越南的“中秋节”也是“儿童节“

中秋节到了，先祝大家节日愉快！

众所周知，中秋节是中国的传统节日，除了中国大陆和港台澳地区以外，世界各地的华人都会在阴历的八月十五晚上庆祝这个节日。实际上，越南人和朝鲜、韩国人、日本人都过中秋节。据说在越南，中秋节也被称为“儿童节”，现在我们来看一下Wikipedia上描述的越南人的中秋节。

How Vietnamese celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival

-- From Wikipedia

The Mid-Autumn festival is named "Tết Trung Thu" in Vietnamese. It is also known as Children's Festival because of the event's emphasis on children. In olden times, the Vietnamese believed that children, being innocent and pure, had the closest connection to the sacred and natural world. Being close to children was seen as a way to connect with animist spirits and deities.

In its most ancient form, the evening commemorated the dragon who brought rain for the crops. Celebrants would observe the moon to divine the future of the people and harvests. Eventually the celebration came to symbolize a reverence for fertility, with prayers given for bountiful harvests, increase in livestock,and human babies. Over time, the prayers for children evolved into acelebration of children. Confucian scholars continued the tradition of gazing at the moon, but to sip wine and improvise poetry and song. By the early twentieth century in Hanoi, the festival had begun to assume its identity as a children's festival.

Aside from the story of Chang'e (Vietnamese: Hằng Nga), there are two other popular folk tales as sociated with the festival. The first describes the legend of Cuội, whose wife accidentally urinated on a sacred banyan tree. The tree began to float towards the moon, and Cuội, trying to pull it back down to earth, floated to the moon with it, leaving him stranded there. Every year, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, children light lanterns and participate in a procession to show Cuộithe way back to Earth. The other tale involves a carp who wanted to become a dragon, and as a result, worked hard throughout the year until he was able totransform himself into a dragon.

One important event before and during the festival are lion dances. Dances are performed by both non-professional children's groups and trained professional groups. Lion dance groups perform on the streets, going to houses asking for permission to perform for them. If the host consents, the "lion" will come in and start dancing as a blessing of luck and fortune for the home. In return, the host gives lucky money to show their gratitude.

据说越南人不仅在这一天祭祀土地神，感恩好的收成，而且还利用这一天给孩子进行补偿，因为平时忙碌的时候没时间陪他们。所以这一天也成了孩子们的节日。

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