Mid-Autumn Moon Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival, or Tet Trung Thu, recently took place throughout Vietnam. The Festival occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. The 15th day of any lunar month coincides with the full moon, and this festival is also known as the Moon Festival. A third name for the festival is the Children’s Festival, as this is the holiday in the year most devoted to children. When asking Vietnamese friends at the Embassy about their plans with the festival, most said “it’s for kids.” Those who had kids winced as they knew they would have to brave the crowds out celebrating. Traditionally, the festival came at harvest time, when parents have finished their hard agricultural labor for the time being and can focus on their children. While still true in many rural areas, in cities like Hanoi, there’s no let up in the normal urban schedule – unlike New Year’s Tet, in which big cities basically shut down for two weeks while everyone heads to their ancestral villages.
Parents give their children special food during the holiday, in particular fresh fruit and moon cakes. (Though I think more and more the focus is on more modern sweets and sugary drinks). Temporary stalls spring up all over Hanoi in the weeks leading up to the festival, with red and gold boxes containing moon cakes of various sizes and shapes on offer. Moon cakes are very dense (think Christmas fruit-cake mass and weight), and come with a variety of fillings, including lotus seeds, ground beans, and orange peels, with an egg yolk in the center to continue the moon symbolism. However, more unconventional flavors can also be found, like chocolate and strawberry. I’ve tried some of the traditional flavors and like them, but find that a little goes a long way. They certainly are rib-sticking.
Besides the moon cake, the most frequently-seen symbol of the holiday is the lantern. Lanterns, like moon cakes, come in a variety of shapes. These include fish, dragons, and boats, but probably the most common shape is the star. For days leading up to the holiday, you can see kids on the back of motorbikes carrying these lanterns home in anticipation of the festival parties. Another type of lantern spins around when a candle is placed inside it. According to the experts at the Embassy, this is said to symbolize the earth rotating around the sun. Lanterns, toys, masks, and all the other items associated with the festival are concentrated in the area around Hang Ma in the Old Quarter (about a 15 minute walk from our apartment), but many other shops will carry a small selection of items in the days before the festival. On the night of the Moon Festival, children supposedly parade through the streets carrying lighted lanterns and wearing masks, singing and making noise with drums and cymbals. I’ve seen the masks, costumes, and noisemakers. I have yet to see a parade. Troupes of dancers perform lion and dragon dances (I’ve seen preparations, but always seem to get to the event too early or too late). In fact, in some areas, the troupes go door-to-door, even dancing in people’s houses.
Families also gather together at a party to welcome the moon. According to the Embassy newsletter, at this party, a “doctor” is one of the decorations, as a reminder of what can be achieved by the children if they work hard at their studies. The children also have a chance to play with the new toys they have received. Though the festival has its public aspects, at heart, it is a chance to celebrate the importance of family ties.
OK, so how did the holiday appear to me (Liz was in Hong Kong, so I ventured out solo this year. Last year, it rained and we got lost)? Lots of flashy stands (many just opened up in the week prior to the holiday, like fireworks stands in the US prior to the Fourth of July). A wide range of moon cakes, from the mundane on the street to the truly expensive available at the five-star hotels.
Last year, as we walked around the center of town, we passed many little girls in party dresses with butterfly wings and antennae out with their families shopping for the holiday. This year, I saw a larger number of kids dressed up, many in Halloween style costumes, including a few spidermen. In the evening, teens wearing glow in the dark horns cruise down the streets on their scooters. In 2007, Liz and I headed to old town to join in the festivities despite the steady rain. I’m not sure we ever found the center of the party. It seemed like it was always a street or so away. Anyway, we passed through a couple of streets brightly lit with colorful lanterns displaying a variety of party wear, toys, and games. Someplace, groups of Vietnamese lit paper balloons powered by candles that floated off into the sky. We missed that.
2008 was different. No aimless wandering. I found the party quickly enough, just north of Hoan Kiem lake. (photos here:)
Several blocks of street stalls jammed with crowds of (mostly) Vietnamese walking and (to my fury) sometimes driving prohibited scooters while police largely looked on placidly – except to chase away certain balloon vendors. Why single them out? I don’t know. Anyway, packed might be too mild a term. Really, really jammed for several blocks. Stalls selling every variety of toy, costume, light, drum, food, novelty. Little kids running around with mom and dad trying to keep them from dashing into the crush of motorbike and biped. Hawkers displaying their newest gadgets, including flying wheels, mechanical drums (what sane parent would ever shell out for that?), and fright wigs.
Unlike such an event in the U.S., I saw no public drunkenness, though a few foreign tourists might have been working their way towards that goal. I’d like to say no public urination, but this is Hanoi and that’s just the way that goes. By 8:30, I’d had my fill. A few good pictures and it was time to rest.
