The Mid-Autumn Festival has long been a vital part of the cultural and spiritual lives of Hội An people. It is also known as the Children’s Festival or the Reunion Festival because family members will gather around the Mid-Autumn Festival tray to watch the moon, eat mooncakes, enjoy tea, and share daily stories. What a warm and love-filled reunion!

Hội An Mid-Autumn Festival 2023 will take place from September 26 to 30, and will feature a variety of exciting activities. The first is a competition amongst students from the city’s secondary schools to perform Unicorn and Sacred dog dances. It will take place along with the artistic program “Full Moon Festival” for children at 6 p.m, on September 27.

On this occasion, Hội An city will also organize the Title procession “National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hội An’s Mid-Autumn Festival” at 5:30 p.m and the Title-awarding Ceremony “National Intangible Cultural Heritage of traditional festivals, social practices and beliefs of Hội An’s Mid-Autumn Festival” at 7 p.m, on September 28, in Hội An park. This title further affirms the values that the Mid-Autumn Festival brings to the community. It is also an opportunity to preserve and promote traditional cultural values.
On September 28, “Hội An Legendary Night in the early 20th century” will be organized, featuring traditional cultural and artistic activities such as poem recital, Bài Chòi folk game, repartee chants, etc. Over the past 25 years, the Hội An Mid-Autumn Festival has been associated with the activities of Hội An Legendary Night in the ancient town and has become sparkling and brilliant to attract a large number of tourists. In addition, children will be able to learn and experience traditional culture through activities such as Children’s song and Folk song class, Children’s folk games, Mid-Autumn toy decorating and making, etc.

Like other folk festivals, the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hội An has the interference and acculturation between traditional indigenous culture and outside cultures because of its history as an international trading port, thus it has many unique special values. During that process, Hội An people selected appropriate and quintessential creative values and then integrated them into the unique features of Hội An. Hội An Mid-Autumn Festival also expresses the whole community’s spiritual values, beliefs, and preservation of traditional values. This is shown through the Sacred dog dance performance, which is still performed at every Mid-Autumn Festival in Hội An. This is also a special cultural feature that must be preserved and promoted, particularly in the context of Hội An’s application for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of Crafts and Folk Art.