An exhibition on the pig, the zodiac animal for the lunar year of 2019, is on display at the Vietnam Women’s Museum in Hanoi until February 19.

It aims to promote the message that the pig is a symbol of good fortune and prosperity in Asia and also honors different artistic types while helping foreign visitors learn more about the pig’s role in Vietnamese culture.

Items on display are from a collection of over 6,000 artworks, souvenirs, and other belongings of historian Duong Trung Quoc and his friends and come in perse shapes, materials, and art forms from different countries.

Born in a Year of the Pig, 1947, historian Quoc has long collected items featuring pigs on his business trips around Vietnam and overseas. He hopes the exhibition of unique products will inspire others to create their own collections.

Visitors have the chance for the first time to see pottery pigs from artisan Nguyen Van Toan and others from Bat Trang pottery village near Hanoi, paintings of the 12 zodiac animals from artist Le Tri Dung, and traditional folk paintings of pigs created in 1983 by famous artist Bui Xuan Phai.

The Vietnam Women’s Museum is also holding a fair introducing clean agricultural products from different cities and provinces. A space resembling a country market has been replicated at the museum so that visitors may learn more about traditional cultural identities.

Vietnam follows the animal zodiac, which has a 12-year cycle and includes the rat, ox (buffalo in Vietnam), tiger, rabbit (cat in Vietnam), dragon, snake, horse, sheep (goat in Vietnam), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

People claim that a person’s personality is revealed by their year of birth. Those born in the Year of the Pig, for example, are regarded as honest, reliable, sincere, tolerant, shy, affectionate, kind, impulsive, and short-tempered; quite like the animal.

VNF ( Vneconomictimes )