Members of Hackney’s South East Asian community gathered at the weekend to celebrate Tet-Trung Thu, otherwise known as the Moon Festival.

This annual event dates back thousands of years and according to ancient folklore was started by Vietnamese parents who, following a busy harvest, arranged a special occasion devoted to their children, to make up for lost time.

The celebrations took place at the Community Centre for Refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in Haggerston where children took part in the traditional customs of carrying lanterns and performing dances for their parents.

Speaker of Hackney, Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas watched the celebrations and presented certificates to some of the children following their performances. Cllr Fanjana-Thomas said: “This centre provides valuable services for the local South East Asian community and it is pleasing to see this festival continuing important customs and traditions here in Hackney. “

Huong K Le, Chairman of the community centre added: "We were delighted to welcome Madam Speaker of Hackney. Her presence in this particular event (Tet Trung Thu) was not only a caring attitude of the local authority towards people in no matter where they came from but also a recognition of service provision delivered to children and young people encouraging them to work hard so that they can become whatever they want to be. The Community Centre is grateful for the support and help of Hackney Council in the past many years to develop essential activities to meeting the needs of members of the community."


Photo caption 1: Speaker of Hackney presenting a certificate

Photo caption 2: Girls with flowers