What do countries do on Mid-Autumn Festival?

Not only Vietnam but also many countries in Asia also welcome the Mid-Autumn Festival on the full moon day of the 8th lunar month every year. Each country has its own activities and traditional dishes that are suitable for its national identity.

1. Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam

In Vietnam, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Lunar New Year or the Lunar New Year. There are three legends associated with the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival: Tang Ming Huang, Hang Nga and Hau Nghe. So far it is unclear when the Mid-Autumn Festival has come from and where it originated. Vietnam is an agricultural country with wet rice civilization, so on this occasion is also the time when the crops have been planted, people enjoy the Mid-Autumn Festival together, pray that there will be a bumper crop. Mid-Autumn Festival is an opportunity for Vietnamese people to express their gratitude to grandparents, parents and benefactors; is an opportunity for the whole family to spend time together.

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According to Vietnamese customs, on this day, families prepare a moon offering tray, consisting of 5 types of fruit and a pair of scones and flexible cakes. Like banh chung, thick cakes on the Lunar New Year, moon cakes also symbolize the summing up, the cover of bread wrapped around the people expressing solidarity and attachment. Square baked cake symbolizes the earth, flexible round cake symbolizes heaven. The philosophy of heaven and earth is in harmony, everything is expressed in moon cake, glass is offered to heaven and ancestors.

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Mid-Autumn Festival is a holiday that most Vietnamese children look forward to, because they will be donated by their parents to lamps such as star lights, troop lamps, blind lights . and together receive lamps when the moon rises. When the moon rose very high, people together broke the deck, sang, danced under the moonlight.

Besides, in each area, people also organize lion dance, dragon dance in the bustling drum. Each group of unicorn dance came first, the children followed the tail and cheered, forming a long and crowded line. They go to each performer, ask for candy and celebrate together.

2. Mid-Autumn Festival in China

Many people believe that Vietnam's Mid-Autumn Festival is originated and affected by China. However, the customs of the Chinese people on this day also have differences compared to Vietnam.

On the full moon day of August, Chinese people will welcome the Mid-Autumn Festival by eating moon cakes and watching the moon. On this day, the moon is said to be the brightest, most beautiful, so the Chinese call the Mid-Autumn Festival "moon festival". They do the moon sacrifice ceremony, worship the moon outdoors with wine, fruits and food to pray for good luck.

There are lots of sentences or fun puzzles hanging around the street, and the sentences are written on the lanterns hanging in front of every house. Chinese people often gather together to solve puzzles to get luck. They also organize lion dance, dragon dance to create a joyful and bustling atmosphere for Tet holiday.

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Like Vietnam, Chinese people also hold lanterns on Mid-Autumn night. They mainly process red lights to symbolize good luck. The Chinese also lit candles on the lotus-shaped lanterns floating in the river, releasing the Khong Minh lanterns into the sky. They conceive, the lamp will bring wishes, their wishes go far away so that all wishes come true.

3. Mid-Autumn Festival in Korea

Like Vietnam and other countries in Asia, the Mid-Autumn Festival in Korea (Chuseok New Year) also takes place on the full moon day of the 8th lunar month every year. This is one of the major and important holidays for Koreans that lasts for 3 days. On this day, Koreans, even though they are far away, gather together with their families, using fresh ingredients harvested during the previous season to turn into attractive dishes to present their ancestors' thanksgiving and enjoy the fruits after a hard season. Songpyeon and wine are two indispensable things in the Mid-Autumn Festival of Koreans. Songpyeon cake is a type of rice cake made from dough rice flour, inside is made from green beans, chestnuts, red beans, sesame and other nutritious ingredients. The cake has a crescent or semi-moon shape, not a circle like many other countries because the Korean people think that the moon is sometimes round and the same as human life can be changed.

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After making offerings at home, Korean families will visit their ancestral graves and perform the ritual of weeding on the grave.

Wrestling is a typical game during the Mid-Autumn Festival of Koreans. Two wrestlers will compete on a round sand pit and have to knock down the opponent. The winner will be honored as a hero and receive many village awards. Korean women will wear traditional hanbok clothes, then gather in the courtyard, hold hands into a circle to sing and dance.

4. Mid-Autumn Festival in Japan

Unlike other countries in the region, Japan organizes Mid-Autumn Festival twice a year. The first time Zyuyoga is associated with the custom of watching the Otsukimi moon, usually takes place on the right day of the eighth lunar month when the moon is the most beautiful. The second time is the Lunar New Year which is usually held in September or October of the lunar calendar every year.

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Japanese people often eat Tsukimi-Dango cake during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The cake is arranged in a triangle on a wooden shelf, beside it is susuki grass (a Japanese weed) and fruit. The Japanese conceived, jade rabbits lived on the moon, so they squeezed many kinds of simulated rice cakes with pearl bunnies and round cakes simulating the moon to worship heaven and earth.

Japanese legend holds that carp is the embodiment of Samurai because it dares to swim upstream of the waterfall. Carp lanterns symbolize courage, especially for boys. So they use carp lights in the procession of lights to desire to bring strength and luck.

5. Mid-Autumn Festival in Singapore

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Chinese ancestors who came to Singapore brought the Mid-Autumn Festival to this multi-ethnic country. Tet is held in August or September every year, is an opportunity for Chinese people to express their cultural identity. These days, the China Town is brilliant with colorful lanterns. Traditional dishes of Chinese people on holidays are sold everywhere. In 2013, Singapore's Mid-Autumn Festival achieved a record with a huge lantern assembled from 580 lanterns, attracting many tourists to visit.

6. Mid-Autumn Festival in Thailand

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In Thailand, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "moon festival", everyone must participate in the moon worship ceremony and pray the best. The typical food in the Mid-Autumn Festival is offered to Thai people worshiping peaches, pomelos and moon cakes. Thai people believe that when doing so, Bat Tien will bring that peach to the moon to bless Guan Yin as well as other gods, making their prayers come true. They also believe that grapefruit represents the fullness, fullness and significance of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

7. Mid-Autumn Festival in Cambodia

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Cambodia's Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 10th lunar month every year. In the early morning of that day, people will hold a ceremony of "Bai chuon chuon" (festival of worshiping moonlight) with offerings such as: fresh flowers, cassava soup, flat rice, sugarcane juice. In the evening, people put offerings on trays and put them on a large mat, waiting for the moon to rise. When the moon rises, everyone will pray and pray for good things together. Later, the elders in the village will stuff flat rice into the children's mouth until it cannot be inserted to pray for fullness and fullness.