SVSA hosts Late Autumn Festival at White Plaza

Culture, food and music came together under the dark sky at the Stanford Vietnamese Student Association (SVSA)’s Late Autumn Festival on Sunday evening. Held at White Plaza, the event featured a buffet, performances from campus cultural groups and hands-on activities from various Asian cultural clubs.

Many Asian cultures commemorate mid-autumn festivals in early fall. In Vietnam, Tết Trung Thu is the celebration of a successful harvest, held midway through the eighth lunar month. On this day, families reunite, give their thanks and spend quality time together. The joyous occasion is spent eating mooncakes, watching lion dances and parading through the streets with star-shaped lanterns to guide the mythical figure, Chú Cuội, back to Earth from the moon.

“The Late Autumn Festival is a time for families to come together and eat food together,” said Regina Tran ’28, the cultural co-chair of SVSA.

Her co-chair, ThanhVan Dang ’28, emphasized the role of reconnection and renewal in the tradition. “You eat mooncakes, you spend time with your family, a lot of people go home to take a break from their busy lives to relax and eat well,” Dang said. 

Both Tran and Dang hope that the SVSA’s Late Autumn Festival will offer a similar opportunity for students to escape their hectic schedules and enjoy the festivities.

 “We want people to come here and get a break from midterms and the stress of their lives,” said Dang.

Tran added that she wants “everyone to be able to really just celebrate Asian culture, their friends, and be able to immerse themselves in something they might not be able to otherwise experience.” 

Attendees immersed themselves in Asian culture by interacting with the Asian cultural groups who hosted tables at the event. The Stanford Asian Women’s Alliance (AWA) taught paper lantern making, the Taiwanese Culture Society (TCS) gave out Taiwanese rice crackers and cookies and the Stanford Asian American Action Committee (SAAAC) advertised their upcoming Asian American Organizing Workshop this Thursday from 6-7:30 p.m.

Another club, the Hmong Student Union, offered hungry students beef meatballs in sweet and sour sauce and fried tofu.

“The Hmong Student Union is an organization here on campus working to educate people about Hmong culture,” said co-chair Lita Moua ’27. “Hmong people exist, and we’re here at the Late Autumn Festival to share our food and our culture with others.”

In addition to the festivities from the Asian cultural organizations, the night showcased incredible talent, with groups like Stanford Lion Dance, Stanford Múa Lạc Hồng and Counterpoint performing for the enthusiastic crowd. 

Emma Wang ’26, co-captain of Stanford Lion Dance, elaborated on the team’s participation in SVSA’s Late Autumn Festival.

“We have a lot of ties and friendships with the Vietnamese community on campus,” she said. “It’s always really nice to bring Lion Dance to this event, especially because Lion Dance is supposed to bring luck at these cultural festivals like the Late Autumn Festival or Lunar New Year in January or February. It’s always pretty meaningful for us to be at these festivals and to bring that good luck.”

Wang’s Lion Dance and the other amazing acts were the perfect end to a night of friends, food and spotlighting the many Asian communities on Stanford’s campus. 

Angelisa Wang ’29 came to celebrate with her Vietnamese friends and stayed “for the food and the performances.”

For Callie Liao ’29, the Late Autumn Festival also served as an impactful opportunity to pay homage to her culture while being away from home. 

“I’m Chinese and I’ve always celebrated the Autumn Festival with my family,” she said. “This is the first year I’m not at home, and I feel like coming to the Autumn Festival is a great way to honor my culture in my new home with my new friends.”

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