A precious collection of photos from the early 20th century is making a comeback on social media platforms, offering a nostalgic look at the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hanoi. The colorful, realistic and vivid footage, taken by French photographer Léon Busy more than a century ago, shows the bustling, vibrant and distinctive atmosphere of Hanoi’s Old Quarter every Mid-Autumn Festival. These are not just photos, but also a historical story told through light and color.
A journey back in time to an old Hanoi
Around 1914-1917, in a project called "Archive of the Planet" initiated by French philanthropist Albert Kahn, photographer Léon Busy was sent to Vietnam to record daily life in the North. In addition to historical photos of ancient streets such as Hang Luoc or famous relics such as Tran Quoc Pagoda, he had a special "discovery" on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month in 1915 on Hang Gai Street. Here, the Mid-Autumn Festival atmosphere was filled, with stalls selling lanterns and traditional toys lined up one after another, people sitting in front of their houses diligently whittling bamboo to make lanterns.
Léon Busy's photos show a colorful Mid-Autumn Festival scene, which, according to cultural writer Hoang Dao Thuy in his book Old Hanoi Streets, from the first of August, the whole street becomes bustling. "All the mothers and children of Hanoi come to Hang Gai Street. All the shops in the street have turned into shops selling Mid-Autumn Festival paper toys," he wrote. Paper elephants, paper horses, rabbit lanterns, fish transforming into dragons, lion heads, and lanterns... are handmade, neatly arranged in front of the porch.
Léon Busy's photos of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hanoi are part of a collection of 1,382 photos of Vietnam, currently on display at the Albert Kahn Museum in Paris, France. What is special is that these photos were taken using the Autochrome real-color photography technique, an extremely luxurious technology at that time in Vietnam, providing the most realistic and vivid view of Hanoi more than 100 years ago.
Unique features of ancient Mid-Autumn Festival toys
Léon Busy's photo series highlights the Mid-Autumn Festival toys that were familiar to children at that time. The most typical are the glass paper lanterns, especially the carp and star lanterns. The carp lantern, with the legendary image of a carp jumping over the Dragon Gate and "transforming into a dragon", has become a symbol of perseverance and effort to achieve success.
In 1915, glass paper lanterns were considered precious toys, only available in big cities because glass paper was mainly imported from France or Hong Kong (China), not as popular as Do paper or Ban paper. Unlike traditional paper lanterns, glass paper lanterns, when lit with candles, will let light pass through, creating a more sparkling and brilliant effect. Around 1910-1920, this type of lantern gradually appeared and became more popular in the 1930s.
In addition to lanterns, shops also sell masks, parasols, paper horses, puppets and even brightly painted iron and tin horse-riding statues. Among them, there is a rare shop on Hang Gai Street that sells folding lanterns, a type of lantern that can be folded and pulled out into a cylindrical shape, usually made from printed colored paper or oil-coated paper. Although more expensive, folding lanterns were still popular with children at that time.
Léon Busy’s collection of photos of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hanoi over 100 years ago is not only a valuable document but also demonstrates the photographer’s talent in choosing composition, angle, color and subject. He has delicately and emotionally recorded a bygone era, where life moved slowly, and traditional cultural features were preserved in the most genuine way.
In the modern Mid-Autumn Festival era, with electronic lanterns and imported toys everywhere, images of the old moon season still evoke deep nostalgia. They remind us of a generation that grew up with handmade toys, of evenings spent together under the moonlight, and of a simple, traditional way of life. These photos not only revive a glorious past but also serve as a cultural heritage, helping future generations understand more about traditional values, so that they can appreciate and preserve them.
