Besides Lunar New Year Eve, the biggest holiday in the year, Mid-Autumn Festival (Tet Trung Thu in Vietnamese) is the second notable traditional celebration in Vietnam.
When is the Mid-Autumn Festival held in Vietnam?
Mid-Autumn Festival usually takes place on the 15th day of the 8th in the lunar calendar. Mid-Autumn is the day when the moon is at its brightest in a year. In that spirit, people worship the Moon Genie. On this special day, all the members of the family gather and prepare various sweets, fruit. And they also prepare colorful lanterns and wear many funny masks.
What is the Mid-Autumn Festival’s meaning in Vietnam?
A special gift for children
Although there are many fundamental concepts celebrated in the Mid-Autumn Festival, in Vietnam, this is the time for the children. As its name in Vietnam, Children’s Festival, from a familiar lunar date that people mostly prepare for worship, this date is the emphasis on the celebration of children as a very special gift for them. They took advantage of this date to create happiness for the children by buying lanterns, colorful masks, celebrating a traditional feast and letting their kids enjoy the lantern parade under the bright Full Moon.
Family unions
Mid-Autumn Festival is a short union that keeps close-knit relationship amongst members in the family. They also say also that the roundest and brightest Full Moon in the year on this day stands for the completion as well as family assemblies. People will gather, enjoy the feast, cheerfully share about their own lives and admire the bright moonlight together.
Thanksgiving and praying
After finishing the fruitful crop, people want to give thanks to their ancestors for the harvest. And due to this special date, people have a chance to come back home together. And they would like to express their thankfulness for the family unions as well. Like traditional worship, the Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam is also about praying good things for everyone in the family such as success, health, longevity, and a good future.
How do Vietnamese celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival?
Eating Moon cakes
Today, there are many aisles selling “banh trung thu” or moon cakes on all over Vietnam’s streets. They make cakes with lotus seeds, green beans, and egg yolk, though there are other varieties of favors. Moon cakes are essential in each family parties or meals on Tet Trung Thu. Nowadays, they try to create many shapes and favors.
Preparing Five-fruit tray
Besides moon cakes, regional fruit is also a fundamental part of the feast. Traditionally, like Tet Lunar New Year Eve, there are five kinds of fruit arranged on the festive tray. The five-fruit tray of Vietnamese people will be varied depending on each region with juicy, delightsome local fruits. They even decorate the trays for a more attractive appearance with fruit carving, various kinds of sweets, and of course, moon cakes.
Lion Dances and Lantern procession
The other most visible tradition related to Tet Trung Thu is the lion dance. On the of full moon day, groups of children parade through the streets, some of them maintain a martial beat on drums, while others control an extravagantly decorated ‘lion’ crafted from molds and paper. The children have to ask the permission of the host to perform. If they agree, the children put on a show that is believed to bring a blessing of luck and fortune. Afterward, the host gives the children lucky money as a sign of gratitude. These lion dances are fascinating, and huge amounts of children, ranging from little kids to teenagers, take part. Some are quite professional, while others are a bit disorganized. As a result of having so many groups of children marching around, the streets of the cities echo with the sound of drums, as dozens of lions roam about.
Fillplas also celebrate this festival. We send the great thanks to some of our Asian customers who buy our filler masterbatch products and wish them having happiness and wonderful activities with their family during this festival in their countries. The Board of Directors also have some moon cake gifts to each member of the company and wish us all the best things.
