Kritenbrink visits Soc Son School for Disabled Children.

With less than a week to go until the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on September 24 this year, Kritenbrink visited Soc Son School for Disabled Children in the capital city’s Soc Son District, around 40 kilometers from downtown. The school supports and trains children with disabilities.

Kritenbrink started his term as U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam on November 6 last year, so this is his first Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam. Getting into the festival spirit, he wore an Ong Dia, also called the Earth god, mask, waved a paper fan as a troupe performed the lion dance.

He also learned to make moon cakes.

He also learned to make mooncakes with sticky rice, an inseparable part of the festival. It is a long-standing tradition that people gift mooncakes during this festival, especially to parents and grandparents.

Kritenbrink joined students in painting paper masks, joking that he hoped his two children will not be frightened by them.

Established in 2000 by an American non-governmental organization, the school is home to 96 handicapped and autistic children aged between six and 30.

In Vietnam, the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, and it is considered the second most important traditional festival after Tet, the Lunar New Year.

The festival is traditionally a children's event, celebrated with a lot of mooncakes and lanterns.

Source: VnExpress