Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional cultural festival of Asian culture in general and is especially meaningful to Vietnam in particular. A traditional feature bearing the spiritual imprints and cultural characteristics of ancient Vietnamese people. No matter how many years pass, the value of the Mid-Autumn Festival remains the same despite many changes. Join Huong Mai Café to learn about the Mid-Autumn Festival!!!!

1. What is Mid-Autumn Festival?

 Mid-Autumn Festival is the middle of autumn. Mid-Autumn Festival as the name suggests is the middle of autumn, that is, on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. The Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam is unknown since its origin. There are no historical documents that clearly state the origin of the full moon holiday in August.

                         

 

 According to ancient legend, the Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Tang Dynasty, during the reign of King Due Ton, in the Van Minh era. That year, late at night on the full moon of the eighth lunar month, the wind was cool and the full moon was beautiful. While playing outside the city, the king met a fairy who came down to earth in the guise of an old man with white hair like snow. The fairy created a rainbow, one end bordered the moon palace, the other end touched the ground, and the king climbed on the rainbow to reach the moon palace and roam around the Quang palace. Returning to earth, the king missed the poetic moonscape and established the Mid-Autumn Festival. This Tet holiday was later introduced to Vietnam. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people set out a feast with moon-shaped fruit cakes, hang lanterns and flowers, dance, sing, and do lion dances very jubilantly. In many places, there are baking and baking competitions for ladies and gentlemen. Children have lantern processions and many places have lantern competitions. Many families set up separate feasts for children, and in the old feast trays there was often a paper doctor placed in the most beautiful place, surrounded by fruit cakes... During the Mid-Autumn Festival, all residential areas held decorations. Special decorations and activities for children are the places many parents choose to bring their children to play and take photos. According to archaeologists, the Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam dates back to ancient times and was printed on the surface of the Ngoc Lu bronze drum. According to the stele of Doi Pagoda in 1121, since the Ly Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was officially held in Thang Long capital with boat racing, water puppet shows and lantern processions. During the Le - Trinh dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was held extremely lavishly in the Lord's palace as described by "Mourning Thuong Phu Luc". Scholar P.Giran (in Magiet Religion, Paris, 1912) when researching the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, pointed out that since ancient times, in Asia, people have respected the Moon and the Sun as a couple. They believe that the Moon only reunites with the Sun once a month (at the end of the moon phase). Then, from her husband's light, the satisfied moon came out and gradually received the sunlight - becoming a new moon, a full moon, and then entering a new cycle. Therefore, the moon is negative, pointing to women and married life. And on the full moon day of the eighth month, the moon is the most beautiful and splendid, so people hold a festival to celebrate the moon. According to the book "Thai Binh Hoan Vu Ky": "Lac Viet people hold a festival every fall and August, where men and women meet, and if they like each other, they get married." Thus, autumn is the season of marriage. Vietnam is an agricultural country, so when planting is finished in August, the weather cools down, it is the time when "everything is at ease", people hold festivals to pray for good harvests, sing and have fun during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

2. Meaning of Mid-Autumn Festival:

                                

For thousands of years, people have always believed that there is a connection between life and the moon. Full moon and crescent moon, joy and sadness, reunion, reunion or farewell. Since then, the full moon has been a symbol of reunion and the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Reunion Festival. On this happy day, according to Vietnamese custom, all family members want to gather together to make offerings to their ancestors. When night falls, the ground is filled with golden moonlight, the villages gather together to drink green tea, eat cakes, watch the moon and display fruits and candies for children to play, procession of lanterns, lion dance, look at the moon, break the party... In addition to having fun for children and adults, Mid-Autumn Festival is also an opportunity for people to look at the moon to predict harvests and national destiny. If the autumn moon is yellow, then the year will be rich in silkworms, if the autumn moon is blue or green, there will be natural disasters that year, and if the autumn moon is bright orange, the country will be prosperous. Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional cultural activity with long-standing cultural values.

  Today, the Mid-Autumn Festival may have many changes, but the values of friendship always remain the same. Huong Mai Café would like to congratulate you on the Mid-Autumn Festival and learn about the Mid-Autumn Festival with you.