HCM City (VNA) - Thousands of colourful lanterns are lighting upthe streets of HCM City’s District 5 during the night, attracting thousands ofvisitors for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival.

The streets, informally named Lantern Town for decades, have become a populardestination for people.

The town includes the streets of Luong Nhu Hoc, Tran Hung Dao, Phu Dinh, NguyenTrai and Nguyen An.

Most houses and sidewalks along the streets have been turned into lantern shopssince September 15.

There are hundreds of stalls with thousands of lanterns of both traditional andmodern designs with various shapes, colours and sizes.

The Mid-Autumn Festival called Tet Trung Thu is celebrated on the 15th dayof the eighth lunar month, falling on October 4 this year.

This is an occasion for families, with children enjoying activities andunderstanding more about the nation’s traditional values.

In recent years, the festival is also attracting teenagers and adults as wellas kids.

Vu Hoang Anh Thi from Thu Duc district said: “This is the first time I’ve beento see the mid-autumn festival atmosphere here. It’s really interesting.”

This year, the lanterns are more diverse, with traditional items chosen by manyconsumers, according to Nguyen Thanh Tin, a lantern seller.

Some lantern shop owners said the streets are often overcrowded with manyvisitors on the weekend.

“Only some visitors actually buy lanterns, while others come to enjoy lookingat the lanterns and take photos,” they added.

Besides selling to individual customers, many shops have also received bigorders from companies and organisations that want to buy lanterns for theircelebration activities. 

This year, lantern prices are at 60,000-150,000 VND (2.6-6.6 USD) each.-VNA