Moon worshiping ceremony of Chinese people in Ho Chi Minh City

Trieu Thuong Alley on Cao Van Lau Street (District 6, HCMC) is one of the Chinese areas that still retains this moon worshiping culture.

Mrs. Kieu (66 years old) shared: "The moon worship ceremony is an occasion to pray for peace for the family. Every year, my family prepares a full offering."

Early in the morning, Mrs. Loan's family (52 years old) prepared fruits and folded votive paper money to worship the moon.

After the offering, people bring the offerings to share with relatives and acquaintances, called a small gift of kindness. This family brings offerings to the other family. When the other family offers an offering, they will bring it back to this family. This is also a way to strengthen family ties.

The Teochew people's moon worship must have a few boxes of traditional moon cakes, moon cakes, taro, a tray of five fruits...

The reason why the Teochew people choose round shaped items is because "round" in Chinese has the same pronunciation as "group", meaning the wish for the whole family to reunite and be together.

The moon worshiping custom begins at around 6 o'clock, after which the whole family will gather together to eat cakes, drink tea and watch the full moon.

Mrs. Thuy (81 years old) is one of the oldest residents in the alley, calling her relatives to share pictures of the alley. Her family cannot hold a ceremony this year because according to the Teochew custom, a funeral cannot be held for 3 years.

The traditional custom of worshipping the moon includes the Moon Offering and the Moon Enjoyment. The Moon Offering is to set up a tray of offerings under the moonlight. The Moon Enjoyment is to break the feast, play with the moon, carry lanterns, guess words, dance with fire dragons to ward off evil spirits, etc. Moon Offering is one of the traditional customs imbued with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.

Source link: https://dantri.com.vn/van-hoa/le-cung-trang-cua-nguoi-hoa-o-tphcm-20230929215059634.htm