Who says university students cannot celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival?

One small question for people who are not Vietnamese: Do you know about “Tết Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Festival)”? If yes, how would you celebrate it in your country?

In case you don’t know about the Mid-Autumn Festival, it’s an event that usually happens in late September (August 15th in Lunar calendar), when the moon is roundest and brightest. There are a lot of legends about its original, but properly the most famous one is “Chú Cuội ngồi gốc cây đa (Mr. Cuội sitting under the banyan tree)”, which is about a woodcutter and his sacred tree. It’s an interesting story, you can ask your Vietnamese friends about it, they will tell you the full version.

Mid-Autumn may be the most favorite festival of the children, because on this day, they can receive two things: toys and food, or sweet, to be more specific. I am no exception. As someone who has about 20 years celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam, let’s me give you some tips to enjoy it right inside the campus of VinUniversity.

1. Food

When I was young, me and the friends in my neighborhood were usually given a big party by our parents, with mooncakes, fruits, and snacks. I still remember the little puppy made by grapefruit sitting at the center of the tray, none of us dared to break it, because it looked so cute.

I’m now too old to enjoy a party like that, but I still have my way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. I recommend it to you since VinUni doesn’t seem to be holding a Mid-Autumn party this year, and we don’t have enough resources to do it on our own inside the campus. So, this is my method to minimize it into a light meal with my family and friends.

Things you need to prepare including: Mooncakes (amount and flavor is dependent on you, but the more diverse, the better), a pot of tea (it should be bitter, my favorite is mint flavor black tea), and a sharp knife. You can also prepare some snacks or fruit if you want. When everythings is done, then find somewhere that can provide you a great view of the moon such as the rooftop of JC building (the canteen of the dorm), the rose garden, or the outdoor hallway of the third floor of I building, and enjoy. Simply, right?

When I was young, I loved the Mid-Autumn Festival because of sweets and toys. But when I’m older, I realize that what I really like is the fun I receive when playing and eating with my family and friends, although it’s just a small and simple party, and everything we do is eat mooncakes then debate about their flavor. I hope that you can also enjoy this happiness, as well as finding your favorite mooncake flavor.

By the way, mine is green tea with salted egg.

2. Toys

To be honest, I have never been a fan of Mid-Autumn toys.

There are only 2 toys that I remember liking, which are fireworks made from grapefruit seed, and towing lights (đèn kéo quân). However, both of them require fire to be activated, so I don’t recommend you playing them when not ensuring safety of yourself and everyone around, especially in the dorm room.

Beside them, the others are quite…nonsense, but if you really want to have some toys for your Mid-Autumn party, you can go to Hang Ma street (it’s near the Hoan Kiem lake (in the same district), and is one of the 36 ancient streets of Hanoi.). My mom usually calls it “the heaven for kids”, because you literally can find any toys you need there. The ones that are safe enough to use inside the campus are the star-shaped lantern, rabbit plushie and plastic models, and mask (kind of similar to cosplay, but more simple).

For masks, if you have a Mid-Autumn party, a real one, you can try to learn the lion dance. You will definitely make everyone crazy if you can do it smoothly, but it's very difficult and hard to do in a narrow space, so my suggestion is just wearing it and taking pictures, or doìng something fun with your friends. Just make sure to be safe, we don’t want to see your cool party turning into a disaster.

3. Game

First question: Do you like to sing?

Second question: Can you sing with messy lyrics that you don’t even understand both the pronunciation and meaning of?

If you answer “yes” for both of them, then congratulations, you have enough potential to play every traditional game of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Actually, you can play whatever you like, it’s your happiness after all. You can search Google for traditional games, play the board games that are usually used in bonding parties, or you can just watch movies with mooncakes and tea instead of popcorn and Coke (are there any movies about Mid-Autumn Festival?). Although it might not be “traditional”, you and your beloved ones are happy, isn’t that enough?

Those are three most important factors of a Mid-Autumn party…at least for me. How about you? How did you organize your party this year? Are my recommendations useful for you? Let me know in the comment, and happy Mid-Autumn Festival.

Sincerely,

VinUnians.