Tomorrow is the first full moon in the Year of the Tiger. On the 15th day of the first lunar month, traditionally the New Year’s celebrations come to an end. Once again, lots of people will gather in temples and pagodas to pray for a happy and successful year. This day people also commemorate their ancestors at home. Symbolically, gifts are sent to heaven. These presents can be made out of cardboard and paper. It can also be a TV, a moped or even an entire miniature house. Some handicraft villages neat Hanoi have specialized in the manufacturing of such things. The best known place certainly is Đông Hồ, where famous New Year’s pictures come from. In the photo at the very top you can see a genuine Honda on the left hand side, and a little smaller, its counterpart in paper form on the right. At least in the photo it looks very real. It’s almost a bit of a shame when tomorrow everything goes up in flames. Thus, a Honda made out of paperboard costs 400,000 VNĐ (around 15 €). For a horse, for example, you have to expect to pay 200,000 VNĐ, and one of the life-size puppets t makes a difference of about one million VND. With Ram Thang, as this day is known in Vietnam, the New Year’s festivals and celebrations are officially over, and thus everyday life comes bit by bit. Many greetings Cathrin Source of the photos: vietnamnet.vn Cathrin’s Blog