(VNF) - Vietnamese and international children will have a chance to learn about the perse colours of Italian culture during International Children’s Day (June 1^st) at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (VME) in Hanoi on May 27^th-28^th.

A series of culture activities will be held at Canh Dieu (Kite) Building, Trong Dong (Bronze Drum) Building and Cham Building such as elaborate Italian mask decoration, traditional costume colouring, bookmark-making and cooking.

"Children will learn about the significance of masks at Italian carnivals, and they will learn how to make a mask," said An Thu Tra, a VME staff member. "Colouring traditional costumes will help children to understand the various costumes and inspire them to make designs of their own".

Meetings with Italian representatives will be held at Trong Dong Building at 9.30 am, 11 am, 2.30 pm and 4 pm, introducing a panorama of Italian culture.

Highlight of the festival will be the cuisine, presented by Italian Ambassador to Vietnam Cecillia Piccioni herself. She will teach how to make spaghetti and pizza at 10 am on May 28^th. The Italian restaurants in Hanoi will also attend the festival to serve Italian foods and drinks.

The event also includes art performances and Italian carnival demonstration by Italian people.

Italian and other coutries’ traditional costumes will be sashayed by little models.

But Italy won’t be the only colourful nation on display. There will be folk games, art and traditional costume performances from Cambodia, the Republic of Korea, Nigeria, Lao, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Japan, Nepal, Thailand and Cuba at the festival.

Traditional costumes will be sashayed by little models at 9.30 am; 11 am and 3.30 pm.

"International folk games are often held at the VME, but games from Mongolia and Cuba will be introduced here for the first time," said Tra.

"The Mongolian game shagai (ankle bones) is very interesting. Shagai is played using the cleaned and polished ankle bones of sheep. It is the most unique game in Mongolia. Mongolian students will bring their own shagai and play at the festival," she added.

The Mongolian game shagai (ankle bones) will be introduced at the two-day festival for the first time.

From Nghia Hung ward, the northern province of Nam Dinh, water puppeteers will perform at the festival. The puppeteers will teach little audiences how to control the puppets and the audiences will have chance to discover backstage of water puppetry.

The children festival is co-held by VME and the Italian embassy in Hanoi, with hundreds volunteers from Hanoi University’s Italian Department; Military Science Academy and international schools in Hanoi.

The festival will be held from 8.30 am to 11.30 am and from 2 pm to 5.30 pm on May 27^th-28^th.

In addition, an exhibition on Italian artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino will be held at the VME on June 2^nd./.

Compiled by VNF