The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival celebrated not only in Viet Nam but also in other countries in Asia, such as China, Japan and Korea. The festival, called Tết Trung Thu in Vietnamese, is celebrated on the 15th of the eighth lunar month, when the moon is full. The moon’s orbit then is at the lowest angle to the horizon, making it appear brighter, larger and rounder than at any other time of the year. Tết Trung Thu has often coincided with the harvest time, marking a joyous occasion when the work is finished, fresh food is plentiful and there’s more time to spend with loved ones. For decades, on this day, family members and friends have come to the festival to participate in entertaining activities celebrating the full moon’s beauty and the harvest’s bounty.
Nowadays, although the tradition of celebrating bountiful harvests is fading in Viet Nam, the culture of family reunion is still deeply rooted in every Vietnamese person. This is an opportunity for people to show their respect and love for their parents, grandparents and other ancestors by giving boxes of moon cakes, an essential, vintage cake for this festival. The traditional moon cake often has a round shape that represents completeness, reunion and engagement.
This is also an indispensable gift at Mid-Autumn, when the Viet Nam branch gives a moon cake to every employee with best wishes for them and their family.
During this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, the Viet Nam branch has organized some activities and events to celebrate.
We organized the Den Ong Sao Workshop (Star Lantern workshop). In this workshop, everyone shared interesting information about the Mid-Autumn Festival, then together we made Den Ong Sao. Den Ong Sao is a traditional mid-autumn lantern in Viet Nam that cannot be found in any other country in the world.
Mid-Autumn Festival is also Children’s Day, so it would be wrong not to include an event for children. Therefore, the Labor Union Committee of Simpson Strong-Tie Viet Nam is going to organize a Mid-Autumn Festival event for employees’ children and their parents. On the night of the festival, the children will participate in many interesting activities such as taking pictures with the characters representing the Mid-Autumn Festival such as Uncle Cuoi, Sister Hang and Rabbit Ngoc.
Children will play folk games, make and decorate mid-autumn lanterns with their parents, enjoy dinner parties and attend an amazing mini-concert performed by the company’s employees. And a crucial activity in all Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations is the lantern procession, during which children parade, sing and carry colorful lanterns with their families to the sound of unicorn drums and vibrant holiday music.
We hope to share some of the meaningful and memorable aspects of the holiday that we enjoy with members of Viet Nam branch and their children. And we hope that this occasion can be a chance for adults to remember their childhoods and feel young again. If you have a chance to visit Viet Nam someday, try coming during the Mid-Autumn Festival to experience why it’s so special to us. May all our readers have a peaceful, warm and happy autumn!
