Ho Chi Minh City eateries roll out Mid-Autumn decor, free lanterns for children

Although the Mid-Autumn Festival is still days away, many eateries across the city have already been decked out with lanterns, lion heads, and nostalgic decorations reminiscent of childhood memories.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, or 'Tet Trung Thu,' is a traditional Vietnamese festival held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, when the moon is full. 

This year, it is due on September 25.

The festival is especially associated with children and family gatherings, with the kids traditionally carrying lanterns, joining lantern processions, watching lion dances, and enjoying mooncakes and other treats.

In Vietnam, the festival has also become a time for cafés, restaurants, and other businesses to decorate their spaces with colorful lanterns, lion heads, drums, and other traditional motifs, creating festive settings for families and young people.

Nostalgic Mid-Autumn Festival corners

Saha Coffee in an alley off Binh Loi Street has brought the Mid-Autumn atmosphere to the café quite early, setting aside several areas for decorations themed around the festival.

One of the most eye-catching corners is designed to resemble a traditional fabric-dyeing workshop, featuring folk-inspired items such as red carp-shaped lanterns, paper-mache masks of 'Chu Teu,' a familiar character in Vietnamese water puppetry, and 'Ong Dia,' a jolly folk figure often associated with lion dances, along with bamboo trays and pomegranate branches.

The familiar objects are arranged together to create a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival backdrop for photos.

Elsewhere, lion heads and festival drums are placed alongside large moon-shaped models.

The café has also created a small lotus pond scene among rocks and other decorative items.

The combination of lion heads, lanterns, and lotus flowers creates a colorful setting for customers to take photos.

The Mid-Autumn decorations extend from the indoor space to the outdoor area, with hand-painted paper lanterns, woven bamboo screens, shoulder poles, and a banquet table arranged in a traditional style.

Thao Nguyen, a university student in Ho Chi Minh City, discovered the café on social media and visited it because she liked its nostalgic atmosphere.

"Seeing the lanterns here reminds me of Mid-Autumn Festivals when I was a child, when I would go lantern-walking with my friends. The decorations aren't too elaborate, but they look good in photos and feel familiar," Nguyen said.

In central Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Tao Coffee on Vu Huy Tan Street has also changed its appearance for the festival.

The café has opted for an old-fashioned style featuring lanterns, tables, chairs, and familiar household items rather than elaborate installations.

The set-up has attracted young people who come for coffee and photos in the days leading up to the festival.

Multicolored lanterns are interspersed with familiar objects, evoking Mid-Autumn Festivals of the past.

According to an employee of the café, the decorations were put up quite early to give customers time to take photos and meet friends.

The café made use of existing items instead of building new installations, while still creating a nostalgic Mid-Autumn corner in the city.

Free lanterns bring parents into celebration

While many cafés are using decorations to attract young customers looking for photo spots, Me Sieu Nhan Pomelo Sweet Soup Shop at 53 Street No. 3 in CityLand Park Hills, Go Vap Ward has focused more on bringing the festival closer to families.

The shop has decorated its space with lanterns and is giving children traditional cellophane lanterns in the days before the festival.

Luong Thi Nhi, the shop owner, said the annual Mid-Autumn program is being held again this year, with a greater focus on encouraging parents to participate with their children.

From September 13 to 23, children visiting the shop can take part in a Mid-Autumn-themed quiz.

After answering the questions, each child receives a cellophane lantern and a voucher to join a lantern procession on September 24.

The lantern is not simply a gift to take home.

Children are encouraged to bring the same lantern to the procession organized by the shop.

Parents are also guided to scan a QR code to register their children and take part in the activities.

Nhi said the shop chose traditional cellophane lanterns instead of the battery-powered, musical lanterns that are popular today because it wants children to learn about toys associated with Mid-Autumn Festivals of earlier generations.

"Children today have many modern toys, so I want them to know what lanterns were like in the past. When parents make, play, and tell their children about the Mid-Autumn Festivals of their childhood, the two generations also have more opportunities to talk to each other," Nhi said.

The shop has also placed books about the Mid-Autumn Festival on its tables for parents to read with their children.

For children who cannot read or are unable to answer the quiz questions, parents can read the stories to them.

Nhi said the aim is to ensure that the quiz does not become a competition focused solely on right or wrong answers, but instead gives parents and children an opportunity to learn about the festival together.

On September 24, the 14th day of the eighth lunar month, the program will continue with a lantern procession, performances featuring Chu Cuoi and Chi Hang, a traditional feast and family games.

One of the final challenges will require an entire family to answer three questions about information shared during the program to receive a large dragon-shaped cellophane lantern.

"To receive the large lantern, the whole family has to take part and listen from the beginning of the program. I want children to have a Mid-Autumn Festival in which their parents really play with them," Nhi said.