Mid-Autumn Festival (In Vietnamese “Tet Trung Thu”) is a special cultural celebration in Asia. This year, it takes place on August 15th (lunar calendar) or September 24th (your calendar). Not only an occasion of family reunion but it’s also a meaningful day for children to enjoy their childhood. Let’s learn with us why it’s the most expected festival for children and what you should do in Hue during Mid-Autumn festival if you happen to visit the city.
The origin of Mid-Autumn Festival
Nowadays, even the parents are not sure of the origin of Mid-Autumn festival. Often told by our grandma’s tales, Mid-Autumn Festival was a chance for farmers to pray for an abundant crop. Agriculturist has another explanation for the Full-Moon Festival. September and October are months when farmers finish harvesting the Summer-Autumn crop (Vụ Hè Thu). While waiting for the field to be fertile again for new crop, they have a break and let the whole family enjoy their happiness as a way to wish for another successful crop.
The Mid-Autumn Festival originates from agricultural civilization like China and Vietnam where full moon plays such important role in bringing high tide for the fields. In Vietnam, Full Moon festival firstly appeared in “Ngoc Lu” drums. From the Ly dynasty, the Mid- Autumn Day was officially organized in Thang Long capital with festive activities such as boat racing, dragon dancing and lantern making.
Legend of Chu Cuoi and Hang Nga
When Mid-Autumn festival is coming, children in the village gather under the bright moon to listen to their grandma’s tales about Hang Nga, Chu Cuoi and Cay Da (a Bodhi tree).
Who is Chu Cuoi ?
The story starts out under the moon shining below them, with Chu Cuoi working as a logger chopping wood. He often took his break under a tree called Cay Da. One time as he was resting, he saw some dwarves approaching with a dead body. Such an interesting and rarely-seen experience, he ran and hid in a nearby bush.
The dwarves took some leaves from Cay Da tree, crushed them well, and fed them to the dead body. Chu Cuoi saw the dead person become alive again. Learning that the tree’s leaves had magical powers, he waited until the dwarves left to take some home. As he was walking home, he saw a dead dog on the road and decided to test the leaves. The dog in his own surprise stood up again and followed him home. Knowing that the leaves worked, Chu Cuoi used the leaves to cure sick people in the village, or to bring dead people back to life.
One day, a wise man who is said to be Ong But (Wise sacred man from heaven) saw Chu Cuoi taking care of the Cay Da. He told Chu Cuoi that the Cay Da is a very special tree and that one cannot go to the restroom under it, or else something bad will happen. Chu Cuoi remembered his teaching well and took very good care of the tree, and he was able to help lots of people.
Who is Hang Nga ?
In the village there lived a rich man with a beautiful daughter named Hang Nga. She was as beautiful as a goddess. One day due to unknown sickness, she died which hurt her father so much. He went desperately looking for help. He heard about how Chu Cuoi from other villagers and rushed to ask him to save his daughter’s lives. Chu Cuoi revived her then fell in love with her. Since Chu Cuoi was Hang Nga’s great hero, her father accepted, and they were happily married.
Now you would think the legend ends here. I thought so too when grandma paused at this part. Interestingly enough, all fairy tales have their life lessons for everyone.
Their life after marriage
After marriage, Chu Cuoi and Hang Nga lived in a beautiful hut by Cay Da. Chu Cuoi kept telling her to never go to the restroom under the Cay Da or something bad would happen. One unfortunate day, some robbers came to their house while Chu Cuoi was out working. They killed Hang Nga (We did not enjoy this part either!).
When Chu Cuoi came home, he sadly found his wife dead and rushed off to give her crushed leaves from Cay Da. Sadly, she did not come back to life. He painfully found out that all of her intestines had been brutally ripped out (inhuman robbers!!!), thus, he was unable to revive her. His dog saw that he was very depressed and offered to give up his intestines for Hang Nga. Chu Cuoi was very grateful to the dog and was able to revive his wife.
Because of this incident, Hang Nga was not as smart as she was before. She often forgot what her husband asked her to do. Then one day, she had to go to the restroom really bad, and decided to go under the Cay Da despite her husband’s warnings. As Chu Cuoi was coming home, he saw his wife going under the tree, and the tree began to uproot itself. It started to float up above the ground, and Hang Nga was taken up by the tree’s roots, he wanted to save his wife by jumping on the trees as well. They then both floated up towards the moon with the Cay Da.
Ever since, every time Mid-Autumn festival comes, we always look at the moon and see shadows of them. They live happily together despite all the hatred and jealousy in the earth.
You can watch an animated version of Hang Nga – Chu Cuoi legend below:
What are traditions on Mid-Autumn Festival?
1. Lantern Parade
Children in the countryside will eagerly make their own lanterns with the help of their parents or grannies. This memorable childhood part is what we treasure the most. We tend to revive for our next generation to celebrate. Lanterns’ shapes vary from star shapes to moon shapes or any shapes that you can make. They are made of paper and bamboo as part of traditions. Kids in the city they are offered with more colorful lanterns easily bought from a sidewalk vendor.
The most important part of your lantern is the candle holder. You place a candle light in the middle of your lantern and walk on the dark road with the moon shining above you. Our parents said Hang Nga and Chu Cuoi would send you luck if you are good students for a new school year. Thus, all of Vietnam children always remember to light up lanterns for Hang Nga and Chu Cuoi.
In Hue city, children will join this activity in the children’s cultural houses or school. There are entertainment activities such as playing folk games or singing folk songs. Sometimes, play of Hang Nga and Chu Cuoi will be shown as way to teach them about the origin of Mid-Autumn Festival.
2. Unicorn dance or Lion dance
Mid-Autumn festival has this usual bustling atmosphere. Many teams from small to big, amateur to professional gather up weeks before to practice their dance for local community. Unicorn is a symbol of luck, happiness and prosperity.
A unicorn team must have at least 5 specific roles. A head dancer who will hold the unicorn head. This person must be strong, flexible and having good feel to the drum beat. A follow dancer who would play as tail of the unicorn. His job is to wiggle the tail as lively as possible and sometimes observe the movement of the head dancer to make matching moves.
A drummer must know how to play the traditional melody of a unicorn dance. We do not know how this drum sound came to life. However, without its ascending festive beats, Tet Trung Thu does not have its vibe. One lives in countryside can hear this sound miles away from their homes. It’s truly sound of childhood.
There is another important figure in the band, Ong Dia (Earth God) who is pictured as a man in black with big belly. He represents for laughter and happiness. Sometimes, creative kids in the village replace Ong Dia with the Monkey God. Well, they like his character in a very famous Chinese TV show for his loyalty, creativity and positive attitude towards life. They often appear with a fan and big smiling mask who sometimes scare kids in the countryside for their funky looks.
The rest of the team includes children all ages, with lanterns in front of them. They follow the unicorn team to collect lucky money, often time candy. At the end of Mid-Autumn festival season, they celebrate together what they have earned in the past few days with big feast of candy, che, fruits, all kinds of sweet you could think of.
This tradition is similar with the Halloween tradition in the West.
Where can you watch a stunning Unicorn dance in Hue, Vietnam?
On the occasion of this year Mid-Autumn Festival, local residents in Hue will have a feast for their eyes and ears at the “Ngay Hoi Lan” which takes place on 19th and 20th September at the main square in front of Quoc Hoc high school. There are two main competitions with increasing difficulty techniques for teams coming from Hue, Quang Tri and Danang. They will compete for the first ever “Most Stunning Unicorn dance award“. There are plans to host these events yearly to help promote Hue as destination of culture and festivals.
What is the “Mai Hoa Thung”?
You will notice the Mai Hoa Thung’s competition on 19th Sep. What is it exactly?
“Mai Hoa Thung” or “Mai Hoa Thung Pháp” is a famous skill in the Chinese martial art. The art of Mai Hoa Thung is to dance with balance on piles (Thung) while making accurate steps on stage. Mai Hoa Thung Phap derived from “Thieu Lam Tu” or “Ngu Mai Lao Ni” (names of two famous martial arts in China).
It takes a few years for a dancer to master this high stage of art. They will start to practice on the piles with low level first making move and free jumps on available piles. After gaining some confident practice, people will raise the height of the piles to challenge dancers.
Let’s watch some amazing Mai Hoa Thung art made by a talented videographer in Hue below:
3. Eat Moon cake
Moon cakes represent for a family reunion. Moon cakes are usually round or square. These distinctive shapes originate from an Oriental belief that the Universe is round and the Earth is square. People offer moon cakes on family altar as way to show appreciation to their ancestors during Mid-Autumn festival.
Normally, there are two types of moon cakes: pies and cakes. Pies have salty taste, are often made of Chinese sausage, egg yolk, variety of roasted nuts.
Sweet cakes are made of green beans or red beans stuffed inside a slightly golden baked wheat coat.
In addition, there are “Bánh dẻo” (sticky cakes). It is made from sticky rice which acts as coat for the sweet filling. It sometimes consists of beans such as steamed lotus in a mung been puree base. These cakes is ready to serve without the process of baking.
Where to buy Moon Cakes during Mid-Autumn festival?
Moon cakes are easily found in every corner of Vietnam. Price ranges from 50,000 VND to 120,000 VND/ cake or pie. We recommend you to visit these generation old stores if you are in Hue:
- Phuc Hung store at 259 Tran Huy Lieu street, Hue City
- Thanh Thuy store:254/9 Bui Thi Xuan street, Hue city
- Thuan Long store: CC
How to make a Moon Cake?
Phuc Hung store is busily working during the Full Moon festival. Their store is one of the oldest family Moon Cake makers in the city of Hue. They provide about 1000 cakes for the market each day. Although their location is in a small alley in Hue, local residents still find ways to visit and buy some to bring home for their family.
According to Mrs. Ho Thi Huyen Suong, owner of Phuc Hung store, eagerly shares their family story: “Our store has existed for about 20 years in Hue. We don’t really advertise our products.However, many buyers still come to find us. I think it’s our Moon Cake quality and fame that makes us stay in this competitive market nowadays”.
She also revealed some of the process of making a moon cake.
The process to make a traditional Moon Cake in Phuc Hung store :
Preparing the filling of a Moon Cake
Mixing well with tapioca flour and roll it into balls
Making a coat for Moon Cake filling
Placing Moon Cake coat and filling together
Moulding a Moon Cake into square or round shape
Removing Moon Cake from the mould and add the butter
Baking the Moon Cake
4. Gift away
Mid-Autumn Festival is a chance for everyone to show their love with their loved ones in Vietnam traditions. Gifts can be new clothes, jewelry or moon cakes.
5. Watching the Moon, Find Hang Nga and Chu Cuoi
As part of agricultural civilization, farmers often look at the color of the Moon to predict weather for their new crop. If the moon is yellow, people believe that they will have a successful crop. If the moon is having this usual green color, there will be natural disasters to the earth. When the moon is orange, country will be prosperous. As superstitious as it sounds, watching the moon on Mid-Autumn nowadays is way for family to reunite. Elderly will tell kids fairy tales, tradition continues to shine in Vietnam society.
What is your plan for Mid-Autumn festival if you are in Vietnam?
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