The Museum of Ethnology

Before getting to the main subject of the post, I should mention one of the best things about our stay in Hanoi. My in-laws have hired a small local staff, a couple of whom cook for the family. The food is as good or better than much of what we eat out. We had pho ga for dinner at night and it was excellent. Best of all the staff share with us the origins of dishes, and how they are prepared. For example, fresh yogurt made in a rice cooker, hot sauce fermented at home, and sticky rice prepared by soaking the rice for twelve hours and then pressing into a mold with inch-long large-seeded deep-red fruits. The dye from the fruit seeps into the rice making the entire dish red. You eat it for good luck around the Tet holiday. The fruit is called "zoy" I believe (ignore spelling and lack of tones), and has loads of vitamin E apparently.

Yesterday (January 22) was entirely devoted to a trip to the Museum of Ethnology (I may have to add to this Wikipedia listing). It's an amazing place. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Vietnam's minorities are very much still around and living according to traditional practices. I started to lose track of all the many, many individual groups. Viet (or Kinh) make up 87% of the population of the country. All told there are 54 recognized minorities in five ethno-linguistic families. The exhibits included weaving, basketry, pottery, and description of rituals (funerals, sacrifices, weddings). In fact it is common for wedding couples of minority background to get their pictures taken at the museum.



There is an excellent temporary exhibit by a French ethnologist (Georges Condominas, about his experience living in Sar Luk called "Nous avons mange la foret," until mid-March. Note: Don't eat at the cafe at that museum (enough said).

Most impressive were the outdoor exhibits, which included full-size communal dwellings (one 19 meters tall!) made of wood and thatch.



Should we ever come back, we'll have to try to time it for a water puppetry performance. The theatre looks like it would be fun.