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Popular Mid-Autumn Festival Traditions
The Mid-Autumn Festival is the second most important traditional festival in Vietnam (the most essential festival is New Year). There are many traditional and new celebrations. Read on to see how Vietnamese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
1. Worshiping the God of Earth
Usually, a worshiping platform is arranged in the yard all along the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, on which mooncakes, fruit, and snacks are laid. Later, family members gather together to eat the food while appreciating the moon.
The platform is not taken down until midnight, when they have completely eaten the foods. Most families also organize a special platform for children, so that they can enjoy fruits, cakes and candies at anytime during the evening.
2. Carrying Carp-Shaped Lanterns
It’s also a tradition for the Vietnamese to light lanterns all the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. A legend states that a carp spirit once killed many people during the dark night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, so that everybody are threaten to go outside during that night.
Later, a wise man have an idea: he invented a carp-shaped lantern with a stick in its belly, and then told people to walk at night holding a carp-shape lantern. The carp spirit was terrified by the light from these lanterns, and no longer went out to kill anyone during the Mid-Autumn Festival since then.
Nowadays, children hold various kinds of paper lanterns and cheerfully walk in the moonlight, while eating moon cakes.
3. Eating Mooncakes — The Most Representative Tradition
A mooncake is a traditional Vietnamese pastry. It is made from wheat flour and luscious stuffing, such as sugar, green bean and lotus seed powder. It’s a symbol of family reunion, and the cake is traditionally cut into pieces to share with the family’s members.
Eating mooncakes is the most popular and representative tradition of the day. In normal days, people won’t buy or eat mooncakes but in the Mid-Autumn Festival everyone will have a mooncake to celebrate.
4. Appreciating the Moon — Signature of Family Reunion
In Chinese beliefs, the full moon is the signature for a family reunion. Many famous ancient literator wrote poems about the moon and expressed their homesickness. When people gather and admire the moon, it reminds them of their families and homeland..
Nowadays, people still like appreciating the moon in the Vietnam Mid-Autumn Festival. Vietnamese family members have dinner together in the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival. After dinner, they always share about their daily store such as work, the children, and their future plans.
Vietnamese people like to choose the best place that offers a great view of the moon is usually roof, mountaintop, or lakeside
5. Making Colorful Lanterns — Children’s Favorite Activity
Making colorful lanterns is a happy activity between parents, relative and children. The lanterns have upgrade with different shapes and can also resemble animals, plants, or flowers.
Children like to make colorful lanterns. They make them in different shapes to be hung in trees or houses, or floated on rivers. Parks will be also decorated with colorful lanterns, which make a beautiful view at night.
They also make Kongming lanterns, which fly as the people burn candles heat the air in the lantern. Children write good wishes on the lanterns and let them fly up into the sky.
6. Having Dinner Together — Happy Family Reunion Time
Families will have dinner with each others on that night. People who don’t have time to stay with their parents will try their best to come home to at least have traditional dinner with their family. Therefore, there can be traffic jams during this festival.
Some people cook at Home, some people prefer to dine at a Restaurant
In the past, mothers would cook delicious food at home and families would have happy moments together. Nowadays, most families tend to have dinner at a restaurant rather than cook at home. Therefore, famous restaurants are also full of booking on the day.
7. Giving Gifts — Get Closer to Relatives, Friends, and Staff
It’s very common to give gifts to friends and relatives during the Vietnam Mid-Autumn Festival. During the festival, people will visit their friends or relatives home with a gift. They usually leave before dinnertime or come after dinner. This is a special time to get closer to friends and relatives. In some companies, the boss also likes to give a gift to every staff member, or vice versa. The most popular and common gifts are mooncakes and fruits.
8. Sending Celebration Messages — to Those Who Are Far Away
People who are used to using phones will send celebration messages to friends, relatives, or the others who are far away. It’s also a good occasion to break the ice if you don’t know how to start a phone call for someone. In the past, people use SMS text. Nowadays, young people like to send messages via instant messaging apps, such as.
9. Watching the Lion Dance Parade
At night, groups of children parade through the streets, going from door to door and asking the host for the permission to perform the lion dance. If it is agreed then the children will put on a show, with the belief of bring luck and fortune. After that, the owners will give the children ‘lucky’ money for their gratefulness.
These lion dances are engaging, and large numbers of children, ranging from kids to teenagers, join in this activity. For that reasons, there many groups of children marching around, the streets of the cities echo with the drums’ tones, as variety of lions roam about.
