Russian researcher on Vietnamese studies Daria Mishukova
According to the embassy’s review, all Daria Mishukova’s articles started off with the word "Vietnam", which is followed by concepts and attributes on the Vietnamese Tet or the Lunar New Year festival: biggest and longest holiday, family reunion, yellow apricots, peach blossoms, daisy, Chung cakes, lucky money, going out on New Year’s first day to get good luck for the whole family, gift-presentation, long celebration, astrology, and other customs.
In each article, the Russian researcher listed both customs and cultural practices of the past and present time, and pointed out their advantages and disadvantages. She clearly also told her experiences and feelings, and described the Vietnamese Tet in an interesting and attractive way to make the magazine’s readers, mainly Russians, learn more about Vietnam and its culture.
Her first visit to Vietnam was in 1998 when she was a student studying Vietnamese language. She enjoyed her first Vietnamese Tet in the following year. At that time, she knew that various Vietnamese kept explaining about a ban on firecrackers. “The State issued the ban on firecrackers for social order and fire prevention. Setting off firecrackers was an important part in the Vietnamese Tet for many centuries. Though many think that without firecrackers, Tet atmosphere could be less convivial, the fact is that Vietnamese Tet remains unchanged”, Daria said.
Daria Mishukova authors a famous book on Vietnam, entitled “Vietnam - The land of dragons and fairies” published in Russian in 2007 and 2010 and in Vietnamese in 2013.
In 2012, she was presented with the insignia “For the cause of culture, sports and tourism” by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Over the past decade, she has written hundreds of articles, been main character of more than 150 newspaper interviews on beautiful cultural features of Vietnam.
Source: thethaovanhoa.vn
Translated by Mai Huong