The full-month ceremony is held when a baby turns one month old, rooted in folk belief that every newborn is protected by 12 "Mụ" Goddesses (each shaping one part of the body) and "Đức Ông" during their earliest days. The ceremony thanks these guardian spirits and wishes for the baby's health and growth.
The traditional date for the ceremony is often calculated using the "girls minus two, boys minus one" rule in some regions (the ceremony is held two days early for girls, one day early for boys, relative to the exact one-month lunar date), while other regions hold it exactly on the one-month lunar date, practices vary by region and family, with no single nationwide standard.
A traditional offering tray typically includes 12 small bowls of sweet soup plus one large bowl (for the 12 Goddesses and the Chief Goddess), 12 small plates of sticky rice plus one large plate, boiled chicken (often a rooster for a baby boy), fruit, betel and areca nut, incense and flowers, specific dessert/rice types vary regionally.
The first-birthday ceremony (thôi nôi) is held when the baby turns one year old, marking the milestone of "leaving the cradle" for a new stage of development. Besides a similar (smaller-scale) offering tray, it includes the "object-picking" custom, placing symbolic objects representing future careers (books, pens, money, a mirror, scissors) for the baby to grab, meant mainly as a fun tradition, not a serious prediction of the child's future.
Despite their spiritual coloring, both ceremonies mainly serve as occasions for family and relatives to gather, celebrate, and mark an important early developmental milestone, the value of family togetherness is generally considered more central than the purely spiritual aspect.
