{"id":1209,"date":"2012-05-15T16:56:39","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T20:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/?p=1209"},"modified":"2012-12-07T10:02:55","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T15:02:55","slug":"get-to-know-student-tours-to-vietnam-vietnamese-water-puppetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/get-to-know-student-tours-to-vietnam-vietnamese-water-puppetry","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know Student Tours to Vietnam: Vietnamese Water Puppetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Khai<\/strong><\/p>\n

Experience one of Vietnam\u2019s oldest forms of entertainment\u2014the art of water puppetry\u2014that has kept its people captivated for over 1,000 years. It\u2019s exactly as it sounds: puppet performances over water. And with two of the country\u2019s top puppetry troupes based in Vietnam\u2019s capital city, Hanoi, a show is one of many unique stops on your tour. The spectacles are chock-full of delights. They\u2019re complimented by traditional music, song (known as ch\u00e9o), lights, firecrackers and even fire, particularly when a mythical dragon is part of the cast. Look out for Teu, a carefree farmer, who appears in every story to keep Vietnamese folklore alive and tells tales of daily life. And because his name means \u201claughter\u201d in ancient Vietnamese, he\u2019ll make sure to keep the chuckles coming.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Locals refer to Vietnamese water puppetry as the \u201cSoul of the Rice Fields.<\/em>\u201d <\/em>That\u2019s because this art form originated in the rice paddies of northern Vietnam at a time when farmers believed that spirits had control over their crops. So, to keep the spirits entertained (and stop them from causing mischief) farmers would use bamboo figures to tell them stories on the paddy fields and in ponds. Today, modern puppeteers hide behind a mock pagoda and stand waist-deep in water-filled tubs that are made to look like a traditional Vietnamese village. From here, they manipulate ornately decorated wooden puppets\u2014some so massive they weigh up to 33 pounds\u2014using bamboo rods hidden underneath the water.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re hoping to recreate some marionette magic in your bathtub at home, don\u2019t expect to source any secrets from these Vietnamese puppet masters. That\u2019s because in the world of the puppeteer \u201cwater is thicker than blood.\u201d So much so that puppeteers are prepared to sever family ties in order to keep their techniques a mystery!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experience one of Vietnam\u2019s oldest forms of entertainment\u2014the art of water puppetry\u2014that has kept its people captivated for over 1,000 years. It\u2019s exactly as it sounds: puppet performances over water. And with two of the country\u2019s top puppetry troupes based in Vietnam\u2019s capital city, Hanoi, a show is one of many unique stops on your Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,63,172],"tags":[261,58,262,260],"class_list":["post-1209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parents","category-students","category-teachers","tag-educational-tours-to-vietnam","tag-educational-travel","tag-get-to-know","tag-vietnam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1209"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1213,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions\/1213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}