Hanoi's Hang Ma Street bustling with Mid-Autumn Festival toys

Thứ Tư, 12/09/2018, 16:07
Shops on Hang Ma Street in Hanoi’s Old Quarter are bustling with customers and a vast array of lively, colourful traditional toys as the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching so close to every corner.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, falling on September 24 this year. From now, many people flock to Hang Ma Street to prepare for the festival.
The festival will feature traditional mid-autumn products, introduce folk toys making, arranging flowers, and making moon cakes on Hang Ma street and along the pedestrian streets of Hanoi.
In recent years, traditional hand-made toys have replaced imported toys and are in great demand by kids during the festival.
Large star-shaped lanterns is popular with many children. Tet Trung Thu, mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam, combines many rituals, customs and legends. It also goes by the names of mid-Autumn Moon Festival or Children’s Festival.
There are hundreds of lanterns, masks and paper lion heads in all shapes, colours and sizes.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most traditional and popular family holidays in Vietnam, is enjoyed by people throughout the country, regardless of their background or economic status.
The Mid-Autumn or ‘Trung Thu’ Festival is associated with the legend of Cuoi, a popular Vietnamese fairy tale that explains the origin of the festival. According to the legend, a man named Cuoi was very famous because he owned a magic banyan tree that could cure any illness. Cuoi’s wife got angry because Cuoi seemed to love the tree more than her so one day when Cuoi was out treating a sick neighbour, she poured dirty water on the roots of the tree, which made it leave the ground...
..Cuoi suddenly returned at that very moment to see the tree fly up to the sky. He tried to grab it but failed to pin it down and was taken up to the moon, where he lives together with his tree to this day. That’s why every year children light lanterns and take part in processions on the day of the festival to show Cuoi the way back to Earth!
Mid-Autumn Festival parties in the evening are a good opportunity for children to enjoy the festive food and also learn things from their parents such as how to make the party attractive. The whole family will enjoy the feast in a cozy, sacred atmosphere, according to VOV.
By Thien Minh