The rice cake making craft in Tuy Loan Village (Hoa Phong Commune, Hoa Vang District, Danang City) has been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
This is the seventh national intangible cultural heritage of Danang after the other ones such as the local traditional art genre, stone carving craft in Non Nuoc, fish sauce making craft in Nam O, Fishermen’s Festival, bai choi singing art, and Ngu Hanh Son Avalokitesvara Festival.
The traditional rice cake making craft is now still maintained by 15 households in Tuy Loan following the secret recipe of the village. Tran Thi Luyen, 71, with over 50 years of experience in making rice cakes, told dantri.com.vn that the authentic Tuy Loan rice cakes are made from the rice grown and harvested in the village.
She added that the rice cakes are prepared from the flour of that local rice, and mixed with fish sauce, salt, sugar, sesame, and garlic or ginger in line with the villagers’ secret recipe so that the cakes will have a unique flavor that cannot be found elsewhere. After having been made, the rice cakes are placed on bamboo-woven shelves and are dried over hot charcoal ovens (instead of under the sunlight as seen in other localities).
Collecting sweets for poor kids
Fly to Sky, a charitable group founded by Le Van Phuc for six years in HCMC, has run a program from February 14 to collect sweets that have not been used up after Tet, the Lunar New Year holiday, as gifts for poor children in mountainous areas in Gia Lai, Binh Phuoc and Dien Bien provinces.
With 10 addresses to receive donated sweets in HCMC, the program welcomes hundreds of givers every day. The donated cookies, candies, preserves, seeds, and canned food must be of high quality and have not expired. The program will be carried out for two months.
Last year, the program gave sweets to children in border communes of Gia Lai, Long An and Dien Bien provinces. Fly to Sky has carried out hundreds of charitable programs in 22 localities nationwide over the past six years, vnexpress.net reported.
HCMC to hold river festival in summer
The HCMC Department of Tourism has disclosed details about a series of tourism promotion programs in 2024, with the buzzworthy river festival slated for the upcoming summer, reported the Tuoi Tre news site.
The second edition of the HCMC River Festival will be held at Saigon Port, Hiep Phuoc Port, and other destinations from May 31 to June 8. It aims to promote waterway tourism products associated with the spiritual life of the southern Vietnamese people.
The event is expected to feature a series of 22 impressive tourism, cultural, entertainment, culinary, and shopping activities, with the highlight being the art show “Legendary Voyage,” a continuation of the show “Saigon River – a Witness to History” last year.
Last year, the first-ever river festival was hosted in HCMC in August at Saigon Cruise Port, Bach Dang Wharf Park, Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal area, and Binh Dong Wharf. It drew over 51,000 visitors with various captivating activities, fostering waterway tourism development in the region.
Six rare turtles found in northern region
The Vu Quang National Park’s management board in Ha Tinh Province said on February 22 that they had just received six rare turtles from Nguyen Vu Cuong, a resident in the province’s Huong Son District.
They comprise four flowerback box turtles (Cuora Galbinifrons) and two keeled box turtles (Cuora Mouhotii), all endangered species listed in the Red Data Books of Vietnam and the world. Notably, flowerback box turtles are critically endangered.
On February 21, Cuong found those six turtles while gardening in his family’s land area. He decided to bring them home and then reached out to the local ranger station. After that, the ranger station contacted the Vu Quang National Park for handover, reported the Thanh Nien News site.
The turtles will receive proper care until they are deemed healthy, after which they will be released back into the natural environment.
