Joyful celebrations mark Mid-Autumn Festival

Another Mid-Autumn Festival season has arrived across Dong Nai, from rural areas to city streets. Amid the joyful atmosphere, Party committees, local authorities, businesses and the community have joined efforts to bring children a festive celebration.

Children in Dong Nai enjoy the 2026 Mid-Autumn Festival. Photo: My Ny

Warm gifts and shimmering festival nights held across the city’s communes and wards have brought joy to children, especially those facing hardship, and helped nurture their dreams.

A colorful full-moon festival night

From the middle of the eighth lunar month, preparations for the Mid-Autumn Festival were in full swing across localities. At the Dong Nai City Youth and Children Culture House (referred to as the Cultural House), a series of activities for the 2026 Mid-Autumn Festival, themed "Full Moon Festival Night," ran from September 12 to 27, 2026, attracting more than 6,000 children.

Notably, on the evenings of September 24 and 25, at the Cultural House's first facility in Tran Bien Ward, the unit coordinated with the Dong Nai City Youth Union, the Dong Nai City Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneer Organization Council, and the Tran Bien Ward People's Committee to organize a lantern procession along the main streets, along with kylin-lion-dragon dances, brass band performances, martial arts, and aerobics. A total of 300 gifts were also presented to students overcoming hardships and children in special circumstances. At the second facility in Binh Phuoc Ward, a program for about 400 children from specialized clubs, teams, and groups took place on the evening of September 26. The children enjoyed art performances and lion dances and participated in folk games.

The festive atmosphere in communes and wards was equally lively. According to To Tran Thanh Hai, Vice Chairman of the Nam Cat Tien Commune People's Committee, the commune's 2026 Mid-Autumn Festival took place over two days, September 25 and 26, at the Commune People's Committee’s hall, with the participation of six units: four hamlets, Nam Cat Tien Primary and Secondary School, and Phu An Primary and Secondary School. Children and youth union members competed in various categories, including a campsite decoration competition, a lantern-making competition using recycled materials, a decorated palanquin contest featuring a portrait of Uncle Ho, a Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneer Organization ritual competition, an arts competition, and a series of folk games such as sack racing, piggy bank smashing, and slow bicycle racing.

In Long Ha Commune, the Mid-Autumn Festival was held on September 23, corresponding to the 13th day of the eighth lunar month, at the commune’s cultural center, located on the former grounds of Ngo Quyen High School in Village 9. Activities such as camp gate building, beautiful lantern competitions, food stalls, kylin-lion-dragon dances, and a procession of flower-decorated vehicles through the streets created a vibrant and exciting atmosphere for local children.

Warm gifts

This year's Mid-Autumn Festival came as children had just entered the new school year with great excitement. In addition to creating joyful recreational activities, Mid-Autumn activities held across communes, wards, agencies, and units aimed to care for and support vulnerable children, giving them greater motivation to overcome difficulties and move forward in life. Such care demonstrates the responsibility of society as a whole for the protection, care, and education of children.

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Office of the Dong Nai National Assembly Delegation and the City People's Council co-organize the 2026 Full Moon Festival Night program and present gifts to children.

In Binh Tan Commune, the 2026 Full Moon Festival Night program focused on disadvantaged children who have overcome difficulties to perform well in school, providing 50 gifts and scholarships. Phu Hoa Commune presented 1,000 Mid-Autumn gifts and 200 scholarships to children, with a total value of 120 million VND. Meanwhile, Cam My Commune presented 200 Mid-Autumn gifts and 32 bicycles to children who have overcome difficulties in their studies.

Love also spread through close coordination among the government, the Fatherland Front, religious organizations, and businesses. In Minh Duc Commune, the Commune Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee coordinated with Duc Minh Pagoda to organize the "Mid-Autumn of Love – Joyful Full Moon Festival," presenting 300 gifts to local children and holding a lively exchange program.

In Tam Hiep Ward, the Full Moon Festival Night program took place on September 25 at Duong Tu Giang Park, featuring a range of exciting activities, including a lantern procession, kylin-lion-dragon dance performances, arts, exchanges with Uncle Cuoi and Ms. Hang (the Moon Lady), circus acts, magic shows, and a feast for about 600 children, including the children of officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers. On this occasion, the locality also presented 1,000 gifts to disadvantaged children, orphans, and children from poor and near-poor households in the area.

Deputy Director of the Cultural House Truong Hai Thi said the Cultural House also brought the festive atmosphere of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival to many localities and units through art programs, folk games, and gift-giving activities. The activities were carried out in coordination with Tan Trieu Ward; the communes of Nghia Trung, Thanh Son, Dak Nhau, and Dak O; Division 309; and other units. Through these activities, children and teenagers in the city were provided with more wholesome recreational opportunities, where they could foster a spirit of solidarity and learn to love and share. At the same time, the activities helped educate them about traditions, nurture their love for their homeland and country, and encourage them to strive to improve themselves and excel in their studies, becoming dutiful children, good students and Uncle Ho’s Good Children, worthy of being the future owners of the country.

From September 23 to 26, the General Services Center of Thuan Loi Commune, in coordination with Mobile Cinema Team No. 7 of the Dong Nai Center for Culture and Cinema, organized a series of free film screenings to serve the public on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The films screened included Mui co chay (The Smell of Burnt Grass) in Thuan Phu Hamlet on September 24; Duong xuyen rung (Road Through the Jungle) in Thuan Phu Hamlet on September 25; Ky uc (Memories) in Thuan Hai Hamlet on September 26; and Cuoc chien tren duong pho (Street War) in Lang 3 Hamlet on September 26.

By Cam Thanh – Translated by Minh Hong, Minho