Hoi An City hosts a ceremony to receive the National Intangible Cultural Heritage title for the Mid-Autumn Festival. (Photo: VOV)

For many years, the Mid-Autumn Festival has been considered the biggest spiritual and cultural event of the year in Hoi An, a cross between Vietnamese culture and the Chinese and Japanese cultures.

Hoi An resident Nguyen Hung, who has been making lion heads and dragon heads for the Mid-Autumn Festival for more than 30 years, said: “My products have become familiar to locals and foreign visitors through international and regional lion dance contests. I have received orders from Chinese, Malaysian, and Singaporean customers.”

The recognition of the Mid-Autumn Festival as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage has encouraged Hoi An’s people and authorities to continue to preserve this heritage, according to Nguyen Van Lanh, Vice Chairman of Hoi An city’s People’s Committee.

“Lion and unicorn dances are a focus of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hoi An. This year, the Festival is being held on a larger scale to celebrate the recognition,” said Lanh.