Nhân dịp Lễ Trung Thu Năm 2011, văn phòng chúng tôi thuộc Trung Tâm Sức Khỏe, South Bay Pain & Rehab và California Pain Center chân thành gửi lời kính chúc quí vị hưởng mùa Trung Thu trọn vẹn, hạnh phúc và bình an.
The South Bay and Rehab Center and California Pain Center would like to wish all of you a HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL!
TẾT TRUNG THU – MOON (MID-AUTUMN) FESTIVAL
The
Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the
Moon Festival, is a popular
Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to
China’s
Zhou Dynasty. In Vietnam it is called
Tết Trung Thu.
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th
lunar month of the
Asian Lunar calendar (this year it is on September 25
th, 2007), a date that parallels the
Autumn Equinox of the
solar calendar. This is the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer’s harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the
moon cake, of which there are many different varieties.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the
Chinese calendar (the other being the
Asian Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon while the children play with their lanterns and eat moon cakes along with a warm cup of tea together.
TẾT TRUNG THU - Vietnamese version
The Vietnamese version of Tết Trung Thu recounts the legend of
Chú Cuội, whose
banyan trees were uprooted after his wife accidentally urinated on it and took him with it to the moon. Every year, on the mid-autumn festival, children light lanterns to show Cuội the way to Earth.
In Vietnam, Mooncakes are typically square rather than round, though round ones do exist. Besides the indigenous tale of the banyan tree, other legends are widely told including the story of the
Moon Lady or
Hằng Nga, and the story of the carp who wanted to become a dragon.
Though the Mid-Autumn Festival is held to honor the moon, lanterns actually commemorate the sun. Like China, Vietnam is primarily an agricultural society. As autumn gives way to winter, the nights get longer, and the light and heat from the sun decrease. As a result, farmers often say prayers and hold ceremonies, urging the sun to not forget to rise. Lanterns represent this theme of “light after darkness,” of a wish for the return of the sun’s warmth and light.
As a way of showing love for their children, parents take some time out of their schedules to help children make lanterns. Since candles represent brightness, a lantern procession symbolizes success in school. The most popular lantern is the “star lantern.” Other well-known lantern shapes include dragons, butterflies, rabbits, frogs, boats, and carps. Made from paper and reinforced by a bamboo frame, they contain a central candleholder and fold up so the candle becomes enclosed within the frame. During lantern parades, when lanterns hung from thin wooden sticks sway gently in the night breeze, it appears as if children are carrying around bobbing, softly-glowing orbs of light.
Vietnamese Tết Trung Thu is centralized around children. In an impoverished country where many work for enough money to get by, not many days are left for parents to play with their children. To make up for missed time, they celebrate Tết Trung Thu to show their love. On this day, children receive toys and paper lanterns, put on traditional “unicorn” or “flower” dances, stay up late, and participate in a lantern parade underneath the harvest moon. Parents prepare their children’s favorite dishes and tell them fairytales that encourage them to strive for success. A favorite folklore, Ca Hoa Rong, is about a carp that that worked hard to become a dragon. By telling this story, parents hope to encourage their children to become whatever they want to be, and that nothing is impossible.
Besides education, success, and affection for the young, Tết Trung Thu, with its colorful array of lanterns, re-telling of fairytales, songs, and dances also promotes the arts and crafts. Other festivities include poetry recitals, dragon dances, martial arts demonstrations, multicultural performances, and costume contests.
Today, the popularity of Tết Trung Thu, once celebrated in a few Southeastern countries, has made its way to the West. The colorful lanterns, candlelight, and abundant production of Bánh Trung Thu (moon cakes) in the middle of a cool, crisp autumn have now become a norm in Vietnamese communities spread throughout the United States. Some may honor this tradition for its political or historical affiliations, others, to keep in touch with their friends and relatives and to spend some much-deserved time with their children. Still others - the romantic and imaginative types - may want to take time to appreciate the various legends that tell of a beautiful, immortal lady condemned to forever live on the moon. For whatever reason, it is cause enough to celebrate a holiday commemorating one of earth’s celestial wonders: the silvery candlelight of night, the faithfully waning and waxing moon.
