Vietnam: Origin of Mid-Autumn Festival

What is the the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival?

The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival stems from Chinese culture. Nowadays, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival celebrated by many East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam.

During the Zhou Dynasty (1045 - 221 BC), in the autumn harvest season, ancient Chinese emperors worshiped the moon because they believed that doing so would bring a bountiful harvest the following year.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is also known by various other names such as the Moon Viewing Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Reunion Festival, etc.

Annually, the Mid-Autumn Festival according to the lunar calendar falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, which is a traditional festival held every year in Vietnam. On this day, school children nationwide will participate in various activities such as feasting, lantern parades, and participating in events organized by schools and local communities.

For example, in Ninh Binh Province under Decision 2457/QD-BVHTTDL 2024:

“The Mid-Autumn Festival 2024” is an annual event aimed at creating a beneficial playground for teenagers and children on the occasion of the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival. Activities in the festival will bring the children into dreams, magical stories, and future expectations contributing to the completion of Vietnamese personality, preserving national cultural identity.

A series of activities will be organized for students in this province as follows:

[1] Space for "Mid-Autumn Festival through toys"

- Mid-Autumn toys are not only for entertainment but also serve educational purposes, nurturing the souls of the younger generation, silently and deeply conveying the wishes and messages of our ancestors about the spirit of studiousness, encouraging learning and achievement.

[2] Recreational and experiential activities

- Guidance and experience in traditional crafts, toy-making, and handicrafts.

- The children get to hear stories about the history of the craft villages, watch dedicated craftsmen at work, and create their own lovely products such as pottery modeling, pottery spinning, mosaic painting, hand weaving, folk painting - coloring, making tire sandals, pressing dried flowers, brocade embroidery, quilt making, traditional cake making...

- Art experiences

- Circus - Variety Art: The children will practice performing suitable circus disciplines such as unicycle riding, balancing on rollers, balls, bamboo ladders, stilt walking, juggling, hula hooping, balloon art...

- Puppet Art: Artists will perform and guide the children through fun, unique, and engaging puppet shows, both dry and water-based.

- Experiencing singing, dancing, music, fashion for kids: Helping children develop skills, awaken talents, and create a healthy playground after stressful school hours.

- Experiencing sports

+ Participate in exploring, experiencing, and playing chess - the mind sport.

+ Martial arts performances, lion dance, and dragon dance.

- Safety skill propagation activities, fire safety experience as a firefighter

+ Participate in beneficial fire prevention activities; guidance on skills when encountering fire incidents; rescue and first aid skills for victims. These will be valuable lessons helping children stay calm in case of fires and minimize damage.

- Display, experience "A book space for childhood"

+ Display and introduce good books, orienting children to love and enjoy reading.

+ Free reading space.

- Experiencing "Touch the world of colors"

+ A place for children to immerse themselves in a colorful world of art, to paint where they want to explore and conquer new things.

+ Art experiences on dinosaur eggs; discovering prehistoric footprints.

+ Street sketches.

+ Art experiences “Colors beloved by children”.

+ Decorating wood paintings, assembling wood paintings.

- Guidance, experiencing “Safe driving”

+ Public awareness about traffic safety for children; guiding children on safe driving skills, practicing on models.

+ Organizing mini-games suitable for the theme.

- Learning and creative experience activities, logical games, assembling

+ Handicraft making; memory challenge, mini-games with prizes; logical thinking with educational toys; mini model assembling, Rubik cube solving...

- Children's playground

+ Children get to play with outdoor exercise equipment, trains, airplanes, inflatable houses…

+ Organizing folk games: square games, flag grabbing, stick hitting, blindfolded goat catching, stilt walking, bamboo dancing, sack jumping, hopscotch… attracting children to participate, thereby training to become agile, skillful and active.

+ Implementing unit: Vietnam Cultural and Artistic Exhibition Center, Anh Duong Center for Art and Talents Development.

Experience guidance and interaction time:

Happy moments, games, and activities with family and friends will be beautiful memories for children.

As such, the organization of these activities for students and children also depends on each locality and its available budget.

What is the the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival? (Picture from the Internet)

Are students in Vietnam entitled to a day off on the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2024?

Currently, there is no specific regulation that allows students to have a day off on the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Additionally, based on Article 112 of the Labor Code 2019:

Holidays

1. Employees are entitled to fully paid days off on the following holidays and Tet:

a) New Year: 01 day (January 1 according to the solar calendar);

b) Lunar New Year: 05 days;

c) Victory Day: 01 day (April 30 according to the solar calendar);

d) International Labor Day: 01 day (May 1 according to the solar calendar);

e) National Day: 02 days (September 2 according to the solar calendar and 01 day before or after);

f) Hung Kings' Death Anniversary: 01 day (March 10 according to the lunar calendar).

2. Foreign employees working in Vietnam are entitled to one additional traditional festival day and one National Day of their country apart from the holidays prescribed in clause 1 of this article.

3. Annually, based on actual conditions, the Prime Minister of Vietnam will decide specific holidays mentioned in sub-clause b and e of clause 1 of this article.

Clearly, the Mid-Autumn Festival does not fall under the holidays where employees are granted leave, as students follow the school and teacher calendar according to the annual vacation regulations mentioned above.

Therefore, teachers do not get a day off for the Mid-Autumn Festival. However, if the Mid-Autumn Festival coincides with a weekend, students will have a day off.

Hence, the Mid-Autumn Festival 2024 will fall on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, which is the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, so students will still have to attend school normally and can participate in evening activities after school.

What are the rights of students when starting the new school year 2024-2025 in Vietnam?

Students will have different rights depending on their educational level. To be specific:

For primary school students

According to Article 35 of the Regulation on Primary Schools issued with Circular 28/2020/TT-BGDDT, primary school students have the following rights:

- The right to study

+ To be educated and learn to develop fully and best harness their potential; to study in a school or class that implements the primary education program conveniently located for their travel within the residential area.

+ Students can choose their school or transfer to another school outside the residential area, provided the chosen school can accept new students.

+ Primary-aged students returning from abroad, and children of foreign nationals studying, working in Vietnam, children unable to attend school due to difficult circumstances, if wishing to transfer to a primary school, will be organized by the principal to assess the level and assign to an appropriate class.

+ Disabled students will study inclusively in a primary school; ensuring conditions for study and training; studying and being assessed according to their individual educational plans.

+ Students can shorten the duration of the program, study at an older age than the prescribed age, repeat a grade.

+ Students with good physical health and early intellectual development can advance a grade within the school level. The process for consideration of each specific case includes:

++ Parents or guardians of the student request in writing to the school.

++ The school principal establishes a council for assessment, consultation, including the principal or vice-principal, the Parent Representative Association of the school, class teacher, next grade teacher, health officer, and Team Leader.

++ Based on the council's assessment, the principal completes the documentation and report to the Head of the Education and Training Department for consideration and decision.

+ Students with limited academic results, despite direct support from teachers, parents or guardians, if still not meeting learning and training requirements, depending on the extent of non-completion, the teacher will report to the principal for consideration of promotion or repetition; concurrently with the family, decide on appropriate educational measures.

- To be protected, cared for, respected, and treated equally and democratically; to be ensured legitimate rights and benefits; provided with sufficient information about their learning and training process; to be ensured conditions for study time, material facilities, hygiene, safety for studying and training.

- To participate in activities harnessing personal capabilities; to express personal opinions and desires.

- To receive scholarships and social policies as regulated.

- To enjoy other rights as prescribed by law.

For lower and upper secondary school students

The rights of lower and upper secondary school students are specified in Article 35 of the regulations issued with Circular 32/2020/TT-BGDDT:

- To be equal in receiving comprehensive education, ensured conditions regarding time, facilities, hygiene, safety for class learning and self-study; provided with information about their study and training; and to use equipment, facilities for educational, cultural, sports activities of the school as specified.

- To be respected and protected, treated equally and democratically, to complain to the school and educational management levels about decisions affecting themselves; to transfer schools with justified reasons as per current regulation; to study ahead of age, skip grades, study at higher ages than the specified age according to Article 33 of the regulations issued with Circular 32/2020/TT-BGDDT.

- To participate in activities aiming to develop talents in subjects, sports, arts organized by the school if qualified.

- To receive scholarships or other aids according to regulations for those enjoying social policies, those with life difficulties, and those with superior abilities.

- To transfer if meeting conditions as specified; school transfer procedures follow the regulations of the Minister of Education and Training.

- To enjoy other rights as prescribed by law.