Get ready to get your hands sticky and colourful because we are going to make some traditional Vietnamese paper masks.

As an activity in Vietnam with the Backstreet Academy, we decided to make paper masks that are used for an important Vietnamese holiday called the Mid Autumn festival.

The mid Autumn Festival is a holiday that takes place during the end of September, or early October. It is a mix between Halloween and Thanksgiving. It is like Halloween because children wear masks just like we do to dress up. They also perform in return for a small reward. It is like Thanksgiving because the children show their thanks to their parents and parents show their love to their children. One tradition is to have each community go down the street and do a lion dance.

Using our amazing map skills, Mikhaila and I quickly found the meeting point to start the activity. We met our guide who brought us through little alleyways and up to where we would be making the masks. We were greeted by our teacher and then we each picked out a mask to make. My mom chose a traditional character in Vietnamese literature, my dad chose a tiger, Mikhaila chose a bunny and I chose a lion.

First, we had to make the masks. Our teacher brought out huge molds (handed down to him by his grandfather), big piles of cardboard and paper, and a glue made out of cassava.

The mold for the tiger

The mold for the traditional character

First, we covered many pieces of plain paper with cassava glue. Then, we ripped them up into small pieces and stuck them inside to form one layer. Then we did the same with the cardboard twice and finished it off with a final layer of paper.

The first layer

Smearing cassava glue onto the paper

The fourth layer on the bunny

Making the masks

Last layer

The third layer

Almost done

Taking it out..

Almost out…

It’s out!

Taking the tiger out of the mould

Ta daa!

Since it takes a long time to dry, we could not paint the ones we made. Instead, we painted pre-made masks of our choice.

Painting the masks in the begining

More than half way through

Almost done!

This activity reminded me of Venice because we also painted masks and decorated them.

We had so much fun making and painting the masks…

Stay tuned for more Backstreet academy experiences!