Tet Trung Thu, or Mid- Autumn Festival honours the arrival of the full moon and is celebrated with round shaped moon cakes given as offerings to the Gods. Tet Trung Thu comes once a year, and this year it's celebrated on Thursday (September 19). The moon is at its fullest, showering its bright light onto the earth. Gentle breezes blow, coloured leaves fall from the trees and then dance to the music of the cool blowing winds; all of this beneath the evening's bright sky. The scene makes Westerners think of a holiday where children dress in costumes asking for candy with the sound of Trick or Treat resounding in the air. In Vietnam, as well as other Asian countries, this rime of year and especially the Mid- Autumn Festival are one of the most popular family holidays. The meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival has been transformed over time. Originally it was the time for farmers to celebrate the end of the summer harvest. Today the festival is meant mostly for kids and usually features unicorn dancing and lantern processions. People enjoy special cakes made for the occasion (moon cakes) and seasonal fruits, as moon watching becomes a favourite evening activity.
Luong Nhu Hoc Street - District 5
According to "Vietnam Phong tuc" (Vietnamese Customs, published by Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House in 1990), in a Vietnamese folk tale parents were working so hard to prepare for the harvest that they left the children playing by them selves. To make up for time lost, the parents used the Mid-Autumn Festival as an opportunity to express their love for and appreciation of their children. This tradition has continued through to the present day. Several daw before this special occasion, Vietnamese families plan activities around their children. Parents buy them lanterns so that they can participate in a candlelit lantern procession at dawn.
To get a taste of the local festival, visitors can come to streets such as Hang Ma in Hanoi, Luong Nhu Hoc in District 5, HCMC, and Tran Hung Dao in Hue. During the festival, the streets are usually full of toys for the occasion and packed with people shopping, watching and playing.
Every year when the full moon festival approaches, Hang Ma in Hanoi begins to turn bright red with lanterns,
On the night of the full moon, the whole street turns into a playground lit with red light beaming out from lanterns of all shapes and sizes. Masks, drums, paper flutes and toys are stacked everywhere and children and adults alike jostle each other as they shop.
One important event before and during the Mid-Autumn Festival are the lion dances. The dances are performed by both non-professional children's groups and trained professionals. According to southern Vietnamese custom, lion dance groups perform on the streets then go to houses asking for permission to perform for them. If accepted by the host, the 'lion' will come in and start dancing as a wish for luck and for*tune and the host gives them lucky money in return. Meanwhile, in the northern parts of Vietnam, the dragon dance is a re-enact- ment of the earth and sky duality, the yin and yang of the world. The Lord Earth, called 'Ong Dia' in Vietnamese, is the dancer who dances around the dragon, urging it on. Ong Dia has a very round, happy smiling moon-face. He represents the wealth or fullness of the earth. The Dragon theatre' plays on the streets to give onlookers good luck and happiness.
There is singing and shouting by both children and adults as the moon climbs to its highest point. Parents watch as masked children parade happily in the streets banging their drums.
LEGEND HAS IT...
There's a story about how the Moon Lady, or On Hang, ascended to the moon. A man named Cuoi found a lucky tree that had special healing powers. Because it was sacred, people were forbidden to urinate at the foot of the tree. Unfortunately, Cuoi's wife forgot the rule and relieved herself on the tree. One day, while her husband was sitting on a tree branch, the tree started to grow and grow: Eventually, it reached the moon, and Cuoi lived there for the rest of his life. Every year, during the Mid-autumn Festival, children light lanterns and join a procession to show Cuoi the way back to Earth.
There is also another legend relating to the festival, as Vietnamese Customs writes: there was a carp that wanted to become a dragon. The carp worked and worked and eventually transformed itself into a dragon. This is the Story behind the mythical symbol, "Ca hoa Rong". Parents use diis story to encourage their children to work hard so that they can become whatever they want to be.
GIFTS OF MOON CAKES
"Buy these pigs", a shop assistant at a moon cake shop in Hang Dieu in Hanoi suggested while showing me an ornamental style baked green bean cake with an image of pigs nursing piglets at its centre, as it represents family bonding. "Or these twin carp fish", she added, 'they are die symbol of prosperity; all children love to have them.' Every Full Moon Festival; I have to buy at least four boxes of moon cakes: one as an offering to the ancestors on the altar, one to give to my parents-in-law; one for the boss, and the other for my child's teacher.
There is a 'bieu' (giving) tradition of moon cakes for clients, friends and family at least two to four weeks before Tet Trung Thu. For this reason, a month before the festival, bakeries around the city will be bursting with moon cakes. From the gargantuan cakes up to 1.2kg in a boxed gift set of four to the small, petite and highly ornamental boxed cakes of six. It is traditional that one offers a box of these special cakes .to someone that you want to please or owe a favour, like your landlord or the local police. Two basic types exist, from 'banh nuong' (baked moon cakes) and 'banh deo' (white soft variety), with sweet fillings from durian, taro, coconut, sour sop, green tea with lotus seeds, to connoisseur couplings that weigh in at 300gr. Although the moon cakes have a similar shape and weight of a McDonald's hamburger, do not bite or try to eat them by the mouth, they are too sweet! The time- honoured etiquette for eating moon cakes is to cut one into quarters or eighths, take one segment and daintily bite while sipping on piping hot tea. In addition to cakes, fruit is plentiful during this time of year, especially watermelon and grapefruit. Grapefruit sections can be transformed into animal shapes like a rabbit and make great gifts too.
Traditions aside, the full moon festival is now commonly known in Vietnam as Tet Thieu Nhi (Children's festival) and devoted to children. Go out and buy several moon cakes then take your children to the toy street of Hang Ma in Hanoi's Old Quarter. It'll feel like Christmas, revelling with friends, joyfully clutching bright red bags and dancing in the streets. Tet Trung Thu is a rime to eat, drink, and be thankful.
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