The Mooncake Festival is held in Vietnam on 9/30/12
- info from Wikipedia
The Mid-Autumn festival is named "Tết Trung Thu" in Vietnamese. [10]
The Vietnamese version of the holiday recounts the legend of Cuội, whose wife accidentally urinated on a sacred banyan tree. Soon after desecrating the tree, Cuội sat on one of the tree branches and the sacred tree began to grow and continued until it finally reached the moon, leaving him stranded there. Every year, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, children light lanterns and participate in a procession to show Cuội the way back to Earth.[11]
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, and the story of the carp who wanted to become a dragon.[11]
One important event before and during the Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival are lion dances. Dances are performed by both non-professional children's groups and trained professional groups. Lion dance groups perform on the streets, going to houses asking for permission to perform for them. If the host consents, the "lion" will come in and start dancing as a blessing of luck and fortune for the home. In return, the host gives luck money to show their gratitude.
[edit]Dates
The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. In 2012 the Mid-Autumn Festival will fall on September 30th. It will occur on these days in coming years:[12]
- 2012: September 30
- 2013: September 19
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