TL;DR: Tết Nguyên Đán is the biggest festival of the year for Vietnamese people, tied to many customs such as worshiping ông Công ông Táo (on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month), the year-end offering and giao thừa, xông đất, New Year greetings, and mừng tuổi; on trừ tịch night in the past there were also customs of visiting pagodas, đình and đền, choosing a favorable direction for xuất hành, hái lộc, setting off firecrackers, and Tết usually concludes with the lễ hóa vàng and lễ khai hạ (hạ nêu) on the seventh day of the first lunar month.
Phong Tục Tết Nguyên Đán Của Người Việt: Ý Nghĩa Từng Nghi Lễ
What is Tết Nguyên Đán?
Tết Nguyên Đán (commonly shortened to Tết) is the largest traditional festival of the Vietnamese people, marking the moment of transition between the old year and the new year according to the lunar calendar. "Tết" derives from "Tiết" (season or point in time), and "Nguyên Đán" means the first morning. Tết usually lasts from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to the end of the 7th day of the first lunar month, with many distinctive rites and customs.
A summary table of the rites and customs of Tết Nguyên Đán among the Vietnamese, by timing and meaning.
| Rite or custom | Timing | Main meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Cúng ông Công, ông Táo (offering to the Kitchen Gods) | 23rd of the twelfth lunar month | Sending the Táo Quân (Kitchen Gods) back to heaven to report on household affairs to the Jade Emperor |
| Cúng Tất Niên (year-end offering) | Afternoon of the 30th of Tết | Summing up the old year, inviting ancestors to celebrate Tết with their descendants |
| Cúng Giao Thừa (New Year's Eve offering) | Hour of the Rat, 11pm-1am | Sending off the old year's presiding deity, welcoming the new year's presiding deity |
| Xông đất (the first visitor of the lunar new year) | After the moment of transition | A person of compatible age and destiny, cheerful and prosperous in business, brings luck for the whole year |
| Chúc Tết and mừng tuổi (New Year greetings and lucky money) | The first days of the year | Wishing luck and health at the start of the year, without emphasis on material value |
| Tết taboos | During Tết | Avoid sweeping the house, quarrelling, saying unlucky things, giving away fire or water, wearing all white or all black |
What is Cúng ông Công, ông Táo (23rd of the twelfth lunar month)?
According to folk belief, the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month each year is the day when the Táo Quân (three kitchen deities) ride carp up to heaven to report on household affairs to the Jade Emperor. Families usually hold an offering to send off ông Công ông Táo, release carp, and clean the altar and the house to prepare for the new year.
What do Cúng Tất Niên and Giao Thừa mean?
Cúng Tất Niên (usually on the afternoon of the 30th of Tết) is the offering that sums up the old year, inviting ancestors to celebrate Tết with their descendants. Cúng Giao Thừa is performed at the exact moment of transition between the old year and the new year (the hour of the Rat, 11pm-1am), and includes an outdoor offering tray (sending off the old year's presiding deity and welcoming the new year's presiding deity) and an indoor offering tray.
According to Toan Ánh (2001), once the ancestral offering has been made on the afternoon of the 30th of Tết, at the moment of giao thừa people usually do not make an ancestral offering again. Also according to Toan Ánh (2001), after the ancestral offering on the afternoon of the 30th of Tết, the household still makes ancestral offerings on the morning of the first day and on the second day, twice a day, until the votive paper is burned. This is how many northern families arrange the rounds of incense during Tết; it may vary with each household's practice.
What is Xông đất (Xông nhà)?
The first person to step into the house after the moment of giao thừa is called the person who "xông đất" (the first visitor of the lunar new year). In folk belief, a first visitor whose age and destiny are compatible with the household head, who is cheerful and prosperous in business, will bring luck for the whole year. Many families actively ask a person of compatible age to come and be the first visitor at the start of the year.
Toan Ánh (2001) records that when a household has no one to serve as its own first visitor, people select someone to xông nhà, usually choosing a quick-witted man believed to have good vía (fortune), who comes on the morning of the first day. The visitor usually sets off firecrackers in celebration and wishes the household luck throughout the year, and the household wishes him well in return and thanks him. Choosing a person by age or by vía is folk belief, not a verified fact.
What do Chúc Tết and mừng tuổi (lì xì) mean?
In the first days of the year, children and grandchildren usually come to wish Tết to grandparents, parents and relatives; adults give mừng tuổi to young children (and to the elderly) with money placed in red envelopes (lì xì), symbolising wishes for luck and health at the start of the year rather than emphasis on material value.
What do the Tết taboos include?
Vietnamese people observe many taboos during Tết, such as: avoiding sweeping the house (for fear of sweeping away fortune), avoiding quarrelling or saying unlucky things, avoiding giving away fire or water at the start of the year, and avoiding wearing all white or all black (usually associated with mourning). These are regional folk beliefs, not mandatory rules.
What customs did New Year's Eve and the first days of the year have in the past?
On the night of trừ tịch (New Year's Eve) in the past, according to Toan Ánh (2001), people went to pay respects at pagodas, communal houses, temples and shrines; chose a direction for xuất hành (the first outing of the year); picked lộc (a lucky branch); performed xông nhà; and set off firecrackers. These are customs tied to beliefs about the start of the year, not obligations.
On the custom of hái lộc (picking a lucky branch), Toan Ánh (2001) records that after paying respects at communal houses, pagodas, shrines and temples, people broke off a branch to bring home, called a cành lộc, meaning to take the lộc granted by Heaven, Earth, the Buddha and the sages, and then placed it before the altar until the branch withered. The cành lộc symbolises good things and luck throughout the year. In the same book, the author criticises the fact that many people going to pay respects on the night of trừ tịch brought knives and axes to cut trees within the grounds of communal houses, temples, shrines and pagodas, holding that doing so turns a fine custom into harm to places of worship. That is the author's observation about a real situation, not an endorsement of the practice of cutting branches.
Also according to Toan Ánh (2001), many people do not set out on New Year's Eve but choose a good day and a good hour in the first days of the year, going in the direction indicated in the new year almanacs, in the belief that they will have a lucky year. People in business who must travel all year round often choose a day and hour for xuất hành, leaving their own village or commune, at least leaving their own hamlet, and choose a favourable direction; setting out in one good direction and returning by another. Avoiding xuất hành against the favourable direction for fear of meeting misfortune during the year is folk belief, not something that has been proven.
When does Tết end: hóa vàng and khai hạ?
Tết Nguyên Đán usually concludes with the lễ hóa vàng (rite of burning votive paper) and the lễ khai hạ (hạ nêu, taking down the nêu pole), but the specific timing is not fixed and depends on each household and each region.
Phan Kế Bính (1915, already in the references) records the custom of hóa vàng on the fourth day; if that day is unlucky or clashes with the household head's age, it is moved, and some households keep it until the seventh day. So one should not assert that there is only a single day of hóa vàng for every family. Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001) also notes that many households extend the household worship to the lễ Khai hạ, and that after hóa vàng the Tết offerings in the families are considered temporarily settled.
On the lễ khai hạ, Phan Kế Bính (1915) records that on the seventh day of the first lunar month the nêu pole is taken down, which is called khai hạ. Toan Ánh (2001) records that the nêu pole was planted during the year, and when preparing to welcome Tết it was erected together with a bow and arrow drawn in white lime before the house door to ward off evil spirits, and that after the lễ hạ nêu all regular work begins, though in rural areas people still continue to enjoy themselves because the first lunar month is a month of merrymaking and the farm work has eased. Erecting the nêu pole and drawing a bow and arrow to ward off evil spirits is folk belief, not a truth about evil spirits.
According to Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001), the book Chiêm tuế sự thư records that in the first month of the year, the first day corresponds to the chicken, the second day to the dog, the third day to the pig, the fourth day to the goat, the fifth day to the buffalo, the sixth day to the horse, the seventh day to humans, and the eighth day is the day of rice. According to the author, this is a way of divining at the start of the first lunar month: for each kind, if the corresponding day is clear and dry then that kind will do well all year; on the seventh day in particular, bright weather with no rain or wind leads people to believe that humans will be healthy all year, so they hold a feast to celebrate, and afterwards even if it rains, on the seventh day they still hold a feast. A savoury feast with all the dishes is the offering presented; children and grandchildren gather in full because this is the final Tết meal. The explanation of eight days corresponding to eight kinds is a way of divining the weather at the start of the year recorded as a belief, not a rule.
