The Mid-Autumn Festival (Tết Trung Thu) is one of the major traditional festivals of the Vietnamese people, taking place in the middle of autumn. This is the time when crops have been harvested and the weather is cool, so people often hold thanksgiving ceremonies and festivals. The ancient Chinese text Thái Bình Hoàn Vũ Ký records: “Every eighth month of autumn, the Lạc Việt people hold a festival…”. By the Lý Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival had already become a major celebration in the capital Thăng Long, organized by the king with festivities taking place both within the royal court and among the common people.

The inscription Sùng Thiện Diên Linh Stele (erected in 1121) notes that under the reign of King Lý Nhân Tông, the Mid-Autumn Festival was ceremoniously held by the royal court with activities such as: offerings to former emperors; civil and military mandarins presenting congratulatory messages to the king; royal banquets; boat racing on the Trường Lô River (the Red River); water puppetry; and tiger hunting competitions.

The royal court opened the festival for the public to enjoy over three days, usually from the 10th to the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. All around Thăng Long, the capital was adorned with splendid brocades and lanterns. People of all ages eagerly gathered to watch the festivities. In addition to royal rituals, common traditions included daytime ancestral offerings and nighttime lantern displays, moon-viewing feasts, children’s lantern processions, drum performances, and lion dances. These customs have been passed down through generations and have become a cherished cultural feature of the Vietnamese people.

To preserve and promote these intangible cultural values, the Thăng Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center is organizing the program “Mid-Autumn Festival 2025.” This annual event welcomes children, residents of the capital, and visitors from near and far with a rich variety of activities, including exhibitions, hands-on workshops creating traditional toys, and lion dance performances.

1. Exhibition: Traditional Mid-Autumn Festival & Royal Mid-Autumn Festival

The exhibition features two themes: Traditional Mid-Autumn Festival and Royal Mid-Autumn Festival of the Lý Dynasty. Opening date: From October 1, 2025 (Wednesday)

Theme 1: Traditional Mid-Autumn Festival

The exhibition space showcases traditional crafts and toys such as lion drums, frog drums, bamboo castanets, lion heads, paper mâché masks, tin toys (steamships, drumming rabbits, push butterflies, whistles), paper scholars, moon-gazing figures, rotating lanterns, monk lanterns, star lanterns, and paper figurines.

Most notably, visitors can admire beautifully reconstructed antique lantern designs recreated by artisans from Thanh Oai village based on archival photographs from the Quai Branly Museum (France) and the École Française d’Extrême-Orient. These include drum lanterns, rabbit lanterns, star lanterns, fish-and-shrimp lanterns, and double spinning lanterns—made from dó paper or cellophane paper, vividly painted in rich colors.

Theme 2: Royal Mid-Autumn Festival of the Ly Dynasty

For the first time, the Center is presenting an interpretive exhibition recreating the royal Mid-Autumn Festival of the 11th – 12th centuries. Through historical panels and illustrated reconstructions, visitors can visualize the grand celebrations held over 1,000 years ago.

The exhibition highlights miniature scenes of boat racing and water puppetry performed by soldiers and civilians. At the center stands the “Kim Ngao” (Golden Turtle Serpent), a sacred mythical creature with a turtle body and dragon head, painted in shimmering gold and bearing three legendary mountains – Bồng Lai, Phương Trượng, and Doanh Châu – symbolizing the ancient Eastern myth of immortal realms.

The Kim Ngao represents the king and people’s hopes for a peaceful, prosperous, and enduring nation. The display space glows with dozens of traditional lanterns bearing ancient symbolism, such as carp lanterns (warding off evil spirits), carp transforming into dragons, dragon – phoenix lanterns, unicorn lanterns, and fruit-shaped lanterns (peach, pomegranate, Buddha’s hand), as well as water-caltrap lanterns.

These lanterns – once lost to time – have been revived by cultural researcher Trịnh Bách and artisan Nguyễn Trọng Bình, using traditional materials such as dó paper, silk paper, cellophane, bamboo, rattan, and handmade paste.

This exhibition enriches the heritage experience, helping visitors gain deeper appreciation for royal intangible cultural values and strengthening the bond between heritage and community.

Visitors can also enjoy a vibrant, colorful photo-checkin space with: the dazzling lantern gate; a playful bamboo-sieve wall; golden carp chasing the moon in a lotus pond display; magical lantern pathway…

2. Lion Dance Performances

Dates: October 4–5, 2025 (Saturday & Sunday)
Morning shows: 10:00 & 11:00
Afternoon shows: 15:30 & 16:30

3. Hands-on Workshops

Traditional toy-making workshops (spinning lanterns, butterfly lanterns, star lanterns, rabbit lanterns, painting paper masks, making paper kites, etc.) will be held on October 4 & 5, 2025 (Saturday & Sunday)
Morning: 8:30 – 11:30
Afternoon: 14:30 – 17:30

4. Location

Thăng Long Imperial Citadel – UNESCO World Heritage Site
19C Hoàng Diệu Street, Ba Đình District, Hanoi.

We warmly invite visitors to join us and experience meaningful traditional activities at the Thăng Long Imperial Citadel during the Reunion Festival – Mid-Autumn Festival 2025!