Color of spring on the mountainous Northwest of Vietnam

The mountainous Northwest of Vietnam is brightened every spring by the colors of nature and the costumes of the local communities.

Vietnam's Northwest is home to majestic nature and a variety of ethnic minorities, which together from a diverse and unique culture. The region is especially vibrant in springtime, thanks to flamboyant swaths of wild mountain flowers and colorful festivals filled with traditional costumes.

Flowering bauhinia plants are the symbols of love, spring and the souls of the locals. Forests and terraces from Son La to Lai Chau are lushly sprinkled with immaculate bauhinias, with the greatest density in the valley on historical Pha Din Pass. Bauhinias in full bloom also herald thick fog in the Northwest. The fog falls hard on cliffs or lies idly on roofs, creating a fairy-tale mingling of flowers and fog, clouds and cliffs.

Apart from bauhinias, peach, plum and apricot blossoms also add colors of life to the spring landscape of the Northwest. Miao peach trees are humble, scraggy and fragile, yet hide an ·extraordinary valor to survive the winter and nurture their tiny buds, which give rise to floral splendor in the spring. Over the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays, Miao peaches burst into bloom. From Sapa to Muong Khuong, valleys, villages and street corners are adorned with the gentle pink invasion of peach blossoms. Every peach tree flaunts its own petals like butterflies in spring breezes.

Bauhinias and peach blossoms also joyfully announce the start of the festive season, enlivened by twirling and bamboo stick dances on vast flower carpets. Girls and women from the highland communities dress in their most beautiful outfits, such as harmonious com tunics with rows of silver buttons or dark skirts with glistening xa tich chains loosely jangling by their side. The most outstanding accessory worn by Thai maidens is pieu headscarf besides keeping the neck and the chest warm in wintry breezes, charming pieu scarves are also serve as gifts or love tokens.

Muong women make an impression with body-hugging skirts, waistbands, bust-length overcoats, loosely bound robes, colorful silk  scarves, green belts and white  headscarves. Traditional costumes of the Mong, Dao and Ha. Nhi ethnicities are flamboyant and radiant, revealing incredible mastery of textile craftsmanship. Hmong maidens have developed a rich diversity of decorative patterns, with warm and fresh colors on thei attire. They usually put on their choicest costumes for spring markets.

Pipe dances of boys and the folded skirts of girls are the two most memorable images of the festivals of Gau Tau and Long Tong (opening furrows) that usually take place in the springtime. Tay women in their simple indigo costumes show off with sophisticated headscarves and waistbands. Between the natural beauty of spring flowers and the cultural charm of the highland ethnic communities, a trip to Vietnarn,s Northwest in the  springtime is a magnificent journey.

Tran Tan Vinh