For children, the Mid-Autumn Festival is an unforgettable memory. It's the full moon of the year when the moon is brightest: perfectly round, clear and bright, with a cool breeze, a high blue sky, and gardens full of ripe fruit.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is not just for children, but a joy for everyone, in every family. In the photo: Children from Phu Lam village (Phu Gia commune, Huong Khe district) enjoying the Mid-Autumn Festival feast.
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival has just passed the Independence Day holiday, with its many lively traditional festivals on the rivers and in the villages, filled with vibrant red flags and flowers. It has also just passed the full moon of the seventh lunar month, the Vu Lan festival, a time to honor parents, a deep, somber note amidst the many facets of daily life. Stepping into the Mid-Autumn Festival, it's a joyful high note, focused on children, on the hopes and dreams of the full moon – a symbol of perfect completeness and overflowing love. It's a festival of "moon gazing" not only for children but also a joy for everyone, every family.
Uncle Ho deeply loved children. Of the 16 times he wrote letters to children, more than half were written during the Mid-Autumn Festival. During the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1946, amidst the difficult circumstances of the nation, Uncle Ho expressed his hopes in poetry for the children: “I hope you children will be ‘good’/ Forever preserving the land of Lac-Hong/ So that you may become famous as the Immortal Dragons/ So that you may bring honor to the children of Vietnam.” During the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1951, from the Viet Bac war zone, in the deep forest bathed in the autumn moonlight, Uncle Ho was always restless, remembering and longing for the children.
Uncle Ho wrote: “The Mid-Autumn moon shines like a mirror / Uncle Ho gazes at the scene, remembering and missing the children / Following this, Uncle Ho writes a few lines / To send to the children to express his longing.” During the resistance war against the US, when the country was divided, Uncle Ho always thought of the children of the South. On the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1956, Uncle Ho sent a letter to the children of the South expressing his longing and hope for the day when the country would be reunited: “North and South will be reunited as one family / Uncle and grandchildren will meet, young and old alike, to rejoice together / I miss you all very much / I hope that each child will be a young hero.”
The aspirations for the Mid-Autumn Festival remain heartfelt and sincere, always cherished and valued with hopes for happiness for future generations. ( Image from the Internet )
Mid-Autumn Festival memories are not only cherished in childhood but also in the nostalgia of adults. Everyone goes through adolescence, where each Mid-Autumn Festival marks another step forward in their growth and development. Later, as adults, parents, grandparents, the aspirations for the Mid-Autumn Festival remain heartfelt, sincere, and cherished, filled with hopes for happiness for future generations.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is also a time of leisure for farmers, a time when people can relax and immerse themselves in nature, in the midst of autumn. After a year of hard work in the fields, adults show their love for children during the Mid-Autumn Festival with various cakes made from agricultural products. All the ingredients are the essence carefully selected and nurtured by human hands, imbued with the finest flavors of the earth and sky. This includes the shaping of the cakes into squares and rounds, the rich flavors, and the golden-brown color (baked cakes) to the smooth white color (sticky rice cakes)...
The trees in the garden also offer a full, ripe abundance for the Mid-Autumn Festival. There are pomelos plump with juice like the full moon; persimmons red like the color of hope for the future; custard apples with their eyes open like innocent, joyful blossoming; and bunches of ripe, fragrant yellow bananas spreading out like a full hand yearning for peace and togetherness. The fruit platter for the Mid-Autumn Festival is the fruit of the nurturing care of grandparents and parents, of the earth's spirit, and of the benevolent soil that, over time, has purified and refined to bring forth fragrance and abundant fruit.
Lanterns with revolving lanterns hold many surprising secrets for children. ( Image from the Internet ).
Mid-Autumn Festival aspirations are also embodied in toys. In the eyes of children, the revolving lantern is a meticulously crafted and magnificent creation, concealing many surprising secrets and offering a fascinating lesson in optical physics. The revolving lanterns depicting the chase symbolize the timeless martial spirit of our ancestors. Some lanterns feature the image of a scholar returning home after achieving success, representing the tradition of studiousness. The youthful, fresh rhythm of the Mid-Autumn drums is like the rhythm of the fields, season after season, sun after sun, rain after rain... sweeping away the hard work of sowing and harvesting for fragrant new rice, allowing childhood to grow up amidst the scent of the fields, rice paddies, and betel nut trees...
The longing for the Mid-Autumn Festival, filled with memories, excitement, and anticipation, is like the lively rhythm of the song "The Star Lantern" by composer Pham Tuyen: "The five-pointed star lantern, so brightly colored / The handle is very long, the handle is taller than my head / I hold the star lantern and sing loudly / The brightly colored star lantern of the Mid-Autumn Festival night..."
Nguyen Ngoc Phu
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