Vietnam Mid-autumn Festival (Tet Trung Thu)

Mid-Autumn (Full moon) Festival in Vietnam

Vietnam Mid-autumn Festival takes place on the 15^th of the lunar August, when the Moon is bigger and brighter than at any time of a year (therefore, it is also called Full Moon Festival). Mid-autumn Festival is the most exciting annual festival for children, because at this time, they are often given toys and foods, such as masks, paper lanterns, star lanterns, the dragon and lion heads, fruits and moon cakes… People also buy moon cakes, fruits, tea, and wine for offerings to worship the ancestor as well as for gifts to present their relatives. 

The official day of the festival is 15^th lunar August, but it is often celebrated from 13^th, 14^th August, even the preparation for this festival is a month before the official day. In recent years, a month before festival, people can find moon cakes, toys, drums, masks, lanterns, and lion or dragon heads in any streets. In Hanoi, Hang Ma Street, where people can find a variety of decoration things, toys and stuff for the festival, is one of the most crowded streets at this occasion.   

Moon cakes (Banh Trung Thu) are the traditional food of this festival. There are 2 kinds of moon cakes: “Banh nuong” is the grilled brown cake and “banh deo” is white cake. They are both sweet and savory, with many fillings, shapes and sizes, such as square, round, hexagon…, especially pig moon cake, fish moon cake… Besides moon cakes, lion dancing (or dragon dancing) is one important activity during Vietnam Mid-autumn Festival. Lion dancing groups perform dances on the streets or visit houses and dance as a wish of luck if the hosts accept them to come in. In the night of festival, children are on the streets, wearing masks, carrying paper colorful lanterns, singing, watching lion dancing, enjoy the full moon and dealing out Vietnam mid-autumn festival with cake and fruit.