Do you ever look up into the sky on a clear full moonlit night and wonder "how can I celebrate and share such a beautiful night with everyone I love?"

Have no fear, Pho Queen is here! There is a Vietnamese holiday that you can participate and share with your love ones under the full moon. Try it, you might like it…

Every mid autumn, near the autumn equinox and under a full moon, Vietnamese people celebrate Tet Trung Thu with their children. It is a fun Vietnamese Holiday that kids enjoy. Tet Trung Thu is also known as The Moon Festival or Mid Autumn Festival. The date changes every year. The festival occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. The time frame for the western calendar is usually between mid September to early October. For this year, Tet Trung Thu landed on October 3, 2009. This festival is often celebrated in Vietnamese community church or Vietnamese buddhist temples. 

Tet Trung Thu is especially geared toward children. Traditionally, the Vietnamese farmers celebrate the end of the long and hard harvest season. They often work from dawn to dusk during harvest season. The children rarely have quality time with their parents. Tet Trung Thu initiates family quality time. This is when the parents, grandparents, cousins, etc come together and celebrate the union of their family under the silvery full moon.

I remember when I was a little itty bitty girl in Vietnam. A few weeks before Tet Trung Thu, my parents and I built and decorated an animal shape lantern together. By dusk of Tet Trung Thu, a single line of neighborhood children paraded past my house. I joined them with my animal lantern in hand. We marched proudly through our neighborhood and sang our favorite Tet Trung Thu song. What a fun time to remember!

I was a bad momma this year and forgot to celebrate Tet Trung Thu with my children. However, we got a chance to enjoy the moon cakes over several days. My children did not like the taste of moon cake as much as I did. Goody, all for me...

The moon cake is a pastry that is very sweet and decadent. I think it is delicious. Moon cakes come in many flavors such as lotus seed, mung beans, and etc... The center of the cake is usually stuffed with one or two salty egg yolk(s). The salty egg yolk is my favorite. I enjoy savoring the lotus seed flavored moon cake while sipping hot tea.

I found a neat website that shared activities and many more fun trivia about Tet Trung Thu, http://www.adoptvietnam.org/vietnamese/celebrations-autumn.htm.

Please feel free to send feedback on your experience with Tet Trung Thu and/or any special holiday that you treasure with your family.

Have fun eating Healthy,

Pho Queen