Mid-Autumn Festival on the street…

Twenty years living in the city, I have never really had the chance to see the autumn moon, to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, to be kept awake by the sound of frog drums dissolving into the gentle moonlight. For those twenty years, the autumn moon only shimmered in my memories, lying at home but my heart felt empty...

But this Autumn is different! After two years of the Covid pandemic, people's lives have sometimes fallen into silence, but now they bounce back like a compressed spring, everyone feels excited, wanting to rush into each other to push life up.

From the first days of the eighth lunar month, I could hear the sound of the autumn wind chasing leaves on the sidewalks, a feeling of nostalgia. The sky changed color, a numb color, those who are sentimental will feel their hearts tighten, vaguely remembering a whisper.

That space evokes the feeling of “Missing Twelve”, “the lingering sadness of autumn, the numb sadness of autumn, the sorrowful sadness of autumn but not so tormenting that it makes people tired of living. That is because the autumn wind is sad but the autumn sky is beautiful, the most beautiful is the autumn moon, so beautiful that it makes people sad but still want to live to enjoy the silvery things in the sky, trees, clouds and water – if you die, it would be such a waste”

The memory of the autumn moon is faintly clear in the mind, “the moon spreads its fragrance on its way; the moon pinches the obedient hair of the rustling bamboo clumps; the moon smells the inviting lips of the gently flowing river”. The sweet yet distant hometown moon. For dozens of seasons of roses and green rice, who has gone to welcome the moonlight on the soft grass along the windy dike? Who has stood waiting for whom by the bamboo fence of the village on the night of the drum festival? Who has been longing for whom when saying goodbye to their friends at night, their songs sinking into the moonlight…

For decades, there has been no autumn moon in the city. Because of the flickering streetlights. Because of the dazzling high-pressure lampposts. Because of the hurried feet picking up and dropping off children from school in shifts… No one driving in the middle of the street would stop and look up to the sky to look for the autumn moon. Doing so would be strange to everyone, strange to the children of the city today.

So only the autumn sky, the autumn wind, the silvery, numbing colors of autumn can penetrate the skin, the flesh, go into the eyes, and make the nose sting.

Then one evening, on a familiar street in Phu Ly, the children’s cheering and the music of the mid-autumn lantern procession permeated every alley. Look! The lights of the mid-autumn lanterns were sparkling in all colors. Chickens were playing with the moon… the elderly and children followed excitedly and enthusiastically. Many people had not had dinner yet. Many people had just come home from work or school, and when they saw the lantern procession on the street, they were immersed in nature, forgetting their hunger and forgetting their way home!

How strange! In that line of people carrying lanterns, there were people who had not spoken to each other for so long, who had not been able to meet to enjoy a collective joy that they had in the past... now stood shoulder to shoulder, talking and laughing "as if there had never been a separation". People from Kim Bang, Binh Luc, Ly Nhan, Duy Tien, Thanh Liem and Phu Ly... at this moment suddenly became one family, talking and laughing with each other lovingly and affectionately.

The city's Mid-Autumn Festival lasts from the beginning of August until after the full moon. No year is like that! The city's children have never lived in the traditional autumn festival atmosphere, under the autumn moon, displaying many lively scenes of everyday life but containing people's aspirations and beliefs in life. This autumn, they are immersed in the flow of traditional culture.

A world of fairy tales and myths appears in the eyes of children. Children look for Tam, look forward to Hang, and wait for Cuoi; those who love stories look forward to “carp playing with the moon”, hoping to pass the exams with high scores. Little girls with rosy cheeks like young peaches and sparkling eyes look at the Mid-Autumn Festival trays, which are skillfully arranged and carved into animal shapes from grapefruits, pomelos, etc.

Unlike us kids back then, when seeing moon cakes, kids now are indifferent and uninterested! Life is already full, food and drink are no longer attractive and exciting to many kids!

The festive atmosphere on the streets of Phu Ly in the autumn is strangely attractive. Who came up with these activities to make everyone from the elderly to children, and even young men and women, abandon their evening habits, go out into the streets, and immerse themselves in the autumn atmosphere, a Mid-Autumn Festival filled with happiness like that? Who made people like me, after decades of living in the city, suddenly remember that I was once a child in the countryside, with a childhood and a vibrant autumn memory?

Walking street in my city this autumn like this!

Jiangnan

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