This Mid-Autumn Festival in the highlands...?
Last year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, my mother took me to the park, and on the way, she bought me a star-shaped lantern. Throughout the streets, parents stopped to buy their children star-shaped lanterns or other types of lanterns. On the night of the full moon, various organizations even arranged for us to go on lantern parades and enjoy the festive feast.
Last year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, my mother took me to the park, and on the way, she bought me a star-shaped lantern. Throughout the streets, parents stopped to buy their children star-shaped lanterns or other types of lanterns. On the night of the full moon, various organizations even arranged for us to go on lantern parades and enjoy the festive feast.
We in the city are so happy. But the children in the highlands don't have that luxury. They're so disadvantaged! Going to the park is such a distant dream. In many villages and hamlets, our children in the highlands have never even touched a star-shaped lantern. For the Mid-Autumn Festival in the highlands, a packet of candy shared equally among a dozen children is already a source of happiness. In recent years, some highland communes have been chosen by the province and district to host Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, and the children there are overjoyed, considering it a major event.
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The children of O O and Gia Hop villages (Tuong Son, Anh Son) are eagerly waiting for the moon to rise. |
My father is a cameraman at the television station, so I not only heard many stories from him and his colleagues, but I also got to see the children in the highlands through his camera. There are images I'll never forget: the bright, joyful eyes of the children in the highlands raising their hands to receive gifts and treats from the provincial leaders; the warm happiness amidst the vast expanse of balloons and star-shaped lanterns, and the human connection between the lowlands and highlands; this Mid-Autumn Festival, if my father goes to the highlands, I will definitely ask him to bring some star-shaped lanterns from the city to send to the children there.
Another Mid-Autumn Festival is here. Children in the highlands will also eagerly await a festival dedicated to them. Hopefully, in localities not chosen by the province to organize the Mid-Autumn Festival, local organizations and associations will organize it for the children.
Even though the Mid-Autumn Festival in the highlands may lack star-shaped lanterns and balloons, you will all get to gather together, listen to the legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival, eat sweets and cakes, and welcome the autumn moon. Oh, that's so much fun! Our joy will be doubled because all children on this earth are equal, right?
An Ngoc
