A glistening Fullmoon Festival night

Vietnam’s Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (or Full moon Festival) takes place on the full moon night (15^thof the Lunar August), the most charming and picturesque night of theyear. The festival involves the customs of moon contemplating,procession of star & moon - shaped lanterns, lion dance, as well asholding parties with moon cakes and fruits. Do you know why we havethis special festival?

TheFestival dates back as far as 15-20,000 years ago in Southeast Asia,and is traditionally held on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar Month.Looking at the moon on this day, you will see that its orbit is at thelowest angle to the horizon, making the moon appear brighter and largerthan at any other time of the year. Thus, accordingly, there came afestival with a series of entertainment activities in honor of thebeautiful full moon.

Thereare several explanations for that phenomenon as well as the traditionof celebrating the Mid-autumn Festival. Some said that it began sincethe reign of King Duong Minh Hoang in China, at the beginning of the8th century. According to ancient manuscripts, the Emperor often wishedto visit the

Lantern Procession

Celebration on animated  streets

The festival is very much like a combination of Halloween and Thanksgiving. On the night of Lunar August 15^th,the streets are full of people buying festival stuff and wandering.Besides the assorted paper lanterns, cakes, candies, the toy animalsmade of rice dough, the dragon heads and faces of the Earth God made ofpaper are displayed everywhere in the markets. Children parade on thestreets, singing and carrying colorful lanterns of different sizes andshapes, such as fishes, stars, butterflies, which spin when candles areinserted, representing the earth circling the sun. In well-offfamilies, the mid-autumn banquet is to show up their nubile girls’cooking abilities.

Lion Dance

Lion dances and moon cake.

One important event before and during Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival is lion dancing. Bothnon-professional and professional children groups perform dances on thestreets or go to houses. If accepted by the host, "the lion" will comein and start dancing as a wish of luck.

Beside the lion dance,it is customary to offer Banh Trung Thu, boxes of moon cakes, which aretraditionally very rich in taste. The cakes are filled with lotusseeds, ground beans and orange peels and have a bright yoke in thecenter to represent the moon.  “Banh deo” is the whitecake, made of sticky rice and filled with sweet mixture of lotus seeds,pumpkin seeds or green bean. “Banh nuong” is the brown cake and hassalty taste with a mixture of egg, pork fat, fried onion, peanut andlemon leaves inside. Both can be in round or square shapes.

Where in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City could we join this event?

Moon cakes

In Ha Noi, youcan come to Ho Tay Water Park, Van Ho Exhibition Centre and Giang VoExhibition Centre to have musical performances for children in thesetwo days.

In Ho Chi Minh city. Between 10^thand 15th of August, Ho Chi Minh City government holds "Full MoonFestival" parties for children. Are you interested in the disadvantagechildren? On this occasion, the city arranges for some 5.000 childrento participate in lantern processions along the main streets.

Today,the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, together with the encouraging affectionfor children, promotes education, poetry, dance, arts and crafts. Mostoverseas Vietnamese family, though far away from their home country,would like to bring their kids back to the home country right in Fullmoon festival time, one amongst the most important ones in Vietnam.Otherwise, most of them hold a distant festival on their own in thecountry where they live to remind the kids of their origin and nationalculture.

Notonly locals, but also foreign tourists are warmly welcomed you to joinin this special festival. Surely, you will have much fun when takingpart in the crowds, seeing children carrying the lanterns, eating cakesand receiving gifts of celebration during the Mid-Autumn Festival!