B: José Llamos Camejo, a member of the Cuban Journalists Association in Guantanamo, Cuba,is an active collaborator of VOV’s Spanish section. His stories are posted on VOV’s website in Spanish and Vietnamese. In 2014, Mr. Camejo and a delegation from the Cuban Journalists Association visited out station in Hanoi. He won a prize in Vietnam’s External Information Service Contest in 2017. The entries were in many languages: Vietnamese, English, French, German, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Lao, Thai, Indonesian, Korean and Persian. Authors included Vietnamese and foreign journalists, researchers, photographers, publishers, and Vietnamese expatriates.

A: Their topics covered every aspect of Vietnam’s political, economic, cultural and social life, promoting the image of Vietnam to the outside world. Mr. Camejo’s prize included 15 million VND.

Teachers and volunteers cleaned a school after the flood

B: Jose donated 20% of his prize to victims of typhoon Doksuri in Vietnam’s central region. He wrote: “I know that this contribution does not have a great material value, but it is something, and I do it from the heart. I will be satisfied if that small contribution helps relieve the pain of a Vietnamese brother.”

A: Thank you very much Mr. Camejo for your generosity. We often say “a little makes a mickle”. Vietnamese agencies, organizations, and individuals inside and outside the country have raised money for victims of a typhoons and flooding in the central region. Some of our listeners have also sent donations for typhoon victims after hearing the news on VOV.

B: Once again, thank you all, dear listeners. From Indonesia, Pak Ning Tjang wrote us that he hadn’t received QSL cards for his reception reports. He advised VOV to send verifications by registered mail. Because it costs so much in postage, he says VOV should send QSL cards once every three months, when a listener has sent three correct reception reports.

A: That’s a good idea. We’ll forward the suggestion to our audience service section to help them find the best solution to lost mail. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam and other Asian countries, including China, Korea, and Japan. Thank you Pak Ning Tjang for wishing a joyous festival to the VOV staff. 

A typical fruit arrangement for the Mid-Autumn Festival

B: We really enjoy eating mooncakes and fruits to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival. Vietnamese mooncakes have the same shape but a different flavor from Chinese, Korean, or Japanese cakes.

A: The most popular shape is square or round, but the pattern on top may depict flowers, fairies on the moon, carps admiring a full moon, and much more. Skilled bakers sometimes bake cakes shaped like pigs, rabbits, and other animals. 

B: Vietnamese mooncakes have a thin, tender pastry crust which envelopes a sweet, dense filling, which may contain one more salted egg yolks, a symbol of the full moon. The filling varies from the traditional one of lotus seed paste and sausage to a filling that contains chocolate, green tea, green or red beans, sesame, or durian.

A baked moon cake with green bean and egg joke filling

A: Vietnam has two main types of mooncakes: banh deo – white sticky rice cake and banh nuong - baked cakes. “Banh deo”, the white cake, is made of sticky rice and filled with a sweet mixture of lotus seeds, pumpkin seeds and green beans. “Banh nuong”, the brown cake, has a salty taste from a mixture of egg, pork fat, fried onions, peanuts and lemon leaves. Either cake can be round or square.

B: About a month prior to the festival, mooncakes go on sale everywhere. There is a trend toward making your own mooncakes for family and friends. Making homemade mooncake is a fun way to teach children and foreigners about the cultural traditions of Vietnam. 

People show their creativity with moon cakes

A: One fascinating activity that characterizes the Mid-Autumn Festival is the lion dance. Children and professional dancers and martial artists perform dances on the streets or visit houses to wish the families good luck. This festival is mostly geared to children, so there are various kinds of toys for them -  paper lanterns, animal figurines made of rice dough, and paper dragon heads and masks. Children parade in the streets, singing and carrying colorful lanterns shaped like fishes, stars, butterflies, and rabbits which spin when candles are inserted, symbolizing the earth circling the sun.

Lion dance on Mid-Autumn Festival

B: Agencies and organizations organize Mid-Autumn Festival for the families of their staff to enhance unity among colleagues. Public places host art performances to entertain the crowds of people who go out to admire the most beautiful Full Moon of the year. Social organizations and charity funds visit and give gifts to poor children and hospitalized people who are unable to celebrate with their family. 

A: The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the happiest and most joyous events of the year, when people want to share their good fortune with less unfortunate people. We’ll add photos of the Mid-Autumn Festival when this edition of the Letter Box is posted on our website at www.vovworld.vn.