Milk flowers are traditional symbol of Hanoi’s autumn. There're many songs and that mention their charming fragrance.Walking along Hanoi’s streets and besides its lakes, you breath in the beautifully sweet fragrance of Hoa Sua, or Milk Flowers. The streets where milk flower abound such as Phan Dinh Phung and Hoang Hoa Tham, and the National University’s campus don beautiful cloaks of white when the season of milk flowers returns.
But compared with other flowers like bauhinia variegate and lotus, milk flowers do not importune the photographers, because the trees are tall and the flowers are always blossoming high above the ground.
After first appearing in the 1978 film "Hanoi - the nesting season " by female director Duc Hoan, the song "Milk Flower" quickly found a permanent place in Vietnam’s musical repertoire. Lyrics speak of the separation of lovers and the expectations of love of a young girl, but sentences like "the milk flower’s sweetness fills the city every night " makes audience think of autumn in Hanoi because only the capital city has this pervasive scent of milk flowers. "Milk Flower " composed by Hong Dang will live forever in the heart of Vietnamese as an icon of autumn. Musician Hong Dang says: “Many songs make a splash and then forgotten. The song Milk Flower has been performed by so many singers. It has become deeply rooted in people’s hearts. As the song lyrics go:
Old memories linger somewhere
The mutual friends
The little ways
The milk flower’s sweetness fills the city every night
Maybe you’ve forgotten me
Maybe... you’ve forgotten me ".
The fragrant “milk flower” has been the symbol of autumn in Hanoi for generations. Blossoming when fall arrives, it delights everyone who loves the city. Ms Thanh, a Hanoi resident says:
“I love Hanoi with all its memories of my childhood and family. I still remember my school days and poems about the flowers blossoming in Hanoi’s streets.”
Milk flower trees line the streets, perfuming the night air and creating an area of romance for young couples out on a date. Hanoians say when the milk flowers are in bloom, it’s the best time to visit the capital city.
To Tuan