(Trip advisor) Coming to Vietnam armed with eagerness to discover unique traditional customs, you would not want to miss culturally famous water puppetry – Vietnamese’s singular variation on the ancient Asian puppet tradition. Literally, water puppetry (“múa r?i n??c” in Vietnamese) means “puppets that dance on water” and is an ancient tradition which has origin from as far as the 11th century CE in the villages of the Red River Delta area of Northern Vietnam . As believed that every aspects of life are controlled by spirits, the Vietnamese creatively invent water puppetry as a form of entertainment so as to satisfy these sprits using the natural medium that nature has to offer with the ponds and flooded rice paddies after harvest being the stage for those impromptu performances.

For those who haven’t been familiar with water puppetry, chance is, the first encounter with the special kind of performance art can be extremely amusing. As expected, the show would take place in a waist-deep about pool about four square meters being the stage where the wooden and lacquered puppets are controlled through the large supporting rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water by up to eight puppeteers who normally hid behind a screen. Captivatingly accompanying the screen is Chèo (a traditional form of Vietnamese opera) played by the orchestra with instrumentation includes vocals, drums, wooden bells, cymbals, horns, monochord, gongs and bamboo flute. Interactions between the musicians and the puppets are also of importance: a yell would be a warning of danger or a word of encouragement would be a cheerful backup for the puppets.

In Vietnam there are three most famous theatres that offer water puppetry which are the National Puppet Theatre, the municipal Thang Long Water Puppetry Theater and the Golden Dragon Water Puppetry Theater.

Thang Long Puppetry Theater in Hanoi is becoming internationally popular recently and gives out performances on regular basis. With the easily accessible location on 57B Dinh Tien Hoang just beside Hoan Kiem Lake at the city center, the theater attracts flows of eager visitors who mostly are foreigners with their daily performances. The schedule is greatly flexible with five shows everyday at 15h30, 17h, 18h30, 20h and 21h15 with the price being from 60.000VND to 100.000VND. Notably, the theater offer an appealing performance-on-demand service, which makes water puppetry in Hanoi always available for those who want to experience a taste of one of Vietnam’s unique tradition.

Vietnamese Water Puppet
	Water Puppet is a unique art which has it origin in the delta of the Red river in the tenth century. The farmers in this region devised a form of entertainment using what natural medium they can find in their environment. In ancient times, the ponds and the rice paddies after harvest were the stage for these impromptu shows. This art form is unique to North Vietnam and only finds its way to the world stage in recent years as a result of the normalized relation with the West. Today the Thang Long puppet troupe is the most well known in Ha Noi.
Modern, water puppetry is performed in a pool of water with the water surface being the stage. The puppeteers stand behind a screen and control the puppets using long bamboo rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water surface. The puppets are carved out of wood and often weigh up to 15 kg. A traditional Vietnamese orchestra provides background music accompaniment. Singers of Cheo (a form of opera) with origin in north Vietnam sing songs which tell the story being acted out by the puppets.
	The theme of the skits is rural and has a strong reference to Vietnamese folklore. It tells of day-to-day living in rural Vietnam and Vietnamese folk tales that are told by grandparents to their grandchildren. Stories of the harvest, of fishing and of festivals are highlighted. Legends and national history are also told through short skits. Many of the skits, especially those involving the tales of day-to-day living, often have a humorous twist.