When moon cakes are displayed on sale at stalls and lanterns are hung around streets, children nationwide start to eagerly anticipate the annual Full-Moon Festival and all the festivities it brings. All last week, the little citizens at the City of Childhood were up to their ears in preparing for the Children’s Festival with a stack of traditional cultural activities namely “Bringing the moon and stars home” with star lanterns prepared by the children themselves, as well as making mooncakes for the ‘Kindy Mooncake Store’. The highlight of these activities came on September 25th when the children took part in dealing out the festival offerings with “Hang Nga and Cuoi”, two of the most indispensable characters of the festival for every kid’s childhood.
There were many lanterns with fun designs as well as circle and square moon cakes on offer. The hilarious sounds in rhythmic harmony which are so familiar to everyone, could be recognized around the campus, especially that of the “Mid-Autumn Festival lantern parade”. Students were also revolving around the integration gurgling Cuội notes and creating a really innocent, playful and true to nature” Kindy “(childhood) mindset that is the essence of our school.
A parent from the Panda class shared that “Although Mid-Autumn festival is one of the major festivals for Vietnamese children, there are not a lot of playgrounds for them on this occasion. With our busy schedule, I was wondering to find a place where our children can both play and understand the meaning of cultural festivals. In recent weeks, Kindy City helped relieve this anxiety completely. We are very grateful to the school for maintaining Vietnamese culture in the very “western” learning environment”.
Some other parents could not hide their emotions: “I watched her go home and clap “tùng dinh dinh cắt tùng dinh dinh” with cellophane paper lanterns decorated by the children which reminded me of my own memories as a child. Kindy City International Pre-school not only gave me a reminder of my childhood days but also helped in recalling my old memories and cultural values which are essential for parents like myself. “
From another perspective, a foreign parent wholeheartedly confided: “Well, I would highly appreciate your activities in Mid-Autumn festival for our kids. The cultural values that you integrated into the activities not only helped my child but enabled me to understand this festival in your country. Hang and Cuoi, lanterns, mooncakes, specifically breaking something with fruits activity (I don’t know how to call that activity – phá cỗ), all of them are essential to the childhood of my son. And one more thing, I would like to thank Kindy City for “training” me about how to show the Vietnam’s traditional cultural values to preschool-aged children”
Some of the activities to welcome the Mid – Autumn Festival at Kindy City last week:
Decorating lanterns activity
The bakers of Kindy Mooncake Store are urgently preparing the attractive batches for the upcoming full moon day.
A performance with Hang and Cuoi
“Pha co” and enjoying the fruits are children’s most common activities