Remembering Mid-Autumn Festivals of the past

For the 80s generation, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a vibrant yet simple sky of memories, a unique and unmistakable flavor. While the Mid-Autumn Festival in the city is dazzling with lanterns, mooncakes, and the lively tune of "tung dinh dinh, cac tung dinh dinh...", the Mid-Autumn Festival in the countryside brings a different kind of joy—the joy of whittling bamboo to make lanterns, tapping each mooncake, and waiting for nightfall to go on a lantern parade around the neighborhood.

Mid-Autumn Festival in my hometown didn't have many sweets or colorful lanterns; instead, there was just a star-shaped lantern made of red cellophane paper that my father made for me at the beginning of August, or a lantern made from a perforated milk can that spun around in the candlelight. That "legendary" milk can lantern, which almost every 80s generation knows, has become etched in the memories of countless people.

(AI)

On the night of the full moon, the village streets were filled with laughter. Children would gather in long lines, carrying lanterns. The lion dance troupes were usually made up of older children from the neighborhood who practiced on their own, with lion heads handcrafted from cardboard and scraps of fabric. The rhythmic clanging of tin cans, though rudimentary, was the most boisterous and joyful sound. Just seeing the lion dance troupe from afar would send the children cheering loudly.

The first taste of Mid-Autumn Festival in childhood is the taste of anticipation. It's the joyful feeling of holding a lantern in your hand, helping your mother sift flour to make mooncakes, preparing a feast with the flavors of home – coconut jam, pumpkin jam, banana cakes… Mid-Autumn Festival in the countryside doesn't come from a specific dish, but from the complete presence of loved ones.

Mid-Autumn Festival is a rare occasion when the whole family, or even the entire neighborhood, gathers together under the moonlight. The essence of reunion at that time is the cheerful laughter of children, the warm embrace of grandparents, and the loving gaze of parents.

That's what Mid-Autumn Festival is like in the countryside: just a bright moonlit night, a homemade lantern, a few traditional cakes, and warm embraces. These are memories of a poor but beautiful childhood, where joy comes from simple things.

Youth

Source: https://baolongan.vn/nho-trung-thu-xua-a203570.html