Warm Mid-Autumn Dress

(Baonghean) - The streets are filled with colorful lanterns and mooncake stalls are packed with buyers. Another Mid-Autumn Festival has come, I wish I was a child back then so I could always stay home and enjoy the mooncakes.

Outside, the first heavy rains of the season cooled the streets. After the rain, the sky seemed clearer and the sun was golden amidst the bustling crowds. People were excited to welcome Independence Day and then return to their daily work. On the street, moon cake stalls and rows of colorful lanterns appeared, making people stop after a busy day with many emotions flooding back. Those were the feelings of excitement and nostalgia. A gentle breeze of early autumn blew by, making those far from home recall their childhood memories of the full moon night.

Lion dance festival on Mid-Autumn Festival

Amidst the noisy and bustling flow of people, we cannot help but remember our innocent childhood playing on the full moon night. The childhood on the full moon night was simply having my mother cook a pot of honey cake for me, or holding in my hand a five-pointed star lantern that had been through many previous Mid-Autumn Festivals, making me feel as happy as a festival. The pot of cake was painstakingly ground by my mother since the beginning of the month, the peanuts were peeled off, waiting for my older siblings who were studying far away to come back and roll up their sleeves to make it. My older brother had the task of redecorating the old lantern for my youngest sister. During those days, I felt like I had grown up and become visibly plumper.

I jumped around showing off so many things to my friends and together with the other children, I took the grapefruit seeds that had been dried in the sun, waiting for the full moon to gather in groups of three or seven to play with firecrackers. The children's firecrackers made from grapefruit seeds exploded with a small crackle, but the laughter was louder than the sound of firecrackers...

I still remember those hard days, longing to have a battery-powered lantern like the other children in the neighborhood, but it seemed so far away. The small joy at the end of the day was the pretty little star lantern, the candle flickering in the late afternoon. Looking at the star lantern, I innocently read out loud the wish: "In the future, I will be a sparkling star in the sky".

I remember, that day when everyone had a full meal, I saw bright smiles on everyone's lips. My older siblings came home from studying far away and told me so many stories about student life, both happy and sad, but the atmosphere was extremely warm. The whole family eagerly awaited the full moon night and hoped for the youngest child to grow up quickly each autumn.

At night, the group of friends sang loudly, making the whole neighborhood noisy. Each of them held a star lantern in their hands, lighting up a dark country road without street lights.

I long to see the bustling atmosphere in the middle of the village with the heavy footsteps, then play with my friends outside the cultural house. The children line up, sit and play games, dance, sing with the union members. We get to pick democratic flowers, go on stage to perform our favorite songs. Everyone is engrossed in singing until the moon rises high, then go home with two pockets full of candy.

Now I am walking on the path of the future with many worries, I feel like I have grown up. Life away from home is difficult at first, but I believe that I will be fine soon. The 22-year-old girl, sometimes tired from work, always wishes to return home to sleep soundly in the warmth of her mother, to hear her father affectionately call her "my friend". And to play with her friends on a full moon night with a sky full of stars.

This Mid-Autumn Festival, far from home, far from my hometown, I stopped by a lantern shop. I just wish the distance between my workplace and my hometown was just a step away. So that on the full moon night, I could run back home to gather with my family, so that I could be the little girl of my parents and siblings.

Tran Thi Tam