The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology will host a mid-autumn festival inspiredby Southeast Asian culture from September 14-15, featuring a wide rangeof activities and games.

With support from Southeast Asianembassies in Vietnam , the festival will give children from regionalcountries a chance to introduce their cultures through music, dances,folk games and workshops.

Through the event, Vietnamesechildren will understand similarities and differences of how themid-autumn festival is celebrated across Southeast Asian countries,according to museum official Nguyen Thai Hoa.

Southeast Asiancultures will be creatively introduced with competitions to identifycountries through songs, customs, currency, national flags andtraditional costumes.

Museum visitors will be able to partakein a wide variety of folk games such as "walking on coconut shells"(from Laos, Thailand and Indonesia), the "pebble board game" (Indonesia,Philippines and Vietnam), "hopping" (Myanmar, the Philippines andVietnam), "pick-up-sticks" (the Philippines and Vietnam), "tug-of-war"(Thailand and Vietnam) and "spinning tops" (Malaysia, Indonesia andVietnam).

Children will be photographed in traditional costumes and can sample food from various countries in Southeast Asia .

They will also take part in workshops guiding them on how to make toys using traditional methods and materials.

They will hear a talk on tien si giay (paper figurine), a traditionaltoy of Vietnamese children symbolising fondness for learning by PhDNguyen Van Thinh from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Other features of a traditional Vietnamese mid-autumn festival –the most eagerly-awaited festival for children – such as the legend ofthe festival and how it's celebrated will also be presented.-VNA