Which province or city will have its mascot crowned in the Year of the Dragon 2024?

Every Lunar New Year, artisans from provinces and cities across the country compete to showcase their skill, meticulousness, and creativity in crafting giant mascots to welcome the new year. Spanning the S-shaped land of Vietnam, each region has its own mascots with unique symbolic characteristics.

As the Year of the Dragon approaches, images of dragons from various provinces and cities are appearing, some majestic and awe-inspiring, others hilariously funny. Since their unveiling, these "collections" of mascots have amazed and impressed people, creating a sensation on social media due to their diverse shapes, sizes, materials, and striking features.

Having previously caused a sensation with its tiger and cat mascots, Quang Tri is one of the provinces where people eagerly anticipate seeing the finished product. The dragon mascot in Lao Bao town (Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province) is approximately 4.5 meters tall, with a winding body about 7 meters long and a total weight of about 500 kg. Surrounding the majestic dragon are stylized white and blue clouds.

In contrast to last year's thin and frail tiger mascot, the first images of the dragon mascot in Phu Tho for the Year of the Dragon were immediately praised for their beautiful, graceful, and well-proportioned design.

True to its name, "Binh Duong's unique and extraordinary," the twin dragons here are crafted from earthenware jars of the ancient Dai Hung kiln, over 160 years old. Not only do they create a highlight for the Year of the Dragon (2014), but these symbolic figures, placed along the road in Tuong Binh Hiep ward, also serve as cultural symbols promoting local traditional crafts to tourists. Each dragon's body, measuring 27 meters in length, is assembled from 38 large earthenware jars, and the details of the head, scales, legs, and tail are all designed from clay and assembled from thousands of jars.

Recently, the eco-friendly dragon mascots for the Nguyen Hue flower street for Tet 2024 (Ho Chi Minh City) have gradually taken shape. Named "Luong Long Trieu Lien" (Two Dragons Worshipping Lotus), each mascot has five winding dragon body sections along both sides of the flower street, with a length of over 100 meters and a head circumference of over 2 meters.

With the theme "Proud of the Tradition of the Dragon Father - Fairy Mother," inspired by the legend of Lac Long Quan and Au Co, the dragon mascot of Binh Dinh province, currently under construction in Nguyen Tat Thanh Square, Quy Nhon City, has made a strong impression on viewers with its majestic appearance. The large-scale exhibition area is approximately 105 meters long, nearly 40 meters wide, and the mascot itself is 7.5 meters tall. This area is interspersed with about 45,000 potted plants and flowers of various kinds.

Four dragon mascots in Thanh Hoa, with their bizarre and humorous "slender and frail" appearance, are causing a stir on social media. The vast majority believe the dragon mascots are poorly designed, appearing "weak and stunted," with disproportionate bodies that resemble eels.

Borrowing the body structure from Western dragons and remaining faithful to the traditional dragon imagery, the "baby" dragon mascot from Bac Giang, named "Happy Dragon," symbolizes the wish for a new year filled with peace and good fortune for everyone.

In the land of the wealthy Bac Lieu mandarin, the most striking feature at the Tet (Lunar New Year) market is the dragon mascot made from 130 lanterns. The dragon mascot has a head measuring 1.7 meters in length and a body measuring 82 meters in length, with the round lanterns forming the dragon's body having a diameter of 1 meter.

The dragon mascots in Hue are inspired by motifs and treasures of the imperial court associated with the historical, cultural, and human values ​​of the ancient capital. The two dragons are symmetrically arranged to create a natural arch shape, symbolizing "two dragons worshipping the moon," facing the Quoc Hoc stele and representing the city's aspiration for prosperity.

In Nghe An province, two dragon sculptures, carved from greenery, are placed on the sidewalk of Nguyen Sy Sach street in Vinh city. These two dragon-shaped bonsai trees are the same size, each approximately 30 meters long and over 2 meters tall, and are carved into graceful curves on stone pedestals. The dragons' eyes and mouths are made from white plastic sheets, giving them a "sulky" appearance that has amused many viewers. After receiving mixed reactions, the Nghe An dragon sculptures were given a makeover to give them a more attractive look.

Phuong Mai is a reporter for Travellive Magazine in Hanoi.

Phuong Mai