The Mid-Autumn Festival is just a few days away. However, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival also comes at a time when Quang Ninh has just experienced the severe impacts of storm No. 3. From each family to agencies, units, departments and sectors, everyone is focused on overcoming the consequences and damage of the storm, making Mid-Autumn Festival activities somewhat quieter. But I am sure that each person and each family will have their own way to celebrate Tet in a simple and cozy way.
Values that last forever
Like many other customs, beliefs and festivals of our nation, the Mid-Autumn Festival represents the unique mark of the wet rice agricultural culture. In the autumn of August, when the rice has just been planted, farming work is idle, and the cool weather is the right time for people to have fun.
Mid-Autumn Festival is not an individual activity of a few households or a group of people, but of the whole community and village. It is a big festival for every household, every person, every age to gather together and immerse themselves in festival activities imbued with traditional cultural colors. It is the sound of the drums beating loudly in the lantern procession night, the image of people gathering around the moon-watching tray, sharing delicious moon cakes, eagerly watching lion dances and listening to adults tell stories about Cuoi and Hang.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is also an occasion for people to look at the moon to predict the harvest and the fate of the country. There is a Vietnamese proverb: "If you want to eat rice in May/ Look at the full moon in August; If the moon is clear, you will get rice in the harvest season/ If the moon is cloudy, you will get rice in the winter", with the notion that if the autumn moon is yellow, that year will have a good harvest of silkworms, if the autumn moon is green, that year will have natural disasters, and if the autumn moon is bright orange, the country will prosper.
Every autumn, everyone seems to look forward to the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is not simply about candy, toys, and the innocent joy of childhood in every step of carrying lanterns to welcome the moon, but it also contains warm, intimate, and familiar feelings in the day of reunion of each family. That precious bond of love has highlighted the beauty of traditional culture imbued with national identity, creating a unique atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival of the Vietnamese people.
According to ancient customs, on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, parents, depending on their family circumstances, prepare a feast to show their love and care for their children. In return, children also buy gifts and cakes to give to their grandparents and parents to show their filial piety and gratitude to their parents. On the full moon day of the eighth lunar month, no matter where they go or how busy they are, many people still do not forget to light incense sticks to offer to their ancestors. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, people still want to gather together in a happy home, in a peaceful atmosphere, and reunite with their loved ones. The Mid-Autumn Festival is therefore also a festival of family reunion.
Indeed, the beauty of traditional customs, culinary culture, and the sophistication in behavior of Vietnamese people converge every Mid-Autumn Festival.
Wish for peace
The Mid-Autumn Festival, a long-standing cultural symbol of our nation, always holds a special place in the minds of the Vietnamese people. Behind each lantern, each piece of cake is a story about the intersection and harmony between tradition and modernity, a process through which old values are renewed, adapted to contemporary life without losing their original beauty.
The Mid-Autumn Festival 2024 came when Quang Ninh had just experienced the extremely severe effects of storm No. 3. The storm passed, causing thousands of houses to have their roofs blown off, thousands of fishery cages and rafts, many tourist boats and water transport vehicles to sink and drift; 70% of urban trees fell down, many high-rise buildings, agency headquarters and schools in localities were damaged, the entire province's communication system was disconnected, and there was a widespread power outage... With the consensus, steadfastness and determination of the entire political system and all classes of people, after more than a week, Quang Ninh focused on overcoming the consequences of the storm, all working hard to bring life back to normal.
That was the image in Ha Long City, right on the night of September 9, the local government, armed forces and people worked tirelessly to overcome the consequences of the storm; thousands of electricity workers strained to fix the power outage; the attention of all levels and sectors of the province and locality promptly visited, encouraged and supported households that suffered damage after the storm; the efforts to take care of and ensure essential living conditions for households that had to evacuate to storm shelters; the warm feelings of restaurants, eateries, and philanthropists who were willing to donate food, foodstuffs, and hundreds of free meals to people in heavily damaged areas.
And more than that, it is also the heroic sacrifice of the soldiers when performing the task of fighting the storm, they do not hesitate to face the danger, all for the safety of the people. Notably, Quang Ninh also balances its budget to overcome the consequences of the storm, ready to give 100 billion VND from the central government to support the province to the northern mountainous provinces that still have many difficulties...
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival may not be sparkling, bright with lanterns, not fully filled with excitement and bustle, but surely in everyone's heart, Mid-Autumn Festival is still full of love and affection. Mr. Dam Van Xiem, Zone 7, Bai Chay Ward, Ha Long City, shared: In times of hardship and difficulty, I appreciate the sharing of the community even more. My family and many houses in the neighborhood had their roofs blown off, but our neighbors quickly moved to other people's houses to temporarily avoid the storm. After the storm passed, everyone gathered to help each other clean up and repair their houses to soon stabilize their lives. Truly, the sharing and caring of friends and neighbors, both materially and spiritually, has given me and many families more motivation to overcome these immediate difficulties.
The quiet atmosphere of this year makes many people remember the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2020 and 2021 when the whole country was struggling to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. However, no matter how difficult the circumstances, promoting the spirit of "Discipline and Unity", all the people of the Mining Region always join hands , Unite to overcome, together welcome the following full moon seasons in peace and true fulfillment, promising good things, for a happy life to continue to exist in our beloved homeland of Quang Ninh.
It can be seen that, no matter where, how to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival, bustling or quiet, new or traditional, the value of the family reunion day will never change when each person understands, appreciates, and cherishes the bond of family affection, love, care, and sharing in the community. That is the beauty of traditional culture imbued with the national identity, create a typical atmosphere of Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival.
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