Hoi An Ancient Town Celebrates Mid-Autumn: Four Days From September 22 to 25 With Thien Cau Dance, Lantern-Making and 'Music and Moonlight'
HOI AN — Hoi An Ancient Town, administered as part of Da Nang in Vietnam, marked the Mid-Autumn Festival with four days of events from September 22 to 25, 2026. According to the programme published by the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center on the city's official tourism portal, the dates correspond to the 12th to 15th days of the eighth lunar month, with the full-moon festival night falling on Friday, September 25. Activities were spread across the old town's museums and heritage streets, recreating the Mid-Autumn celebrations of earlier generations.
Two museums anchored the programme. At the Museum of Folk Culture, 33 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, a photo exhibition and display devoted to the traditional Thien Cau dance ran from September 22 to 25, alongside a hands-on space offering lantern-making, Thien Cau and paper-mask decoration, and traditional games including o an quan, clay-pot breaking and stilt walking, plus lantern riddles and treasure hunts. At the Museum of Sa Huynh Culture, 149 Tran Phu Street, the 'Music and Moonlight' programme was staged at 7 p.m. on September 23 and 25, presenting Vietnamese folk songs, children's rhymes and traditional instruments.
On September 24, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., 'Hoi An Ancient Town Night' recreated residents' daily life in the early 20th century, with poetry recitals, classical Vietnamese theatre, folk singing, traditional martial arts, Chinese chess, bai choi singing and calligraphy, as the lantern-lit streets turned pedestrian. The city's tourism information also listed lion dance performances at venues across Da Nang from September 21 to 25 in the build-up to the full moon.
Hoi An was once a busy international trading port, and its assembly halls and old houses still line the ancient town, where lantern-carrying, lion dances and the Thien Cau dance have been passed down through generations. Placing exhibitions, craft workshops and evening performances inside the heritage quarter made the festival more than a photo stop. For local families, the climax remained the full-moon night of September 25 — children carrying lanterns through the old streets while adults shared mooncakes — the reunion-under-the-moonlight theme the official Da Nang tourism portal chose for this year's festival.
Source: Programme details from 'Mid-Autumn Festival in Da Nang 2026' published by the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center on danangfantasticity.com; events in Hoi An Ancient Town, September 22–25, 2026.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 越南会安古城的灯笼，DEBA PRASAD ROY 摄，CC0（Wikimedia Commons）
