Mid-Autumn Festival Memories

(Dong Nai) - Another Mid-Autumn Festival has arrived, awakening countless childhood memories in everyone's heart. For me, a child born and raised in a poor rural area of ​​Northern Vietnam, this is no exception. My childhood was filled with hardship and scarcity, but also overflowing with laughter and simple joys.

Back in our hometowns, during the 80s and 90s, the Mid-Autumn Festival was very different from now. There weren't as many modern toys as there are today, no flashing battery-operated lanterns, and certainly no elaborate feasts overflowing with cakes, candies, and fruits…

Every year, starting from the end of the seventh lunar month, everyone in my village, from the elderly to the young children, begins to get busy preparing for the Mid-Autumn Festival, including setting up the festival tent and preparing cultural performances for the competition on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Around that time, we children, aged 10 to 15, usually gather in the courtyard of the village's cultural center to rehearse the Scout ceremony.

Back then, there were no extra classes, so practicing for the Mid-Autumn Festival camping trip was the top priority. We practiced all the Scout rituals. In the beginning, our footwork and arm movements weren't coordinated; some used their left foot, some their right, and some used the same hand and foot. But after just a few practice sessions, the ranks gradually became neat and orderly. We considered it a joy, an honor, and our duty.

Then, on camping day, from early morning, we children all gathered at the village cultural center. Everyone was eager and bustling about, helping the adults stretch out the tarpaulins, fold bunches of colorful paper flowers, and stick bright red and blue ribbons on the camp gate. As soon as the tent frame was set up, we all rushed in like a swarm of bees, each of us vying to find our own "territory." It was truly a wonderful experience for our childhood.

I remember back then, we couldn't afford to buy those sparkling star-shaped lanterns, so the kids in my neighborhood would get together to make our own Mid-Autumn Festival lanterns using bamboo strips, glue, and colored paper. It was also an opportunity for us to become artisans, creating our own products. Those lantern-making sessions were always so much fun. We divided the tasks among ourselves: some would split bamboo and whittle the strips, others would prepare the colored paper, and those with nimble hands would take care of assembling and decorating the lanterns.

Every year, the star-shaped lanterns we make are never perfect. The corners are warped, the glue is smudged, and the paper is unevenly applied. But for us, they are still the most beautiful products, even if they are crooked, they still have meaning, and when lit with candles, the lanterns become radiant and sparkling on the night of the full moon festival.

In my hometown, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, there's a particularly delicious fruit called the persimmon. I remember when I was very young, my grandmother taught my sisters and me how to weave red strings into pretty persimmon baskets. Larger persimmons made larger baskets, smaller ones smaller. The baskets had diamond-shaped mesh like a net. After weaving, we'd put the persimmons inside. We'd carry the basket around the neighborhood, occasionally bringing it to our noses, inhaling the sweet fragrance against the smooth skin, and cherishing it with delight. In the evening, we'd carefully hang the basket above our bed or by the window so the aroma would spread throughout the house. We'd play with the persimmons until they turned a quail-egg-sized color, then gently squeeze them to soften them before eating. The flesh was yellow, soft, and sweet like honey, with a distinctive slightly tart aftertaste – a flavor I still can't forget to this day.

Back then, material things were scarce, so every gift, especially mooncakes, became a cherished anticipation for every child. On the full moon of the eighth lunar month, my friends and I from the neighborhood would go to the village cultural center to receive our Mid-Autumn Festival gifts.

Back then, Mid-Autumn Festival gifts usually consisted of a pair of mooncakes, one baked mooncake, one glutinous rice mooncake, and some sweets. The variety wasn't as extensive as it is now; the baked mooncakes only had one type of mixed filling. The glutinous rice mooncakes had a delicate aroma of fragrant sticky rice, a rich, sweet bean paste filling, and a lingering aftertaste that left a craving in our mouths. After receiving the gifts, none of us dared eat them immediately. We had to wait until the feast under the moonlight, when Mom would cut the mooncakes into small pieces and share one with each of us to enjoy.

After enjoying the feast with our families, we children rushed out into the streets to carry lanterns under the moonlight. Each child held a lantern they had made themselves; some beat drums, some performed lion dances, and others sang familiar folk songs... The whole group went around the neighborhood until late at night before returning home.

The full moon, perfectly round, evokes the innocent days of childhood. These are genuine, simple memories that shaped the childhood of our generation. Now, those things remain only in memory, giving way to more modern Mid-Autumn Festivals.

My Duyen (Dong Phu Commune General Service Center)

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/van-hoa/202510/ky-uc-trung-thu-a1d1526/