Mid-Autumn Festival

According to our Vietnamese custom, the Mid-Autumn Festival is held in the middle of autumn, which is the full moon day of August. On this occasion, people make a family offering to the ancestors and present the fruit cake to the moon offerings.

On this Tet occasion, adults drink wine, enjoy the moon, and sing drums; Children pick up lights, go to see lion dance, sing Mid-Autumn songs, and enjoy confectionery and fruits presented by their parents in the courtyard on Mid-Autumn Festival in the form of a tray. As is customary, children enjoying fruit confectionery on this Mid-Autumn night is called "breaking the deck."

Vietnamese people eat the Mid-Autumn Festival on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month because we imitate the Chinese custom. The old story is that King Minh Hoang Street (713-741 Tay Lich) walked around Ngu Uyen garden on the full moon night of the eighth lunar month. On Mid-Autumn night, the moon is very full and clear. It's really beautiful and cool air. The king was enjoying the beautiful scenery when he met the Taoist La Cong Vien also known as Diep Phap Thien. The Taoist has a fairy magic to bring the king to the moon. There, more beautiful scenery. The king gleefully enjoyed the fairytale and melodious with the magical sound of light and the fairies pampering in the beautiful colorful robes dancing and singing. In that wonderful moment the king forgot the morning sky. The Taoist must remember, the king just left, but his heart was still in awe.

Arriving at the royal palace, the king still questioned the fairy scene, so he invented Khuc Nghe Thuong Vu Y and on the full-moon night of August, he ordered the folk to hold a light procession and celebrate while the king was with Duong Qui Phi drank wine under the moon and watched the female palace dance and sing to celebrate her magical electric journey. Since then, the organization of the light procession and party display on the full moon day of August has become a folk custom.

There are also people who believe that the custom of hanging lanterns on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month is due to the birthdays of King Duong Minh Hoang. Since the full moon day of August was the birthday of King Duong Minh Hoang, the Tang court ordered people all over the country to hang lights and set up celebratory parties. Since then, it has become customary to hang a lantern on the full moon day of August.

The Chinese and the Vietnamese both make moon cakes to worship, eat, donate their relatives, and entertain guests. The next common thing is that the Chinese and the Vietnamese both organize the procession of lights on mid-autumn night.