To make up for lost time, parents would use the Mid-Autumn festival as an opportunity to show their love and appreciation for their children. Appropriately, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Children's Festival. In the United States, this tradition continues in many Vietnamese-American communities. Trung-Thu activities are often centered around children and education. Parents buy lanterns for their children so that they can participate in a candlelit lantern procession at dawn.
Lanterns represent brightness while the procession symbolizes success in school.
Vietnamese markets sell a variety of lanterns, but the most popular children's lantern is the star lantern . Other children's activities include arts and crafts in which children make face masks and lanterns. Children also perform traditional Vietnamese dances for adults and participate in contests for prizes and scholarships. Unicorn dancers are also very popular in Trung-Thu festivities. Like the Chinese, Vietnamese parents tell their children fairy tales and serve mooncakes and other special treats under the silvery moon.