Mid-Autumn Festival

jakejas wrote:

One year I forgot "International Women's Day" because this event is not celebrated in the US. As a side note, I don't think is as international as Vietnamese girls (namely my wife and her VN friends) think it is. After that I did a little research on important VN holidays and put them some on my google calendar. Does anyone know anything about the Mid-Autumn Festival that is coming up on Sep. 19th? My wife said that we don't need to celebrate it, but I looked online and the moon cakes look like they are delicious, so I am now thinking that we should. She said it is only for little kids to sing, dance, and eat. Is this true? I told her we can sing karaoke, dance, and eat those little moon-shaped cakes, but she didn't seem to excited...

Has anyone tasted the moon cakes?

It's kinda like Holloween.  The kids get little lanterns and go around the neighborhood singing and dancing - minus the trick o treat.  When they get home, the eat moon cakes.

It is only recommended in the countryside since the cities don't have safe streets for kids to walk at night. 

So like any other holiday, the corporations have grabbed onto this as another way to make money.  They sell the moon cakes at every street corner and provide you with nice looking gift boxes (so you have another means to gift someone).  Gifting is a good way to build relations between people.

jakejas wrote:

One year I forgot "International Women's Day" because this event is not celebrated in the US. As a side note, I don't think is as international as Vietnamese girls (namely my wife and her VN friends) think it is. ...

When I first heard of "International Women's Day" I thought it was a weird day as well since it's unknown in the USA.  After I thought about it, I figured, that day isn't needed in the USA because women's suffrage has been achieved over there.  So it was probably something the UN came up with for the rest of the world.



There's also a Vietnam's Women's day (Ngày phụ nữ Việt Nam) on October 20.  So you can make up your thoughtlessness in forgetting IWD and surprise your wife next month.

I have that one on the calendar as well. Between all of the US holidays, VN holidays, and wedding anniversaries (one for the US and one for VN), it is a lot to try and stay on top of. Luckily after all of these celebrations, the bar has been significantly lowered on our gift expectations. One time I wrapped half a package of my wife's socks that she had bought from Walmart the previous week. Sometimes you just have to work with what you got.

looks like Arni i n drag