What does the Mid-Autumn Festival moon-watching tray include?

The Mid-Autumn Festival moon-watching tray is not only a delicious gift but also contains spiritual value, helping to unite families and preserve traditional cultural beauty.

Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival or Children's Festival, is one of the most important traditional holidays of the Vietnamese people. Taking place on the full moon day of the 8th lunar month every year, this is an occasion for families to gather, and also an occasion for children to enjoy moon cakes and lanterns together under the moonlight.

But Mid-Autumn Festival tray It is not simply a display of fruits and candies, but also contains many rich cultural and spiritual meanings, expressing gratitude, wishes and aspirations for the future.

The moon-viewing tray is elaborately decorated with all kinds of fruits. (Photo: Cao Thanh Thuy)

In addition to the ancestral altar, many Vietnamese families also prepare a separate moon-viewing tray. Mid-Autumn Festival. The special feature of this tray is the harmonious combination of green and ripe fruits, symbolizing the balance of yin and yang, expressing the harmony of heaven and earth according to folk beliefs.

The traditional Mid-Autumn Festival tray usually includes a fruit tray, moon cakes (both baked and soft cakes), lotus tea, and many typical candies and cakes. In addition, familiar decorative items such as lanterns and star lanterns also contribute to creating a bustling, warm atmosphere.

The fruit tray is the soul of the feast.

The five-fruit tray is an important and indispensable symbol on the Mid-Autumn Festival night. According to the Five Elements theory, the five fruits symbolize fullness, completeness and balance. Common fruits include:

Green banana bunch: Symbol of reunion and protection.
Grapefruit: Wishing for peace and prosperity.
Persimmon: Meaning luck, hope.
Custard apple: Represents the wish for fertility and prosperity in the house.
Pomegranate: Symbolizes many children and grandchildren, prosperous family.

Mooncakes – an important highlight

If the five fruits are the soul, then moon cakes are the highlight of the tray. Moon cakes are usually round and square, symbolizing heaven and earth. In addition, cakes shaped like carp and plump pigs are also popular, bringing joy to children.

The pair of moon cakes and sticky rice cakes symbolize the harmony and completeness of life. Enjoying the cakes with lotus tea, jasmine tea or black tea is a traditional beauty, both evoking the flavors of autumn and showing the sophistication of Vietnamese culinary culture.

Sticky rice with green rice

Green rice flakes or sticky rice flakes are also an indispensable part of the Mid-Autumn Festival tray. Sticky rice flakes are made from three simple ingredients but rich in autumn flavor: green beans, young green rice flakes and grated coconut. Not only delicious, green rice flakes also symbolize reunion, symbolizing the bond when the whole family gathers around the tray, enjoying traditional flavors on the full moon night.

Green rice flakes are an indispensable dish on the Mid-Autumn Festival tray. (Photo: Cherry Ly)

Lanterns and decorative items

The Mid-Autumn Festival tray cannot lack colorful lanterns. From star lanterns, revolving lanterns to rabbit lanterns, all contribute to making the atmosphere more bustling. In particular, the image of a pomelo dog, skillfully made from pomelo segments, has long become a familiar symbol, associated with the childhood memories of many generations.

Unlike the ancestral offering tray, the moon-watching offering can be displayed on a large table with a variety of fruits and candies.

The moon-viewing tray is colorful and elaborately arranged. (Photo: Thu Huong Vu)

Instructions on how to display a beautiful Mid-Autumn Festival tray

To have a beautiful and meaningful Mid-Autumn Festival tray, the homeowner can refer to the traditional arrangement combined with modern creativity.

First is to prepare and choose the ingredients. You should prioritize fresh, colorful, unbruised fruits with stems and leaves intact. Choose cakes from reputable brands with intact packaging. You can use large ceramic plates, traditional bamboo trays or modern decorative trays to create harmony.

Next is to decorate the fruit tray. First, place the green banana bunch at the bottom of the large plate, with the curve of the banana bunch facing up, like a sturdy arm embracing the other fruits. The grapefruit should be placed in the middle, neatly inside the banana bunch. Next, arrange smaller fruits such as persimmons, custard apples, and pomegranates around to create balance. When arranging, pay attention to coordinating bright, harmonious colors so that the fruit tray is both beautiful and has feng shui meaning.

The next step is to arrange the candies and other items. After completing the fruit tray, moon cakes will be placed around it. Candies and green rice can be placed on small, pretty plates to create variety. Some families also skillfully carve fruits into the shape of jade rabbits or carps to increase creativity.

Finally, small lanterns, candles and grapefruit dogs should be placed in prominent positions, both creating highlights and lighting up the space.

Mid-Autumn Festival trays decorated by parents in the classroom. (Photo: Love Kitchen)

The moon-viewing tray is not only a combination of flavors and colors, but also contains spiritual values. It is a prayer for a bountiful harvest, a prosperous family, and healthy children. It is also a symbol of family reunion, when all generations in the family gather together, watch the moon and tell each other old stories.

Through many generations, the Mid-Autumn Festival tray has always held a special place in Vietnamese cultural life. Although today there are many modern dishes, the taste of moon cakes, green bananas, yellow grapefruit and the shimmering light of star lanterns are still beautiful memories in everyone's heart.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/mam-co-trong-trang-dem-trung-thu-gom-nhung-gi-5060697.html