‘Singing Together, Eating Together’: Harvard Affiliates Celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival

Harvard students and affiliates celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival this week by singing lively karaoke ballads, crafting ornate bamboo lanterns, and taste-testing a variety of mooncake flavors.

The Mid-Autumn Festival — widely referred to as the Moon Festival — is traditionally celebrated in many Asian countries to commemorate the autumn harvest. This year, the festival was observed on Oct. 6 — the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.

On Sunday, the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, Asian American Dance Troupe, Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association, and Harvard Vietnamese Association hosted a joint study break in the Quincy House dining hall serving mooncakes — a filled pastry traditionally eaten during the festival.

Priyanka Mukhara ’26, one of the co-presidents of AAA, said the event gave her the opportunity to learn more about the significance of the festival for the greater Asian population.

“One of the biggest things that is often overlooked is Asia — Pan-Asia — is so wide and diverse, and our Asianness isn’t monolithic,” Mukhara said. “These kinds of events help really highlight that diversity.”

Lily Song ’27, secretary of CSA, said the event provided students with the chance to connect with one another and partake in a festival that many of them celebrate at home.

“We just wanted to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is coming up, and its significance by eating some mooncakes together and watching the moon from Quincy dining hall,” Song said.

“It’s a pretty important celebration that’s celebrated all over Asia, so I’m really happy that there’s people here enjoying the snacks and mingling,” she added.

On Monday, HVA hosted a celebration in collaboration with Harvard’s Vietnamese Language Program serving sticky rice and mooncakes. Attendees were also invited to participate in Vietnamese folk games, sing karaoke, and make bamboo lanterns.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of HVA’s biggest events, along with events for Lunar New Year — a traditional celebration of the arrival of the new year in many Asian countries. The Mid-Autumn Festival acts as both a celebration and an avenue for Vietnamese culture to be displayed and disseminated across campus.

For Dai T Pham ’26, co-president of HVA, the Mid-Autumn Festival allows for “just having a night, singing together, eating together,” all in the name of celebrating “friendship and family.”

“I feel like the Vietnamese community in general is very tight-knit and small,” Pham said. “So it’s nice it actually does feel like a community.”

The Vietnamese Language Program at Harvard originated in the 1970s, with rising interest from heritage speakers in recent years. This semester, the program established dedicated beginner courses for heritage language learners. The courses are designed to aid those with experience speaking the language in strengthening their grammatical skills.

Hoa Le, a preceptor in Vietnamese, said she hopes this event will help in bringing awareness to the Vietnamese Language Program.

“It’s very important to build a tight-knit community as we are growing the programs,” Le said.

“We do hope that with this kind of event, students feel proud of their heritage or feel proud of learning a new language,” she added. “Together, we spread the word and grow the program.”

—Staff writer Alexander W. Anoma can be reached at alexander.anoma@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @AnomaAlexander.

—Staff writer Chantel A. De Jesus can be reached at chantel.dejesus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @c_a_dejesus.