TL;DR: Vietnam has many festivals and Tet observances throughout the year, from Tết Nguyên Đán, Rằm tháng Giêng, Tết Hàn Thực, Tết Thanh Minh, Tết Đoan Ngọ, Rằm tháng Bảy, Tết Trung Thu and Tết Hạ Nguyên to less common seasonal rites such as lễ nghênh xuân, tết Trùng cửu, tết Trùng thập and lạp tiết, along with distinct Tet celebrations of ethnic groups including the Mường, Chăm, Khmer, Hà Nhì, Dao and Thái. This is traditional cultural knowledge offered for reference.
Which days of the year make up Vietnam's festivals and Tết?
Vietnam has a system of festivals and Tết spread across both the lunar and solar calendars, including the major Tết of the Kinh people such as Tết Nguyên Đán, the full moon of the first lunar month, Tết Hàn Thực, Tết Thanh Minh, Tết Đoan Ngọ, the full moon of the seventh lunar month, Tết Trung Thu and Tết Hạ Nguyên, along with many festivals specific to ethnic groups such as the Mường, Chăm, Khmer, Hà Nhì, Dao, Thái, Cao Lan, Giẻ Triêng and Si La. In other words, Tết is not confined to a single season but is scattered throughout the year, each occasion tied to a point in the agricultural calendar, a spiritual rite or a community activity.
This article is an overview, meant to help you see the general picture of the festival occasions and to suggest which branch is worth exploring in depth. All the content is traditional cultural knowledge offered for reference, not scientifically verified, and does not promise or assert anything about wealth, health or marriage.
A table listing Vietnam's festival occasions by timing and main features.
| Festival occasion | Timing | Main features |
|---|---|---|
| Tết Nguyên Đán | From the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the third day of the new year | The largest festival, including the rite to see off ông Công ông Táo, the Tất Niên year-end ceremony and the giao thừa New Year's Eve offering |
| Full moon of the first lunar month | The full moon of the first lunar month | The first full moon of the year, guided by the notion that a good start makes for a good finish |
| Tết Hàn Thực | The 3rd day of the third lunar month | The custom of offering bánh trôi and bánh chay |
| Tết Thanh Minh | Not specified | The custom of tảo mộ, tending and repairing the ancestral graves |
| Tết Đoan Ngọ | The 5th day of the fifth lunar month | Killing off insects at the start of summer, with a midday offering of glutinous rice wine and bánh tro |
| Đại lễ Phật Đản | The full moon of the fourth lunar month | Commemorating the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha |
| Full moon of the seventh lunar month | The full moon of the seventh lunar month | Offerings to the ancestors and remembrance of the deceased |
| Tết Trung Thu | The full moon of the eighth lunar month | Associated with children, lanterns, baked mooncakes and sticky rice mooncakes |
| Tết Hạ Nguyên | The full moon of the tenth lunar month | Celebrating the new rice and giving thanks to heaven, earth and the ancestors |
What do Tết Nguyên Đán and the early-year rites include?
Tết Nguyên Đán is the largest festival, usually stretching from the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month with the rite to see off ông Công ông Táo, through the Tất Niên year-end ceremony and the giao thừa New Year's Eve offering, to the activities of the first, second and third days. This is the topic cluster with the most sub-branches: how to prepare the offering tray and conduct the rite for ông Công ông Táo, how to arrange the Tất Niên offering tray, how to make the giao thừa offering indoors and outdoors, how to arrange the five-fruit tray of the three regions, the custom of asking for calligraphy at the start of the year at the Temple of Literature, the custom of choosing the hour and direction for the first outing, and the first brushstrokes of the year.
What these rites share is the spirit of tống cựu nghinh tân, seeing out the old and welcoming the new, giving thanks to the ancestors and the spirits, and wishing for a peaceful year. Each region has its own variations in offerings and arrangement, reflecting the diversity of Vietnamese culture.
What is special about the full moon of the first lunar month and the early lunar-year festivals?
After Tết Nguyên Đán, the full moon of the first lunar month (Tết Nguyên Tiêu) is the first full moon of the year, held in high regard by many families under the notion that a good start makes for a good finish. Around the same period come Tết Hàn Thực on the 3rd day of the third lunar month with the custom of offering bánh trôi and bánh chay, and Tết Thanh Minh with the custom of tảo mộ, tending and repairing the ancestral graves.
Notably, these occasions were localized when they came to Vietnam. Tết Hàn Thực no longer keeps the taboo on lighting fires from its original legend, while Tết Thanh Minh leans mainly toward remembering the ancestors rather than combining with spring outings as in China. These are sub-branches that already have detailed articles on origins, meaning and how to make the offerings.
Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001) in Tục thờ cúng của người Việt (The worship customs of the Vietnamese) also recounts an early-year occasion rarely seen in popular lists: the lễ nghênh xuân, also called the Lập xuân solar term. By the solar calendar, this term falls around the 4th day of the second month, sometimes before Tết Nguyên Đán and sometimes after. The book records that the Lý, Trần and Lê dynasties imitated the northern rite, performing a ceremony by striking a clay buffalo, called the "striking the spring buffalo" method, and cites the Đại Việt sử lược recording that in 1048 Lý Thái Tông issued an edict establishing this method. This was a court rite, not a popular folk Tết observed in today's families.
What do Tết Đoan Ngọ and the summer festivals mean?
Tết Đoan Ngọ on the 5th day of the fifth lunar month is the occasion for killing off insects at the start of summer, usually with a midday offering of glutinous rice wine, bánh tro, sour fruit and, in some places, duck meat as well. It is one of the long-standing traditional Tết, tied to the turn of the season and to the notion of preventing illness and warding off evil.
Around this period comes Đại lễ Phật Đản on the full moon of the fourth lunar month, commemorating the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha, an important occasion of spiritual practice for Buddhists and the community. The summer occasions are usually tied both to family rites and to religious practice, shaping the distinctive cultural rhythm of the middle of the year.
How are the full moon of the seventh lunar month and Tết Trung Thu celebrated?
The full moon of the seventh lunar month is a major occasion in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese, tied to offerings to the ancestors and remembrance of the deceased. Next, the full moon of the eighth lunar month is Tết Trung Thu, an occasion associated with children, lanterns, baked mooncakes, sticky rice mooncakes and community activities. The offering tray for the full moon of the eighth month is usually set on the ancestral altar or in the courtyard, with cakes, fruit, tea and votive paper.
If the full moon of the seventh month leans toward filial piety and remembrance, Trung Thu carries a joyful, reuniting tone oriented toward young children. These are two sub-branches that complement each other in the picture of autumn festivals.
Are Tết Hạ Nguyên and the end-of-year festivals still remembered by many people?
The full moon of the tenth lunar month is Tết Hạ Nguyên, the occasion for celebrating the new rice and giving thanks to heaven, earth and the ancestors. It is one of the four important traditional Tết of the Vietnamese, yet few people remember it today. In the same group are the end-of-year rites of ethnic communities, such as the Giẻ Triêng custom of "eating charcoal" to give thanks to the spirits, or the Cao Lan new-rice Tết after the harvest.
The end-of-year festivals are usually tied to agriculture, the harvest season and gratitude toward the spirits and ancestors. Exploring these occasions reveals the depth of wet-rice agricultural culture and the diversity in how communities remember the blessings of the harvest.
Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001) in Tục thờ cúng của người Việt lists several more seasonal observances during the year that popular tables often omit. Besides the familiar Tết, the book's list also includes the tết mưa dông, tết Trung nguyên, tết Trùng cửu (the 9th day of the ninth month) and lạp tiết (the twelfth month). As for tết Trùng thập (the 10th day of the tenth month), the book records that people paid little attention to it, and mainly physicians, spirit mediums and fortune-tellers observed it; many regions merged tết Thường tân, the Hạ nguyên rite and tết Trùng thập into one because they all fall in the tenth month. Here I only name these observances as the book does, without speculating further about ritual content the book does not describe.
How do the Tết of ethnic minorities differ?
Besides the widespread Tết of the Kinh people, many ethnic groups have their own Tết with distinctive timing and rites. The Mường in Phú Thọ have Tết Doi, a ceremony inviting the rice mother and rice maiden back to the village. The Chăm Bàni have Tết Ramưwan, a month of fasting and prayer and a rite of tảo mộ. The Khmer have Tết Chôl Chnăm Thmây, three days welcoming the new year in mid-April by the solar calendar. The Hà Nhì have the new-rice Tết Khụ Sự Chà, giving thanks to the ancestors. The Dao Quần Chẹt and the Red Dao have customs for welcoming Tết and the Tết nhảy Pút Tồng rite. The White Thái have Tết Xíp Xí, a children's festival. The Si La have the custom of celebrating Tết early when the peach blossoms bloom.
Each ethnic Tết is a cultural marker of its own, reflecting beliefs, the harvest season and community relations. This is a rich topic cluster, well suited to deeper study through each detailed article.
On which occasions during the year do Vietnamese people usually make offerings?
Besides the major Tết, Vietnamese people also make offerings on many other occasions such as the first and the full moon of each month, ancestral death anniversaries, tảo mộ, and ceremonies at the communal house, pagoda or shrine. These rites may differ in offerings, prayer texts and timing depending on the region and the family. What they share is reverence, remembrance and the wish for peace.
It should be stressed that this is traditional knowledge offered for reference. The guides to making offerings on the site help you understand the customs; they do not replace professional advice and do not guarantee any specific outcome. Depending on circumstances and local custom, each family can adjust as appropriate.
Did anyone in the early 20th century propose cutting back festivals and Tết?
Yes. In Gia lễ giản yếu (1932), Dương Bá Trạc put forward the idea of removing the seasonal observances he considered meaningless, such as Đoan ngũ, Thượng nguyên, Trung nguyên and Trung thu, while keeping Tết Nguyên Đán, tết Thanh Minh and tết cơm mới.. As for Thanh Minh, he wrote that on any rain-free day in the third month one could go to tend the graves; and for tết cơm mới, he also allowed choosing the day freely within the ninth month..
This was the opinion of a reformer aimed at simplifying worship to suit the times, not the general standard of the society of his day. His book also states clearly the position of keeping funeral and memorial rites because they bind the duty of filial reverence, while other seasonal observances should be reduced. Readers should see this as a proposal rooted in its era, not advice to be applied by every family today.
Where should one begin exploring Vietnam's festivals and Tết?
If you are just starting, you can follow the chronological order of the year: Tết Nguyên Đán and the early-year rites, the full moon of the first lunar month, Tết Hàn Thực, Tết Thanh Minh, Tết Đoan Ngọ, the full moon of the seventh lunar month, Tết Trung Thu, Tết Hạ Nguyên, then broaden out to the Tết of ethnic groups. This approach shows you the seasonal rhythm of the culture and the link between ritual and agricultural life.
Each sub-branch has its own detailed article on origins, meaning, offerings and how to practice. Grasping the overall picture first will make the detailed articles easier to read, and will help you avoid confusing occasions whose names or timing are close to one another.
Articles in the Festivals and Tết topic
- Choosing Auspicious Times and Directions for the First Outing of the Year: The Lucky Customs of Tet's First Day
- How to Arrange the Mid-Autumn Festival Offering Tray
- How to arrange the offering tray for the full moon of the first lunar month for the family: what to set out, how many trays, how to place them
- How to Arrange the Year-End Tất Niên Offering Tray: A Step-by-Step Guide
- How to Arrange the Worship Tray for Tết Đoan Ngọ (5th day of 5th lunar month)
- How to Prepare the New Year's Eve Offering Tray (Tet) According to Customs
- How to Worship and Visit Ancestral Graves During Thanh Minh (Qingming) Festival
- How to prepare the offerings and conduct the rite for ông Công ông Táo on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month according to the customs of the three regions
- Detailed guide on arranging the five-fruit tray for Tet in three regions
- Ramưwan Festival (Month of Fasting and Contemplation) of the Cham Bàni Community: A Cultural Beauty Toward the Roots
- The Unique Early Tet Custom of the Si La People
- Traditional Tet customs of the Dao Quần Chẹt people in Phú Thọ
- Full Moon of the First Lunar Month - Tết Nguyên Tiêu: Why It Is Considered the Most Significant Full Moon of the Year and What to Prepare for the Offering Tray
- The 15th Day of the Tenth Lunar Month - Tết Hạ Nguyên: The Rice Harvest Thanksgiving Festival Few Still Remember
- Vesak: Origins, Meaning, and the Buddha Bathing Ritual
- Chôl Chnăm Thmây: Three Days of the Khmer Traditional New Year
- Tet Doi: The Festival of Inviting the Rice Goddesses Back to the Village of the Muong People in Phú Thọ
- New Year's Day in Vietnam: its origins and why it became an official public holiday
- Cold Food Festival on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month: Why Vietnamese people offer bánh trôi, bánh chay despite not abstaining from fire like the original legend
- Lantern Festival of the Chinese Community in Chợ Lớn and the Belief in Thiên Hậu
- Thanh Minh Festival and the Distinctive Grave-Visiting Custom of the Vietnamese
- Xíp Xí Festival - the Children's Tet of the White Thai People
- New Rice Festival (Khụ Sự Chà): The Hà Nhì People's Thanksgiving to Ancestors
- New Rice Festival - A Unique Cultural Trait of the Cao Lan People
- Tet Nhay (Pút Tồng) - The Bàn Vương Worship Ritual of the Red Dao People
- The "An Than" Ritual: Year-End Thanksgiving to Spirits of the Giẻ Triêng People
- Calligraphy for the New Year at the Temple of Literature: the beautiful cultural tradition of the calligrapher during Tet
