Hà Nội to host first ever lotus festival

Lotus, the flower that symbolises the culture, spirit and character of the Vietnamese people, will be honoured at a festival held in Hà Nội next month.

The first of its kind in Hà Nội, the festival, organised by the Tây Hồ District People's Committee [District Government] in collaboration with the Hà Nội Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, will take place at the Tây Hồ Cultural and Creative Space from July 12 to 16.

According to Bùi Thị Lan Phương, deputy chairwoman of the Tây Hồ District People’s Committee, the event aims to promote and honour the cultural values ​​of the capital city through lotus flowers that have been cultivated in the West Lake region for hundreds of years.

“Through the festival, the Tây Hồ local people who involve in the cultivation, want to introduce the distinctive values ​​of the traditional job of lotus-scented tea and other unique characteristics of lotus-involved culture in Vietnamese life,” she said.

The festival will honour artisans and those who preserve and develop lotus cultivation in association with the development of agritourism and promotion of local products.

The event also is an activity boost the production and to strengthen the cooperation and consumption of the lotus products between Hà Nội and other localities across the country.

“This is also an opportunity to promote and stimulate tourism, arousing the potential for developing local speciality products, at the same time to attracting tourists to Hà Nội, contributing to local economic and tourism development," said Phương.

The festival’s agenda will include the display of speciality products of the northern mountainous provinces.

There will be an area for festival visitors to learn about the lotus and products and food made from different part of the lotus flower and plant, including lotus silk, lotus-seed sweet soup, sticky rice with lotus seed, and lotus spring rolls.

Interior décor and handicraft products featuring lotus flowers will also be on show along with specific lotus varieties from Hà Nội and other regions.

The festival will feature an art performance entitled Lotus’ Story and an awarding ceremony of the photo contest Beauty, Áo Dài and Lotus.

Festival-goers will be encouraged to wear traditional áo dài featuring lotus patterns while attending the event to spread the cultural meaning of the Hà Nội’s first Lotus Festival.

Hundred-petal lotus cultivation

Lotus flowers grown in the West Lake area have long been famous for both their colour and fragrance. The West Lake lotus flower is a special lotus flower that has up to 100 petals and is the variety best for making lotus-scented tea.

However, since 2018, due to the changes of weather and water quality, the cultivation area of the 100-petal lotus flowers has decreased. Therefore, aiming to preserve and provide materials for the traditional job of lotus-scented tea making, the project 'Restoring and developing lotus cultivation in some small lakes in the West Lake area' has been approved by the Tây Hồ district authorities.

The district has coordinated with the Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute and the Hà Nội Agricultural Promotion Centre to build up a model of lotus cultivation associated with eco-tourism development. The special lotus flower will be planted in an area of 7.5 hectares in Quảng An and Nhật Tân wards.

Director of the Rural Development Department Nguyễn Văn Chí said that at the Hà Nội Lotus Festival event, 30 new lotus varieties will be introduced to visitors.

“In very near future, we will revive the once famous lotus ponds in West Lake,” he said.