Mid-Autumn Festival a multi-ethnic celebration in Vietnam

World
Europe

01:29

Every weekend, the street encircling Hanoi's iconic Hoan Kiem is closed to traffic, turning it into a pedestrian paradise in the Vietnamese capital city where crossing a street is normally a Darwinian struggle for survival thanks to the streams of erratically weaving motorcycles.

Couples and tourists danced to music blaring from a loudspeaker. A group of young people played "shuttlecock" – a game of keepy-up with a feathered object with a metal disk as its base. Families strolled in the humid evening air.

00:21

And beneath a tent, parents helped their children to make mooncakes, an essential part of the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations here. They formed the sweet paste encased in dough into rough balls in their hands, then pressed the molds down firmly on them, popping out a raw mooncake adorned with the distinctive patterns on its surface.

An adult then brushed them with oil and baked them in an over. The session was organized by an organization called Kids' Workshops Vietnam, which aims to teach young people - especially in rural areas - practical skills like cooking. It's the first time they've held a workshop in Hanoi and it's proving a hit with kids and their parents.

Hoi An has a rich mix of Chinese and Vietnamese culture. /CGTN Photo

"One family, all the children and the parents want to make the mooncakes by themselves to give to their grandparents to thank them for everything they have done in their lives," said organizer, Nguyen Manh Duc.

He told me that the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in Vietnam by Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese alike, as well as Hmong and other minority groups.

Kids like to give the mooncakes they make to their grandparents. /CGTN Photo

As I strolled the city's old quarter the next day, I stumbled across a stet even busier than all the others. Shops on either side of the narrow road were festooned with multicolored lanterns, masks, plastic stars, lion heads. People shopping for the festival packed the street, but still motorcycles insisted on weaving their way through the throng.

This is the most popular place to shop for the festival. A vendor told me that some of the lanterns and other items are made in China. But most are made locally by hand including, not surprisingly, the ones adorned with the face of Ho Chi Minh.

I bumped into a tall Swiss tourist towering above the crowd and asked him what he thought of what he's seeing.

Kids' sized lion heads are on sale in the old quarter. /CGTN Photo

"Oh, it's gorgeous," said Axel Michaelowa. "It shows real tradition, livelihood, and people are happy. It's great to see. Here one sees tradition still alive."

He's bought a few items himself, including some small, delicate, transparent plastic lanterns. Getting them home to Switzerland intact will take some doing.

There's a place I've visited several times in Central Vietnam where every day or evening looks like the mid-Autumn festival. It's the UNESCO heritage city of Hoi An, which is hugely popular these days with tourists from China as well as the West.

Many items are made locally by hand. /CGTN Photo

It's known as the lantern city for good reason. A dazzling multi-colored array of lanterns hung from wires above the main historic streets and along the bridge across the river, making for a photo opportunity at every turn.

This town rich in Chinese and Vietnamese culture seems the ideal place to enjoy the mid-Autumn festival…a celebration that brings together the people of this country that boasts of having nearly four dozen ethnic groups.