Hundreds of people parade in traditional costumes on Hanoi's walking street

The fourth Vietnamese costume festival "Bach Hoa Bo Hanh" under the framework of the Hanoi Creative Design Festival received great attention from locals and tourists. This year's parade had about 400 people, bringing to the audience ancient costumes from many periods.

Starting from the Vietnam National Museum of History, the procession passed through Trang Tien Street and marched along the Hoan Kiem Lake walking street. Locals and tourists lined up on both sides of the street wherever the procession passed to capture rare moments.

In the picture is a cavalry troop wearing Giao Linh - Truc Linh shirts of the Le Dynasty, leading the ancient costume parade. Many viewers were delighted because there were also horses on the street.

Volunteers wear ao doi kham - a type of shirt often used as an outer garment, with slits on both sides to give a light feeling.

A volunteer is holding a Cuu Long hat - modeled after the restoration project of the Vietnam History Museum in 2010 and the book "A Thousand Years of Ao Mu" in 2013. Mr. Vu Duc, representative of the organizing committee of Bach Hoa Bo Hanh, said that these large projects have directly inspired the movement of recreating Vietnamese costumes by young people.

The ancient costume parade passed through the Hoan Kiem Lake area.

Some visitors were even carried by their relatives to get the best photos. Many visitors said they were "overwhelmed" by the scale of the parade and the variety of traditional costumes. Although they did not understand each costume, most of them considered this an interesting and rare experience on the walking street.

"I don't know anything about this event but Vietnam's costumes are impressive," said Anna, a Polish tourist.

The parade group is dressed in Nguyen Dynasty costumes with the two people in front (red shirts) wearing prince and princess costumes; the group behind is dressed in mandarin costumes.

The group paraded in modernized robes. These were pieces of cloth worn around the neck as an ornament for nobles, helping to keep the neck and shoulders clean.

Arthur, a French tourist who had just arrived in Hanoi for a day, did not expect to witness such a memorable scene on the walking street. In France, young people do not wear traditional costumes and parade, so he was even more impressed with the love of history and culture of the Vietnamese people.

"I think other foreign tourists are also attracted to Vietnamese traditional costumes when they see this scene," he said, adding that he would try wearing Vietnamese traditional costumes once if he had the chance.

Ngoc Hoai, a Hanoi native, watched last year's Bach Hoa Bo Hanh parade and commented that the scale and variety of costumes this year were "much more impressive". She followed the group from the beginning and found the scene of people wearing traditional costumes on the walking street to be the most emotional of the entire journey.

"With a space that attracts a large number of tourists like this, I think the parade will be a good way to promote Vietnamese culture," she said.

Representatives of the organizing committee of Bach Hoa Bo Hanh hope that the event will promote the movement of researching and restoring ancient costumes in Vietnam, especially among young people.

This movement has been of interest for the past 10 years with many independent research and design units. Bach Hoa Bo Hanh is a place that gathers units from all over the country, thereby giving people and tourists a new look at Vietnamese costumes.

"The parade is our way of showing our love and pride for Vietnamese traditional costumes," said Duc, comparing the procession of people in Vietnamese traditional costumes to "a hundred flowers blooming and bustling at a festival."

In the picture is the royal costume of Nguyen dynasty.

Besides the Vietnamese traditional costume groups, this year's parade also featured a group wearing traditional Mongolian costumes to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.