the one of the Khach street (the Chinese town). Each type of folk powder contains a story, creating the soul of an old Hanoi.”
Hau’s stall at 75 Hang Ma always attracts many people who love traditional values.
The colorful powdered animals attract the curiosity of many children and parents.
Ms. Dao Thuy Duong (Ha Dong) went to Hang Ma Street to choose and buy things for the children to break the Mid-Autumn Festival.Coming to the stall of artisan Dang Van Hau, Ms. Duong chose to buy 21 powdered seeds.She said: “I choose to buy traditional to he for my children during the Mid-Autumn Festival because of its friendliness and safety. In particular, each to he is associated with a story and legend that, when playing, children I will have the opportunity to learn, to know more about the history and cultural beauty of the Vietnamese people”.
On average, Mr. Hau’s stall sells about 200 seeds of seed powder per day, peak days such as weekends can sell up to 400.The price of each seed powder, to he ranges from a few tens of thousands to several million dong.
“In recent years, people have tended to buy traditional toys, the powder-like sets I made could not be sold in time.Even now, close to the Mid-Autumn Festival, we still owe an order of about 200-300 more samples because manual shaping is very time consuming, some models take a whole day to complete, “Mr. To share.
In addition to opening a sales booth, here Mr. Hau also organizes the program “Mid-Autumn Festival – Returning to Childhood” every evening so that children and their parents can interact and make toys with their own hands. “Children’s memory”.
The children were excited to participate in the toy-making experience. Here, children will be trained in their creativity, perseverance and meticulousness.
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