The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the major traditional celebrations of the Vietnamese people, taking place in the middle of autumn. This is the time when the harvest has been completed and the weather is cool, so people usually hold thanksgiving ceremonies and festive activities. The book Tai Ping Huan Yu Ji – an ancient Chinese historical record – notes: “The Lạc Việt people held festivals every eighth month of autumn...”.  During the Lý dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival had already become a major celebration in the capital of Thăng Long, organized by the emperor and held both within the royal court and among the common people. The stele inscription Sùng Thiện Diên Linh, formally titled The Stele of the Fourth Emperor of Đại Việt at the Sùng Thiện Diên Linh Pagoda (erected in 1121), records that under the reign of Emperor Lý Nhân Tông, the Mid-Autumn Festival was lavishly hosted by the royal court with activities such as: making offerings to past emperors; civil and military officials presenting congratulatory memorials to the king; banquets; boat races on the Trường Lô River (Nhị River, now the Red River); water puppet performances; and tiger-hunting contests. The court opened the festival for the people to enjoy over three days, usually from the 11th to the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Everywhere in the capital of Thăng Long was magnificently decorated with silks, lanterns, and dazzling lights. People of all ages and backgrounds joyfully gathered to watch the festivities. Beyond the royal rituals, ordinary folk also observed their customs: offering sacrifices to ancestors during the day, setting up lanterns and feasts at night to enjoy the moon, while children carried lanterns, beat drums, and performed lion dances. These traditions have been passed down through generations and have become a beautiful cultural heritage of the Vietnamese people.

In order to preserve and promote those intangible cultural values, the Thăng Long – Hà Nội Heritage Conservation Center is organizing the program “Mid-Autumn Festival 2025 Celebration.” This annual event, held during the Mid-Autumn Festival, serves children, residents of the capital, and visitors from near and far. It features a wide range of activities such as exhibitions, hands-on experiences in making traditional Mid-Autumn toys, and lion dance performances…

1. Exhibition

The exhibition features two themes: Traditional Mid-Autumn Festival and Imperial Mid-Autumn Festival of the Lý Dynasty.

Subject 1 – The traditional Mid-Autumn exhibition space features stalls displaying old-style festive toys such as lion drums, frog drums, small hand drums, lion heads, papier-mâché masks, tin toys (tin steamship, drumming rabbit, push butterfly, whistles, etc.), paper mandarins, “the man with a stick watching the moon,” rotating lanterns, monk lanterns, star-shaped lanterns, and paper figurines. Among these, the most fascinating are the replicas of antique lanterns recreated by artisans from Thanh Oai village, based on photo archives from the Quai Branly Museum (France) and the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO). These include drum lanterns, rabbit lanterns, star lanterns, shrimp and fish lanterns, and paired spinning lanterns—crafted from dó paper or cellophane, vividly painted with lively, soulful details.

Subject 2 – This year, for the very first time, the Center presents an interpretive exhibition on the royal Mid-Autumn Festival of the 11th–12th centuries. The display includes a series of panels introducing historical sources, along with reconstructed paintings illustrating activities that took place during the imperial Mid-Autumn celebrations more than 1,000 years ago. The exhibition space is highlighted by recreated artifacts that bring to life scenes such as boat races and water puppet performances by soldiers and commoners. At the heart of the display stands the central artifact “Kim Ngao”—a mythical creature with the body of a turtle and the head of a dragon, its entire form covered in shimmering gold. On its back rest the three sacred mountains of Eastern legend: Bồng Lai, Phương Trượng, and Doanh Châu. The figure of Kim Ngao symbolizes the aspirations of both the emperor and the people for a peaceful, prosperous, and enduring nation. The exhibition space is bathed in a mystical, time-honored atmosphere, illuminated by dozens of traditional lanterns such as the carp expelling evil spirits, carp transforming into a dragon, dragon-phoenix lanterns, unicorn lanterns, and lanterns shaped like peaches, pomegranates, finger citrons, and water caltrops. These lanterns—once thought lost to history—have been meticulously recreated by cultural researcher Trịnh Bách and artisan Nguyễn Trọng Bình, using traditional materials such as dó paper, silk paper, cellophane, bamboo splints, rattan, and natural adhesives.

With these exhibition contents, the heritage has gained greater appeal and uniqueness, allowing visitors to gain deeper insights into intangible courtly cultural values and fostering a stronger connection between the heritage and the community.

A vibrant check-in space with a variety of colorful and eye-catching photo spots: a dazzling lantern gate, a playful bamboo-sieve wall, a goldfish-and-moon decoration set in a lotus pond, and a shimmering, magical lantern-lit path…

Exhibition period: Starting from October 1, 2025 (Wednesday)

2. Lion Dance Performance

Lion Dance Performance Schedule: October 4–5, 2025 (Saturday and Sunday)

• Morning session: 10h00 and 11h00
• Afternoon session: 15h30 and 16h30

3. Experience

Activities such as making spinning lanterns, butterfly lanterns, star lanterns, rabbit lanterns, painting papier-mâché masks, and crafting paper kites will be available on October 4–5, 2025 (Saturday and Sunday).

• Morning session: 8h30 – 11h30
• Afternoon session: 14h30 – 17h30

4. Address

Thăng Long Imperial Citadel – A UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, Hanoi (19C Hoàng Diệu Street, Ba Đình, Hanoi).