Letters from President Ho Chi Minh to children on the Mid-Autumn Festival.

(Baonghean.vn) -During his lifetime, our beloved President Ho Chi Minh always showed special concern, not only for the material well-being but also for the spiritual well-being of our dear children. Every year, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, he would visit or send gifts to children. In some years, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, he even sent letters of praise or wrote poems for children with all his affection and boundless, warm love..

As the beloved leader of the Vietnamese people, President Ho Chi Minh always cared for and looked after the material and spiritual lives of all strata of the population. In particular, he showed special affection for children and young people – the future generation of the country. This sacred feeling was not only deeply expressed during his lifetime but also permeated the people even after his passing: “Finally, I leave my boundless love to the children and young people” (Last Testament).

On occasions like International Children's Day, the first day of school, the Mid-Autumn Festival, or whenever children did something good or achieved outstanding results, Uncle Ho would often visit, encourage them, or send letters and gifts. Of the 16 poems Uncle Ho dedicated to children, half were written on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival. These are simple, easy-to-understand verses and poems, yet always filled with his love.

After years of wandering in search of a way to save the country, in 1941, Uncle Ho returned to his homeland to directly lead the national liberation revolution. On the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival that year, on September 21, 1941, he wrote a poem calling on children to show his concern for them:

Children are like buds on a branch.

Knowing how to eat, sleep, and study is what makes someone well-behaved.

Unfortunately, the nation faced difficult times.

Children also have to endure extreme hardship and suffering.

Learning and education have become easier.

Poor people have to work as laborers plowing the fields...

Uncle Ho, along with children from Hanoi and abroad, celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival in the flower garden of the Presidential Palace.

These poems, written for children, are also for everyone. Children are the young shoots, the buds on a branch, who should be cherished and cared for, but unfortunately, the country's difficult circumstances have caused them much hardship and suffering. From there, Uncle Ho points out the cause of this suffering as the brutal Japanese and Western invaders. He calls upon and guides them to broaden their understanding, then moves on to mobilizing and enlightening them:

Therefore, children in our country

We must unite to fight.

Adults saving the country is understandable.

Children also lend a hand...

In fact, the children and teenagers obeyed Uncle Ho's teachings, responded to his call, and participated in patriotic activities such as those of Kim Dong and Vu A Dinh, contributing significantly to the victory of the August 1945 Revolution. In the very first autumn of independence, Uncle Ho sent a letter of encouragement, expressing his love, concern, and faith in the children: "Whether the Vietnamese nation will become glorious or not, whether the Vietnamese people will reach the pinnacle of glory to stand alongside the great powers of the world, depends largely on the learning efforts of you children."

For more than half a century, Uncle Ho's words of encouragement and messages have resonated on every school opening day and Mid-Autumn Festival, and have been respectfully inscribed in every school, creating a sacred emotional impact and serving as a source of motivation for generations of Vietnamese children to strive to study and train themselves to live up to Uncle Ho's expectations.

Uncle Ho visited and gave candy to the children at Thanh Hoa Town Kindergarten.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1946, despite being busy with important national affairs, President Ho Chi Minh did not forget to write a poem for the children:

Uncle hopes you children will be well-behaved.

In the future, we will preserve the land of Lac Hong.

How to become famous in the Dragon Fairy game?

Let's bring honor to Vietnamese children.

Still expressing his concern and hope that the children would study hard and do many good deeds to contribute to building and preserving the country's still very young independence, Uncle Ho mentioned sacred names such as Lac Hong, Tien Rong, and Vietnam, as if to recall the nation's four-thousand-year-old patriotic tradition associated with the names of young heroes such as Saint Giong and Tran Quoc Toan... These are shining examples in the nation's history that the children should emulate.

Uncle Ho fed rice to a child during a visit to a children's camp in Viet Bac in 1950.

Throughout his life, which was dedicated to selflessness (as Tố Hữu wrote), President Ho Chi Minh always harbored one fervent wish: that children would have enough to eat, warm clothes to wear, and access to education. Therefore, in all circumstances, his love and affection for children remained profound and heartfelt.

The Mid-Autumn moon shines as bright as a mirror.

Uncle Ho gazes at the scenery, remembering and feeling affection for the children.

Here are a few lines that Uncle Ho wrote.

Sending this to the children as a token of my love and longing.

(Mid-Autumn Festival Letter 1951)

During the years when the entire nation was waging resistance against French colonialism, President Ho Chi Minh always sent letters to children every Mid-Autumn Festival, affirming his boundless affection: "Who loves children more than President Ho Chi Minh?" His words were always gentle and affectionate, encouraging children to participate in and carry out specific tasks appropriate to the revolutionary situation and the psychology of their age group.

Who loves children?

By President Ho Chi Minh

The children are well-behaved.

The children have such pretty faces.

I hope the children will try their best.

Competition in learning and practice

Young children do small tasks.

Depending on your abilities...

Children, you must be worthy.

Grandchild of Ho Chi Minh.

(Mid-Autumn Festival Letter, September 25, 1952)

Uncle Ho with the brave children of Southern Vietnam

As the resistance war against the French entered its final stage, our army and people on all battlefields continuously achieved important victories. During the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1953, Uncle Ho joyfully sent a letter recounting the victories and sharing his happiness with the children. In those victories, the children made a significant contribution:

Everywhere, North, South, West, East

Upon hearing news of victory, the red flag flew high.

The children are so happy!

I'm happy for you too, Uncle.

Next autumn will be more joyful than this one.

In this poem, the author accurately predicted and affirmed the victory of the resistance war. The following autumn will be more joyful than this one. The following autumn, meaning the autumn of 1954, will be more joyful than this autumn – the autumn of 1953. Indeed, on May 7, 1954, with the victory at Dien Bien Phu, our army and people ended the resistance war against the French, in the position of victors, and the autumn of 1954 was the autumn when half the country was free from enemy troops – the autumn when children truly lived in independence and freedom.

Uncle Ho distributed gifts to children in Hung Yen town.

But the American imperialists and their puppet forces reneged on the Geneva Agreement on the reunification of the country – the greatest wish of Uncle Ho and our people at that time. In that context, during the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1956, Uncle Ho sent a letter to the children of the South expressing his affection and encouraging them to believe that the day of reunion in the North and South would not be far off:

North and South will be reunited as one family.

Uncle and nephew, young and old alike, meet and share the joy.

I miss my grandchildren very much.

May each child be a young hero.

Responding to President Ho Chi Minh's call, along with the children of the North, the young people and children of the South also competed to achieve meritorious deeds like heroes Le Van Tam and Kim Lich... contributing to the great victory of Spring 1975, unifying the country, and bringing North and South together as one family, fulfilling President Ho Chi Minh's wish...

Uncle Ho, along with children from Lang Sen village, Kim Lien commune, Nam Dan district, Nghe An province, visited his hometown.

Although our beloved Uncle Ho has passed into eternity, his image remains close to every generation of Vietnamese children and teenagers. The sacred affection Uncle Ho had for the children, and the children's affection for Uncle Ho, will forever shine brightly and gently like the moonlight on a full moon night. Reading his Mid-Autumn Festival letter again, we are once more immersed in the boundless, refreshing love emanating from a great soul and a great personality.

Forty-seven years have passed since Uncle Ho's passing, and children across the country no longer receive his Mid-Autumn Festival letters and poems. But they still remember his teachings: "Children, be worthy. Children of Ho Chi Minh."

Peace

(Synthetic)