Vietnam is a country with 1000 year

Vietnam is a country with 1000 years of history, so it has many traditional festivals. One of them is the Mid– Autumn festival or Tết Trung Thu. This festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar. It is one of the most popular festivals in Vietnam and is important the Vietnamese families. Right from the beginning of the month, preparation begins with a bustling atmosphere.
People need to buy and prepare many things in order for the Mid – Autumn festival to take place joyfully. The Mid- Autumn festival is prepared with the colourful lights and mooncakes. Mooncakes are either come with bean-paste(1) or lotus-seed paste(2) filling. Some even have salted-egg yolks in them. In addition, people buy offerings such as fruits ( especially grape-fruits), cakes, flowers,... These are all placed on an altar(3). Moreover, people clean their house to celebrate this festival.


Vietnamese families plan their activities around their children on this special day. In a Vietnamese folklore(4), 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 their love and appreciation for their children.


Appropriately, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Children’s Festival. In the United States, this tradition continues in many Vietnamese-American communities. Trung Thu activities are often centered around children and education. Parents buy lanterns for their children so that they can participate in 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. Other children’s activities include arts and crafts in which children make face masks and lanterns. Children also perform traditional Vietnamese dances for adults and participate in contests for prizes and scholarships.
In addition, one important event before and during the Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival are lion dances. Dances are performed by both non-professional children`s groups and trained professional groups. Lion dance groups perform on the streets, going to houses asking for permission to perform for them. If the host consents (5), the "lion" will come in and start dancing as a blessing of luck and fortune for the home. In return, the host gives luck money to show their gratitude.


Last but not least, the full moon would be extra bright and beautiful. Families usually like to gather to admire its beauty over fragrant tea and tasty mooncakes. They shared a well-known story about how the Moon Lady ascended to the moon. A man named Chu Cuoi 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 Cuoi’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(6) the sacred tree.The Mid-Autumn festival is indeed a joyous occasion. This festival is awaited by most people especially children. Besides, this is a wonderful occasion for families to reunite. I love the Mid-Autumn festival because it is an opportunity for me to gather with my family and friends to enjoy the moonlight and many special refreshments.