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| Moon Cakes |
For this year, I surprisingly had one of the best Mid-Autumn celebrations ever... you can guess it could not be that good without friends. My little house was packed with nearly 20 people... and literally everyone had to stand and stay very close to each other. But it was very cozy and enjoyable! This might be the first time for some of my friends to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival, and for many of us it was the best one since we came to The States.
Let's start by a quick history lesson about the festival:
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival (Tết Trung Thu in Vietnamese) is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. It was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally "Mid-Autumn Festival") in the Zhou Dynasty. The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar (lunar calendar), which is usually around late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties. (Source: Wikipedia)
Initially I was planning to invite everyone to come over my house for dinner to show my appreciation for their support at my grandfather’s funeral. They are the best!...So, grandma cooked some chicken curry to treat everyone, and Thanh also wanted to share some sweet treats brought from Vietnam. Everything was well planned and prepared for a small and simple gathering at my house... but well, it can never be a tedious gathering with as many as 20 people attending, especially all of my sprightly friends. We absolutely loved the chicken curry... yes, it was yummy and finished quickly. The air started to explode when we were sharing the luscious mooncakes and tea. The celebration could not be completed without the traditional children song “Rước Đèn Tháng Tám”. Things were really heated as we were singing and group dancing. Everyone really put themselves out to the party, and laughing was countless.
Although there was no either lantern or moon watching, it was definitely one of the best celebrations that I’ve ever had in life. Thanks everyone for a wonderful time!
And here is a fun video to end this post.Enjoy!