The Mid-Autumn Festival

As many of you are already aware, a two calendar system exists in Vietnam. Culturally, the lunar calendar is followed while for all political, business, and educational affairs here, Vietnam follows the Gregorian calendar that is so familiar to all of us in the States. For the most part, this bit of information, at least to me in terms of my everyday activities here, is just that: a bit of information that explains the small numbers in the bottom right hand corners of all of the calendars here, but doesn’t really occupy my thoughts all that often. Yesterday, however, was different. The fact that yesterday was the third of October (and only the 3rd of October) to most of the rest of the world did not matter so much as the fact that in the lunar calendar, yesterday was the 15th of August and, therefore, the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. This festival, known in Vietnamese as TÕt-Trung-Thu, is one of the most popular festival days in Vietnam and celebrated each year on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Similar (as are many cultural traditions in a country occupied by China for almost 1,000 years) to the Chinese mid-Autumn festival that is celebrated on the same day, the festival in Vietnam celebrates family, the moon, and most especially children and is sometimes called the Children’s Festival day. On this day, children receive gifts from their parents (often plastic toys and lanterns that sing and light up and are used in the nighttime parades) and sing traditional songs. Students and adult children often return home to their families, which gather to celebrate the harvest with a nice meal before attending the nighttime festivities, which include songs, games, and competitions for children and parades behind large star floats throughout the streets. I was asked by my students what families did on the mid-Autumn festival day in the U.S. and they were shocked to hear that we had no such thing. I told some of them that the closest thing to the festival in the States is Thanksgiving where families gather together to give thanks and eat large meals, and they agreed that the days were somewhat similar in those regards. They then asked me: what kinds of gifts do you give on that day and what competitions do you have? Again, they were surprised to hear that Thanksgiving in the U.S. really was just a day for eating and maybe watching American football on T.V. Needless to say, they were almost as excited as I was to see this extremely special day in the life of the country.
On Tuesday of this past week, Elliot (my fellow American English teacher here in Thanh Hoa--- Elliot graduated in May from GWU and is teaching here through the Volunteers in Asia Program… it has been really nice to have one other American around to talk to, vent with, bounce teaching ideas off, and sometimes just share a beer and talk about politics or books with on the outside balcony/hallway of our dormitory building.) and I were told by members of the IEC staff that we were going to be responsible for organizing a game or activity for the children of the staff of HDU on the evening of the mid-Autumn festival. After throwing a few ideas out that were rejected as either being too boring or too complicated (middle ground is sometimes hard to find here in all arenas) Elliot and I finally settled with the staff on teaching the children “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” and were told to arrive to the front area of the university at 6:55pm sharp.
Yesterday morning was actually very uneventful for me. As is the case for most holidays in Vietnam, I’ve come to learn, celebratory days, particularly this day, are days spent with families so, being somewhat family-less here, I was on my own for the good part of the day. Actually, this trend is seen even on the weekends here in Thanh Hoa. Many students do not stick around on the weekends but rather return to their homes (some of which are within 5km) to be with their families so the college culture that I was so used to at a place like Sewanee is relatively non-existent here and any social activities that I take part in with my students and friends here (remind me to tell you sometime about a particularly hilarious Karaoke night) take place on the weekdays and my weekends are really quiet. My weekdays are long and busy, however, so I do not mind the opportunity to “sleep in” (until about 7:30, which is 2 hours later than I normally wake up M-F to be in the academic building before, and ready to teach at 7:00am sharp), tidy my room, go to the market to buy, clean out, and cook my weekly chicken, read whatever English novel I happen to be enjoying at the time and, of course, plan for my lessons and clubs. (I’m really very cool when left to my own devices, can’t you tell?)
All that is to say, yesterday didn’t feel terribly special until it began to get dark in the evening. I was invited to eat my mid-Autumn dinner with Chinh, who had gone home but returned early, bringing with her chicken and vegetables from her home that I was eager to enjoy with her. We ate dinner and chatted about the graduate school applications I’m helping her get together and then met up with Elliot to walk over to the university’s front gates. We arrived on time and found… the beginnings of the set-up process underway. Chinh told us that from the looks of it, things wouldn’t actually get started for another hour or so, which was not terribly surprising, but frustrating since we had been told by our boss to be there “on time” and we had plans to go with Chinh to the center of Thanh Hoa to watch the main festivities after our quick activity at 7:00. We called our boss who told us that we should just wait there for him. We found a spare bench and listened to the music playing around us from the large speaker system that had already been set up. All of the songs playing were lovely Vietnamese tunes that Chinh explained to us a bit until suddenly and randomly “Oh Susanna!,” sung by high-pitched Vietnamese singers in English, came through the speakers. Elliot and I were beside ourselves with laughter, and I danced around singing “I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.” Brief, random, and often silly reminders of the wide reach of American culture actually happen quite a lot, but I never fail to be amazed, or amused at this reality, as I was last night.
We ended up waiting for about 45min for our boss to arrive and he showed up just about the time that everyone else (who apparently knew the “real” start time) did. Elliot and I were not thrilled at this point, less at the fact that the event began late than at the earlier insistence that we arrive “on time” but we soon began to enjoy watching the crowd gathering around us. Children, dressed in their best clothes, walked around us, singing and carrying lanterns as their parents watched, and soon everyone was corralled into one area and the event began. Students from the university sang traditional songs, and then selected a few young children to sing the songs in front of everyone else, which was absolutely precious to watch. I fell in love with a little boy that was probably 2 years old and walked around the center area freely, bobbing to the music and trying to steal the candles and fruit off of the center table. After about 15 minutes, it was Elliot’s and my turn to put on our “show” and we walked out into the center area and smiled at the crowd, most of whom were laughing at us… something I’ve gotten very used to here. (Generally, I don’t get any “cat calls” from men, but rather everyone tends to look at me, smile or laugh, and sometimes yell “Hello!” back at me after walking past me a little ways.) Elliot and I began teaching the children (with the help of Chinh, who became our de facto translator) the parts of the body in English that were necessary to sing the song. Finally, we demonstrated the song to the delight of the entire crowd, who greatly enjoyed the sight of two tall (Elliot is about 6’3”) Americans touching their knees and toes in quick succession. After a little encouragement, the children also began singing the song, and a few tries later, everyone was singing and motioning along--- not bad for having learned the English word for “shoulder” 5 minutes earlier! Elliot and I then smiled, thanked everyone, and turned to leave, when we were told that it was necessary for the activity to become a competition, so we had to watch the children sing the song and choose the best one. So, laughing to ourselves, we chose a winner and then turned once again to leave when we were asked by the persons in charge what our gift to the winner was… Considering the fact that we had learned that our activity would be a competition roughly 45 seconds earlier, Elliot and I were at a loss for words, or a gift. After a few awkward moments, one of the organizers produced a bag of candy from their supply of prizes and we handed it to the little girl, and quickly moved out of the “stage” area, laughing at what had just happened.
Worried that we had missed the main activities in town after our delay at the university, Elliot, Chinh, and I quickly found a taxi and went downtown. Major traffic jams met us in the city center and we decided to get out and walk to find a parade. This was an adventure in and of itself as we began weaving through the sea of motorbikes, cars, and bicycles, hoping that our toes would survive the evening uncrushed. Soon we found one of the many “parades,” a pedaled pushcart that carried a 10 ft tall wire-frame and paper star with a light in the middle that was being pedaled by young men and carried probably 15 adults and small children. We began walking next to it and looking up at the beautiful decorations on the start and were immediately welcomed into the group that had created the star and float. Soon, I was holding the hands of many of the women walking around the float who chatted at me while I tried to eek out a few sentences in rough Vietnamese and Chinh did her best to translate. After walking a little ways, Elliot and I were guided over to the back of the float and invited to pilot (pedal) it down the street. I hopped on the bicycle seat and they had Elliot sit on the flat wire area directly behind the seat; I then put my feet to the inside of the pedals and Elliot put his on the outside and we quickly coordinated our pedaling and were on our way, to the thrill of the children and adults on the float and in the crowd walking with us. It was a very hot and humid night last night and before too long I was pretty tired, but we kept pedaling for a good ways through the busy streets. Chinh told me that parades were different than those in the States simply because the different floats went any which way they could and because the streets were not cleared of traffic… the only concession the traffic seemed to offer us, in fact, was not literally running us over, but rather squeezing around us as quickly as possible. After a lot of pedaling, Elliot and I hopped off, drenched in sweat, and joined the walkers around “our” float; soon Chinh told us that we had been invited to celebrate with the families that had created the float and we readily accepted. A few minutes later we maneuvered the float from one side of the street to the other (an adventure in and of itself, and accomplished in part simply by staring the drivers down and putting our hands on their hoods to stop them from coming any further--- oh how much my life has changed since the days of crossing University Avenue!) and began walking down a dark alleyway, the music from our portable speakers still booming. Many of the women grabbed my arms and hands as we walked, and soon we turned a corner and I saw a line of plastic tables and chairs, covered in moon cakes (sticky rice with orange peel, lotus leaf, pieces of dried meat, and a whole bunch of other sweet and salty things in the middle), fruit, candy, and tons of orange soda with even more people waiting to greet our party. We were ushered to the tables where we sat with the children and adults, drinking our orange soda (in between toasting with almost everyone who wanted to welcome us and say hello) and eating the candy, fruit, and mooncakes. Soon, the leader of the even stood up and welcomed everyone (once again, Chinh was our wonderful translator) and the party continued as people crowded around Elliot and me, taking pictures with their camera phones and shaking our hands. I have never felt so welcome at a party in my entire life, particularly one that we literally stumbled upon as we walked down the streets. After eating and smiling for a bit, Elliot and I were asked to address the crowd. I agreed to do it, was handed the microphone, and spoke a little to the crowd, saying hello, that it was so nice to meet them, and then thanked them all very much, in my very best bad Vietnamese. They all reacted happily to what I said, so I know that I at least got the most important words right! Chinh then told me that they wanted Elliot and me to sing a song, preferably hip-hop. Elliot came to the front area where I stood, and after quickly deciding that our trying to sing hip-hop would probably be the biggest bust ever, we ended up singing “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow” which was met with plenty of applause and laughter. At that point, we realized that we had to get back to the university because the gates close at 10:30 for curfew and we began saying our goodbyes, which mostly involved smiling for more pictures. At one point, I was tapped on the shoulder and when I turned around, I was immediately handed a roughly 9 month old darling baby so that I could take a picture with him. We finally made our way back to the main street and caught a taxi which got us back in to Hong Duc before the gate closed. We all immediately walked back to our dorm, said our goodbyes, and Elliot and I thanked Chinh for helping us to have such a great night, and then I immediately went to sleep, smiling at the wonderful events of my very first mid Autumn festival and hoping that I too could learn to be as welcoming to strangers as our new friends were to us.
Well, I think that’s all for now- I’m off to continue my Sunday afternoon of lesson planning and relaxing before another busy week begins tomorrow morning, bright and early. I hope that you all are well and enjoying your own mid-Autumns back home or wherever you may be right now. I’ll be in touch again soon.