9a4 Doremon Tan Da reborn (English verson).doc

Group: Doraemon Team
Subject: Mid-Autumn Festival
Tan Da reborn and the lesson at Mid-Autumn Festival’s night.

The magical story takes place at modern time, when it is nearly the end of August, and
September is only inches away from today. On every street of this city, people rushes busily,
preparing for the new Mid-Autumn Festival coming nearby. The shops hang plenty of colorful
lanterns, from normal red, orange to complicated yellow patterns. Moon cake is on sale all over
the roads and alleys. Toys for kids are diversed that they color the town with a mixture of colors.
Vietnamese people are looking forward to another marvellous holiday, and so do us. We decide
to take a trip to Luong Nhu Hoc street in district 5 which is very famous for its special name:
“Lantern District”, to enjoy the flavor of our special holiday coming soon.
The atmosphere is marvellous and so fun that we barely can say a thing when we arrive. The
whole street is filled up with various lanterns, colorful and bright. This lanterns world brings us14 and 15 boys and girls-back to our childhood.
“There is the star lantern, comes with a carp one
There is the swan and here comes the butterfly
I’m bringing the lanterns to the moon
The green and the purple ones
In joys and colorful lights.”
Suddenly, in distance we see an old man walking towards us in baggy form. In his hand is
an empty wine bottle, while he struggles to walk and screaming out loud: “I’m Tan Da! I’m
reborn! I’m back!”. Then he recites the famous poem “Wanna be Cuoi” in hiccups caused by
drinking too much wine…
“Ms.Hang…It’s too sad down here this night
I’m fed up with this life and people
No one is sitting next to you, right?
By the banyan tree…take me there and I won’t fall
There will be no sadness, only the word “nice”
You and I will hang out with clouds and wind

It will be fun for all…fun for all…”
The poem won’t end until two more verses, but he is so drunk, so drunk that he can’t finish it,
instead falling down on the street. Afraid that “Tan Da” will be hurt, we run as fast as we can to
help him up.
_Silent!-He shouts aggressively-I need nobody but Ms.Hang only, tonight is
boring down here, where have nothing to compare with my hometown up there.
_Why would you say that? It’s nice down here!-Tan gives his idea
_There’s nothing but down here!-He fights back cruelly-There’re Pearl Rabbit,
beautiful dancers up there! Way more better! I still can remember the day a thousand years ago, I
and Duong Minh Hoang, together enjoy drinking tea, eating cake on the Moon. He enjoyed it so
much that he even forgot that it was morning already. When he came back, because he missed
the Moon so much, he ordered everybody to take that day, make it became a National Festival,
which is today.
_Why could Duong Minh Hoang-a normal person-would be able to appear on the
Moon?-Hoa asked.
_It was up to Diep Phap Thien-Duong Minh Hoang’s magician-did a spell to
bring him there at Full Moon night-Mai answered.
_Oh so that reveals the mystery! My granny didn’t tell me about that legend. She
just taught me that Mid-Autumn Festival is the time for farmers to sacrifice foods and things for
Moon God, to rest and to foretell the next season’s fate.
_That was 2000 years ago when the festival started to be introduced to
Vietnamese people. Vietnam was an agricultural country then and our ancestors’ main jobs were
farmers. That answers why we Vietnamese people used to look at the Moon to foretell future,
which was important to farming. August 15th was also the time for everybody to rest after a hardworking season-“Tan Da reborn” is quite alert now- Vietnamese’s Mid-Autumn Festival has
many differences, which includes many customs like watching the Moon, eat Moon cake,etc…
_I love Moon cake very much!-Mai is as pert as always-I don’t know if there is
any relationship between Moon cake and Duong Minh Hoang -your friend?
_Of course-“Tan Da reborn” ‘s eyes glow when his old friend is mentioned-After
coming back, he ordered the cook to make God cake; when there’s a full moon, he and his’
officials eat that cake while enjoying the Moon. It became a custom since then. There are 2 kinds

of Moon Cake: Soft and Baked. Soft cake is round, while Baked ones are square. Soft cake is the
icon of reunion. The original Moon cake has a thin crust, inside has sweet flavor with a little
amount of oil. The core of the cake is a salted-egg to create balance between sweet and salty. The


cake is then baked after being designed by the baker.
_Every Mid-Autumn Festival coming, the first thing I wish is Moon cake. I like
modern cake very much-Phat adds- Modern cakes have diverse cores such as green beans,
sausages, taros with chocolate, coffee ,etc..I love cake with shapes of pairs of pigs, schools of
fish, or leaves, flowers with rabbits, bunnies ,etc…
_Those things are terrible-“Tan Da reborn” says. In my time, Moon cakes are
much more delicious. I remembered the time when I was eating Moon cake with fruits such as
grapefruits, jam, etc…
‘’Offering?’’ Tan asked.’’ I haven’t heard about that before.’’
“Oh no! The young generation doesn’t know anything about many traditional practices”,
commented Tan Da. "The offering is made up of a grapefruit shaped into a dog with two beans
used as the dog’s eyes. Surrounding the offering are different kinds of moon cakes such as baked
cakes, sticky rice cakes, vegetarian cakes formed into a pig, piglets or a carp. The usual fruits
prepared during these days are bananas, green rice flakes, persimmon, unripe persimmon and
custard apple…and grapefruit is something we can’t miss. When the moon rises at exactly the
right time then it’s time to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival. That is the real way of celebrating
the moon festival.”
"Oh, I’ve heard about that’’, Hoa exclaimed. "Aside from making offerings, children in Vietnam
play with lanterns. The lanterns are made in order to represent the stars in the sky. In the early
days, they made lanterns using bamboo sticks, cellophane, and a candle, which is placed inside.
Nowadays, lanterns are made of plastic materials made into different shapes, usually require
batteries and play music too."
"I don’t really prefer the modern lantern.’’ Tan Da said. "Who puts music of Tay Du Ky and
Bethoveen in a lantern? Before, every time I saw the light of a lantern, it made me happy.
However, the modern lantern has lost its spirit. Moreover, there are also practices regarding the

use of lanterns. Have you ever brought lanterns all over town while singing traditional songs?
Right now, that is no longer practiced in Vietnam."
"Not really.", Tan disagreed. "Last 2005 in Phan Thiet, a lot of primary and secondary students
gathered and observed the traditional practice of bringing the lanterns around town. This
celebration broke a new record of being the biggest event that ever happened in Vietnam."
"Really? That’s great’’, Tan Da replied happily. “Knowing that traditional celebrations still take
place nowadays makes me feel at ease. Chinatown in District 5, Hoi An and Tan Binh district are
the main producers of lanterns in Viet Nam. Every year, I visited those places to feel the spirit of
the Mid-Autumn festival. But those times are over. Now people just care more about improving
the city while forgetting to remember our tradition."
"We still have the lion dance", Mai said. "Every year, people still perform the lion dance on the
street. The Lion, showcased in many colors, while dancing with the Earth god reminds us of a
Chinese legend."
“What is that story, Mai?", everyone asked. “Can you tell us about it?”
“This is legend of the Lion Dance. Long time ago, during the day of the festival, there was an
old woman who tried really hard to get a baked cake and a sticky rice cake for the Mid -Fall
festival. When she was passing through the forest, she was attacked by a lion and it wanted to
devour her. She was so afraid so she begged the lion to let her go and instead she would come


back on the next lunar for the lion to eat her. The lion accepted."
“Oh, that was scary! And what happened next, Mai?” Hoa asked.
“The woman had a happy moon festival but when she the thought about the next lunar day came
to her, she became upset. She cried a lot and the Earth god heard her. He felt for the old woman
so he went to the lion’s cave to drive it away. And that’s where the lion dance started. From then
on, many people have observed and enjoyed the lion dance. “
“Now, the lion doesn’t embody anything bad. It embodies good fortune, prosperity and
happiness” Tan completed. “Wherever the Earth god and the lion go, people cheer for them
through hanging vegetables and red hanging decors outside of their houses. Nowadays, people
usually hang some money, covered with red cloth and also vegetables like cabbage. When this is

done, the lion will try to climb up to get the hanged money or vegetables. The lion dance shows
love and concord between animals and human in a joyful and peaceful manner.
“That’s great”
“You’re good” Tan Da praised everyone. “At least Mai and Tan know something about the MidAutumn festival.”
“Is there any difference between the old and modern moon festivals?” Phat asked.
“Of course, yes”, Tan Da answered. “The old and modern Mid-Autumn festivals have a big
difference. The old festival used to be for children. So parents made offerings as well as lanterns
for the children to have fun. When the moon is at its brightest, families come together to eat the
moon cakes and to watch the moon. That’s why Mid-Autumn festival is also called Gathering
Festival. The Mid-Autumn festival was also fun because there were a lot of activities in those
days like lion dancing, offering, or going around town to have fun. The Mid-Autumn festival
didn't only give us profits, it also gave us happiness. But now…"
He looked at all of us and then told us in a sad voice.
“The Mid-Autumn festival is different. This festival is not for children anymore, it is for all the
ages. Old or young people all enjoy the Mid-Autumn festival. Nowadays, we only think about
“playing" and not “dining together" anymore. People organize a lot of games or shows but there
is no time for family. The simple moon cake has become too expensive which is worth at least a
hundred thousand dong. Long time ago, people used to give cakes to others so they could
contribute something in the offering. But now, Mid-Autumn festival has become the time to try
to win someone's heart which breaks the true value of the Mid-Autumn festival. Now, you have
to study during the day of the Mid-Autumn festival so it's hard for you to enjoy it. At the same
time, you have lots of movies to watch, lots of attractive activities, so you don’t have time for
family to watch the moonlight together. Offering is also not as simple as it was. Now offerings
for the Mid-Autumn festival have become so costly."
Go, only at countryside….
We look at the ground under our feet without looking at each other. To be honest,
“Tan Da” is absolutely right. Every passed Mid-Autumn festivals before, we didn’t stay at home
but hanging out with our friends. The busy life with modern technology has changed our cultures
which have been existed for a long time. We haven’t known yet about the feeling of waiting for
the Moon, reunioning with our families…Mid-Autumn—Reunioning Season!

_You are still lucky whenever you still have families to sit together-“Tan Da”
reborn cut our thoughts. Like me, I have no friends but only Ms.Hang, who hasn’t invited me to
join her on the Moon for years. Why don’t you come home now? Look at the orphans and


solitary old people, they have no families! You guys are very lucky to have all members there to
love and care for each others. Go home now!
“Tan Da” ‘s speech wakes us up. Yeah absolutely, we have to go home now, our
home sweet home to enjoy this wonderful festival with our deer parents and grandparents, our
siblings too. It’s only a real Mi-Autumn festival when you sit altogether with all your families,
eating food, drinking tea waiting for the Moon to rise. We don’t know if that guy really is “Tan
Da” reborn, but however he gave us a faithful lesson which we shall never forget about MidAutumn Festival. He, somehow, has reminded us about our beautiful culture which tells us to be
with our families all the time, that even if you’re successful or failed, your family is still there for
you to lean on.
We wish you a merry Mid-Autumn Festival with your families and acknowledge
the truth behind this fascinating festival!