Essential things you should know about the Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam
Annually, according to the lunar calendar, the Vietnamese usually celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. It is known as an essential occasion in Vietnamese people’s spiritual lives. If you take on teaching jobs in Ho Chi Minh City, you are likely to have a chance to attend.
Due to the cultural meanings of this festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival deserves to be one of the “must-attend” events when you live in Vietnam or have an opportunity to visit our country. To avoid being bewildered and prepare in advance to fully enjoy the eventful atmosphere coming around you, here are some essential things you should know about the Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam.
1. Mid-Autumn Festival is the Tet of Reunion
This occasion is considered an indispensable time for family reunions in Vietnam. This thought has been instilled in the Vietnamese mind for many years. They believe that being together to drink tea and taste mooncakes is an ideal choice for this special day.
Just like the Lunar New Year, Vietnamese people consider the Mid-Autumn Festival to be an essential time when all members of a family can gather together to share their experiences from the beginning of the year until now.
Don’t worry if you are alone during the festival time; your local friends and colleagues, including those who are embracing teaching jobs in Ho Chi Minh City, will be beside you to share a great deal of experiences.
2. There are many places to visit on this day
Finding some suitable destinations to discover on this occasion is not difficult for you. One of the most popular places is Lantern Street (on Luong Nhu Hoc Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City). During this festival, the street is always bustling and hustling with a wide range of stalls that sell lanterns in a multitude of shapes and costs, and a very large number of visitors pour in.
Along with this site, Panorama Riverside or Nguyen Hue Street are excellent choices for immersing yourself in this traditional event and saving unforgettable memories.
3. Which foods you can try on this date and their meanings
Similar to all traditional festivals in Vietnam, the Mid-Autumn Festival has a diverse collection of dishes that Vietnamese people frequently prepare for this festival.
Firstly, and most importantly, Banh Trung Thu (mooncake) is an indispensable cake with many lucky meanings. As mentioned above, gathering together on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival and tasting the mooncake will create indescribable feelings. The mooncake is also a symbol of the reunion and the bond between many generations of a big family. Not only that, but the round shape of the mooncake also signifies prosperity, fullness, and fortune in the future.
To meet the growing demand for both the young and the elderly in Vietnam on quality and diversity, many kinds of mooncake fillings have been invented, such as green beans, Chinese sausage, matcha, salted egg, tiramisu, etc.
Have you ever heard about the five-fruit tray that Vietnamese people prepare for this occasion to worship their ancestors? With the desire for plenty of wealth and health in the future, this tray includes bananas, grapefruits, a persimmon, a custard apple, and a pomegranate. Sometimes, one of them can be replaced by another fruit, for example, coconut, papaya, mango, etc. That depends on the region where you are living.
Getting teaching jobs in Ho Chi Minh City is a great opportunity to try as many traditional dishes as possible and expand your horizons about not only the festival but also Vietnamese cultural values.
4. There are many activities to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival
To express thankfulness for the harvest, people host various folk games or activities on this day, such as joining groups of lion dancers, parading with lanterns, or simply watching the moon together.
Hanging out with friends at some popular locations is also the best way for you to play a part in these eventful surroundings. Considering carefully before making the decision will help you find a suitable site to thoroughly experience one of the most important traditional festivals in Vietnamese culture.
If this is the first time you have attended the Mid-Autumn Festival, we hope these pieces of information can help you expand your knowledge about it as well as Vietnamese culture and strongly reinforce the relationship between yourself and this country.
How to take the first steps in the journey of accumulating various experiences there? Applying for teaching jobs in Ho Chi Minh City, especially at EMG Education, is an approachable way to integrate yourself into the Vietnamese lifestyle. Please visit https://teach.emg.vn/primary-lower-secondary-and-high-school-teachers/ to get information about this position and apply for it.
More information:
- 4 public holidays in Vietnam you should attend for the first time
- Vietnam’s Top 5 Colourful Festivals You Should Attend
- Places for you to discover Vietnamese cuisine like an expert
| EMG Education is one of the largest private education organizations in Vietnam. Its mission is to provide Vietnam learners across all ages an opportunity and the right preparation to succeed on the global stage. Founded in 2005, EMG Education has always been an innovative trailblazer in Vietnam’s education scene, constantly finding new ways to empower Vietnamese learners by expanding their access to world-class curricular and learning materials, and globally-recognized qualifications. |
