Keeping The Flame Alive!!

Lets face it, keeping the cultural flame glowing in our children's lives isn't always easy. Everyone is busy and our lifestyles are hectic. For the past six years we never had to worry much about it, because we were always in Vietnam and our children were living and consuming Vietnamese culture all the time, which we miss, now living in the states.

September 10th is time for Tet Trung Thu -- The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. This is a very important holiday for many Vietnamese families. Originally, this festival was celebrated by families after the harvest season. They had missed spending time with there children, while consumed with hard work, and this was a good way to celebrate the harvest and also spend special time with there families. They always celebrated under the full moon, which was believed to bring about prosperity of life.

Children paraded around with beautiful colorful lanterns, and ate the traditional moon cake. Last year we celebrated this wonderful holiday in Vietnam. Our children each had lanterns with candles inside them, and we took part in a parade under the stars. It is customary to give Banh Trung Thu, the boxes of moon cake, which is very rich tasting.

This year we will be hosting a festival in honor of our children, and inviting some of their friends from our home school group. The making of our own lanterns and parading around our neighborhood with flashlights, will hopefully fill our hearts with the spirit of Vietnam. We have other musical instruments to add to the occasion, to make this a grand celebration. We have a recipe for moon cake and music about the Mid - Autumn Festival, which we purchased from Asia For Kids.

I hope we have encouraged you to celebrate as well. Your children will love the excitement and they will also learn about a small segment of their homeland, Vietnam.

Keep the flame glowing!

by: Sandy Pinkerton