Mid Autumn Festival in Saigon
The last few days, many streets in Saigon’s Chinatown have been very busy and bustling with Mid-Autumn Festival preparations…
It’s called “Tết Trung Thu” in Vietnamese and is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar Month. This year, the big day of the festival fell yesterday, on September 13, when the moon was getting full.
In the past, this festival was traditionally a harvest celebration: after the work was finished, farmers were thankful for good harvest and had time to relax and spend with their loved ones, especially their children.
Mid-Autumn Festival is still one of Vietnam’s biggest festivals and it’s also called the Full Moon festival or Children’s Festival because of its focus on children. Somehow, we could say that it is like a combination of Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Shops are selling colorful lanterns, masks and toys that children carry. Some traditional games and musical performances are organized on the streets, as well as parades and lion dances, symbolizing a wish of luck. Moon cakes are the traditional specific cakes of that festival. They symbolize happiness, prosperity and reunion for the families. They are a meaningful gift for your beloved ones and for your most important clients. Mid-Autumn festival is also a time where it’s important to go to thepagodas, so they get very crowded. Perfect time to observe the festival going on!
If you have joined our interactive adventure in Cholon during that time, you were likely to see all the preparations going on. Lots of celebrations will happen this evening in Cholon and other areas.
