Vietnamese water puppetry is originated a thousand years ago during the Ly dynasty. Villagers in the Red River delta and other rice-growing regions in Northern Vietnam staged water puppet performances to celebrate the end of the rice harvest, religious festivals, and other important occasions... Due to characteristics with folk elements, Water Puppet rapidly becomes a Vietnamese traditional art
The distinctive element of water puppetry is using water surface as the stage for puppets' tricks and dramas.
The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. The shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are normally hidden behind a screen, to control them. Thus the puppets appear to be moving over the water.
A traditional Vietnamese orchestra provides background music accompaniment. The instrumentation includes vocals, drums, wooden bells, cymbals, horns,monochord, gongs, and bamboo flutes. Singers of chèo sing songs which tell the story being acted out by the puppets. The musicians and the puppets interact during performance; the musicians may yell a word of warning to a puppet in danger or a word of encouragement to a puppet in need.
The content of the puppet shows usually revolves the themes of daily life as dragon dances, processions, wrestling, bullfighting... or excerpts from some fairy tales, Thach Sanh, Tam Cam... In the collection of Vietnam water puppet, there are more than 30 traditional repertoires and hundreds of modern ones with the content of the folklore and the daily life of Vietnamese people. This art has not only been the unique spiritual product of the Vietnamese but also become an attractive tourist product alluring international tourists..
In current times, water puppetry has become a popular form of entertainment, especially for local children and foreigners who want to discover more about Vietnamese folk culture. Water puppetry is now frequently performed in puppet theaters in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
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