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Mid Autumn Festival in Vietnam
Submitted by Teresa
Mid Autumn Festival( In chinese ÖĞÇï½Ú ) is held on Aug 15th Lunar Month
This is the festival of childrent , is also called MOON FESTIVAL . On this
day , all childrent have lantern , candy , moon cake ¡ Moon cake is a special
cake which every family has on Mid Autumn . In Addition ,there are Dragon
Dance , Lions Dances ¡to celebrate this day . Vietnamese families plan their activitiesaround their children on this special day.
In a Vietnamese folklore, parents were working so hard to prepare for the harvest that they left the children playing by themselves. To
make up for lost time, parents would use the Mid-Autumn festival as an opportunity to show theirlove and appreciation for their
children.Parents buy lanterns for their children so that they can participatein a candlelit lantern procession at dawn. Lanterns represent
brightness while the procession symbolizes success in school.Vietnamese markets sell a variety of lanterns, but the most popular
children¡¯s lantern is the star lantern . On mid Autumn , like Chinese parents , Vietnamese parents tell their children fairy tales and serve
mooncakes and other special treats under the silvery moon. A favorite folklore isabout a carp that wanted to become a dragon. The
carp worked and worked and eventually transformed itself into a dragon.Parents use this story to encourage their children to work
hard so that they can become whatever they want to be. There¡¯s also a story about how the Moon Lady ascended to the moon. A man
named Chu Coi found a lucky tree that had special healing powers. Because this tree was sacred, people were forbidden to urinate at
the foot of this tree. Unfortunately, Chu Coi¡¯s wife,Chi Hang forgot the rule and urinated on the tree. On day, while she was sitting on
the tree¡¯s branch, the tree started to grow and grow. Eventually, it reached the moon, Since then, Chi Hang lived on the moon for the
rest of her life as a punishment for desecrating the sacred tree.
When did we have this festival ?
According to history , this festival was taken shape at least 2000 years ago . Long time ago , there was a custom of all kings tosacrifice
to the Sun in the Spring and the Moon in the Autumn. In lunar calendar ,15thAug is reputedly the ¡°Good Day¡± to sacrifice . Having Moon
Cake on Mid Autumn is a custom which was begun more than 1.000 years ago.At night , at the brightest time of the moon , every family
has a tray of fruits , mooncake , mooncake is also called ¡° the cake of reunion¡± because on this time , all family always stay together and
celebrate this festival On mid autumn , there are always dragon dance and lion dance, In Asian ,specially Chinese and Vietnamese , they
think that Dragons and Lions have supernatural powers to save human from evils, that¡¯swhy they have Dragons dance and Lions
dance topray for a safe life .
Some pics from the festival
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