Mid-Autumn in Vietnam

If you are foreigners who are living now in Vietnam or you're just travellers who plan to go there in the middle days of the eighth month in Chinese calendar. You'd better not miss out one of the most famous and important holiday - Mid Autumn.

So What is it? Why does it sound interesting for foreigners?

Actually, Mid-Autumn is a traditional festival in some Southeast and Northeast Asian countries, not only in Vietnam. Though influenced by Chinese culture, Mid-Autumn Festival is different in different countries.

Vietnamese celebrate the festival on August 15th of Chinese lunar calendar. It's known as a holiday for children.Children are provided with many nice lanterns - star lanterns, flower lanterns and diverse funny masks for special performance in the evening of the full moon. Everywhere is fallen in the active and colorful air. The main point of the Mid-Autumn is that children use the beautiful lanterns, wear funny masks, perform fantastic lion dances and sing folklore songs in the house's grounds or on the streets when the moon is rising.

In the countryside, Parent make lantern for their children from young bamboos and red papers. They put a candle into the latern and light it up as a symbol of enlightenment. 

The elder tell the yonger some folklore stories about a Laday who lives alone in the Moon with her Jade Rabbit and a Man who has a dream of flying to the Moon with a banyan for meeting her.

The other most visible tradition related to Mid-Autumn festival is the lion dance, which is rarely seen in the South of Vietnam. On the nights leading up to the holiday, groups of children parade through the streets – some of the children maintain a martial beat on drums, while others control an extravagantly decorated 'lion' crafted from molds and paper.

The children approach homes and businesses and ask the owners for their permission to perform. If they agree, the children put on a show that is believed to bring a blessing of luck and fortune. Afterwards the host gives the children lucky money as a sign of gratitude.

During the days, people there also hold Mid-Autumn Festival competitions to see who can make the most beautiful lantern.

Even though Mid-Autumn holiday is led by children, the adults have their own activities. In fact, Mid-Autumn is a good time to make friendly contacts, express thanks, and give greetings and best wishes to relatives, friends, and business partners by the way of sending moon cakes. It's also the time when all members of a family get together. They're sitting around the table, talking about their year, eating mooncakes, drinking hot tea and admiring the moon. The old generation show love to their children. The young generation express their gratitude to the old.

For others, because the traditional time to have this festival is usually after harvesting the crops, it is as the congratulation for the full harvest.