A dragon dance festival will be held in Hanoi this weekend to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Vietnamese capital'sliberation from French rule.

The 2014 Hanoi Dragon Dance Festival, in its fourth year, is set to run from 1:30 pm to 6:30 pm on October 4 at the garden around Ly Thai To King Statue, next to the city’s iconic Hoan Kiem (Sword) Lake.

According to the organizer, this year’s festival will feature performances by troupes from 30 districts in the capital.

Richly-colored dragons, with some measuring up to 100m in length, will be the event’s highlight.

After the performances, the troupes and their dragons will parade around Hoan Kiem Lake.

The festival is being organized to mark the 60th anniversary of Hanoi’s liberation. The Vietnamese capital city was completely freed from French colonial rule on October 10, 1954, following the historic Dien Bien Phu victory.

It was previously held in 2004, 2005, and 2012.

Like the lion and “kylin” dances, which are popular in several Asian countries, including Vietnam and China, dragon dances are most often seen in festive celebrations, including Tet (Vietnam’s Lunar New Year).

The dance is typically performed by a team of dancers who skillfully manipulate a long, flexible figure of a dragon using poles positioned at regular intervals along its length.

The dancers mimic the movements of a dragon or a river in a sinuous, undulating manner.

In Asian culture, the dragon dance is traditionally believed to bring good luck to people, as the legendary animal is supposed to possess power, dignity, fertility, and wisdom.

Therefore, many believe that the longer the dragon in the dance is, the more luck it will bring to the community.

Meanwhile, the 9th “Hanoi in My Heart” photo exhibit is taking place until Thursday at the Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam relic – believed to be the country’s first university – as part of the celebratory activities.

The exhibition features 116 photos, which capture the beauty of Hanoi’s landscape and people, and summarize the city’s 60-year journey from liberation to the present.

Many of the exhibited works have won local prizes.

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