TL;DR: Xông đất (also called đạp đất or xông nhà) is the custom of choosing the first person to enter a home after the Lunar New Year transition, in the belief that this person brings a quality of energy for the household's year. Older books describe the criteria with heavy emphasis on vía and temperament: Toan Ánh (2001) records that the chosen person was a man with good vía, quick and easygoing; Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001) records that people once believed a cheerful, well-mannered first visitor meant a smooth year, while today many families seek someone whose age harmonizes with the household head or whose age is favorable for the year, or they do the xông đất themselves. Today the custom is being simplified into self xông đất, choosing a close person, or xông đất via text message, phone call, or social media.
First-footing at the start of the year: its origins, how older generations of Vietnamese chose the first visitor, and how the custom is changing
What is xông đất (the first visitor of the lunar new year) and why do Vietnamese people value it?
Xông đất, also called đạp đất, is the custom of choosing the first person to step into the house after the moment of giao thừa (the New Year's Eve transition) or early on the morning of the first day of Tết. Older generations of Vietnamese believed that this person carries the fortune of the whole year for the household, so choosing who it should be was considered very carefully. The core belief is simple: a good beginning makes the road ahead smooth.
According to cultural scholar Dr. Trần Long (lecturer in the Faculty of Cultural Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City), xông đất at the start of the year is a long-standing custom of our ancestors. Older generations of Vietnamese believed that xông đất influences the household's fate throughout the year, so caution in choosing the person is easy to understand.
In its spiritual depth, xông đất is seen as the first encounter between people, space and the new time. The moment of giao thừa is regarded as a turning point in time, and the person who crosses the threshold after that turning point is not merely a guest, but the one who carries the fortune of the whole year.
According to Toan Ánh (2001), this custom is also called xông nhà. His book records that after the giao thừa offering at home, many families would send one person to visit the communal house and pagoda before the trừ tịch hour, and when that person returned it was already the new year, so that same person would perform xông nhà for their own family, bringing good things home for the whole year. This way the family did not need to ask another person with good fortune to come and perform xông đất. Only if there was no family member with good fortune did people ask a close acquaintance with good fortune to come early on the first day, before guests arrived to wish a happy new year.
What criteria did older generations of Vietnamese use to choose the first visitor?
The ideal first visitor usually had several qualities: compatible age and destiny with the household and with the new year, avoiding clashing ages and unlucky ages according to old beliefs; a gentle, cheerful temperament and an ease at saying good things; a settled family life, not in mourning, not facing any great sorrow; a smooth life, prosperous business, good studies, a harmonious family; and being bright, healthy and quick of step, a symbol of vitality.
As Tết approached, people would look among relatives, neighbours or their list of friends for someone kind, whose life was going smoothly and who was especially compatible in age, to ask them to perform xông đất. This is a communal way of choosing, based on practical knowledge of the person rather than on the year of birth alone.
Researcher Nguyễn Vinh Phúc once distinguished two ways of choosing a person of good fortune for xông đất on the first day of the year. Officials and educated people chose a first visitor whose age was compatible with their own, and the first visitor had to be a man who was the pillar of his family. For working people it was simpler: the person chosen for xông đất had to be healthy, good-natured, and from a comfortably-off, harmonious household, and that was enough.
| Criterion | Group of officials and intellectuals | Group of ordinary working people |
|---|---|---|
| Deciding factor | Age compatibility with the household | Healthy, good-natured, comfortably-off household |
| Gender of the first visitor | A man who is the pillar of his family | Not as strict as the group above |
| How it was determined | Reading ages and the sexagenary cycle | Observing temperament and way of life |
The layer of books describing the custom also records another criterion, weighted more towards fortune and temperament than towards age. Toan Ánh (2001) records that when no one in the house could perform xông themselves, people would pick a man of good fortune, quick and easy-going, to come and perform xông nhà on the morning of the first day, so that he would bring good influence to the household for the whole year. Also according to Toan Ánh (2001), the person coming to perform xông nhà set off a firecracker to congratulate the household and wish them good luck for the whole year; the household wished the visitor well in return and thanked them for bringing good luck to the home.
Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001) records this custom across two periods. He writes that "in the past people believed that if on the first day of the year they were the first to welcome a cheerful, easy-going, good-natured person into the house, everything would go smoothly for the household all year; that is why many people had to choose a first visitor for themselves" (Bùi Xuân Mỹ, 2001). In other words, the standard placed first in that era was the temperament and fortune of the first guest, not a reading of ages. At present, quite a few families choose to invite someone whose age is in harmony with the household, or who carries an auspicious age for that year, to perform xông nhà; besides that, some families let the household head perform xông đất themselves, to avoid worries about trouble or mishaps that might arise from letting an outsider perform xông nhà (Bùi Xuân Mỹ, 2001).. That is, later on the age factor took precedence, and performing xông đất oneself became a way of sidestepping possible trouble. So the age-compatibility criterion is the layer the books record for today; the older layer the books describe leans towards fortune and temperament. Readers should distinguish the two layers rather than merging them into one.
How did traditional xông đất take place, in terms of timing and manner?
The best time for xông đất is right after giao thừa or early on the morning of the first day of Tết. Usually the person asked to perform xông đất dresses neatly and properly, and brings a small gift or a red envelope of lì xì to give the household.
The xông đất gift need not be valuable or large, and is symbolic, such as a bottle of Tết wine or a packet of good tea. Xông đất can come with a gift of money, mainly for small children. Afterwards the host happily wishes the first visitor well in return and treats them to a few dishes or drinks.
According to Bùi Xuân Mỹ (2001), the wishes of the first visitor in the past were usually chosen to suit the household: a house with elderly parents was wished increased blessing and longevity, a farming house was wished a bountiful harvest, a house in trade or a craft was wished abundant luck, a merchant house was wished good business and great profit, and someone working for the state was wished promotion and advancement. These are familiar wishes recorded in books, not a mandatory formula for every home.
In addition, the person coming to perform xông đất also usually says fine and well-meaning words to congratulate the household on a prosperous new year and on everything going as wished. In particular, people in mourning, or families in turmoil or with a sorrow, do not go to another person's house to perform xông đất during Tết.
Some families keep the door tightly shut until the first day's morning, waiting for exactly the person they asked to perform xông đất to arrive before opening the door, to avoid troublesome things in the year. Because of that belief, on the morning of the first day of Tết people often refrain from paying early new year visits and spend the time going to the pagoda, for fear that performing xông đất might bring bad luck to the household and they would be blamed. Adults often teach children to stay at home on the first day's morning or to play out on the street rather than going into anyone's house to play, lest they affect that family's luck.
Why does the xông đất custom survive even when viewed through a scientific lens?
If you strip away the spiritual shell, choosing a first visitor actually rests on three very worldly psychological mechanisms. The first is the primacy effect, where first experiences can shape emotions and attitudes for a whole stretch of time that follows. The second is emotional contagion, where one positive person helps the whole family take on a good frame of mind. The third is positive self-suggestion, where believing in good luck makes people act with more confidence.
A warm first morning of the year, laughter ringing through the house, and kind wishes are enough for the brain to remember that year as a year worth living. Belief, in the end, is also a kind of real energy, working quietly but persistently on human behaviour. That is why the first visitor need not be perfect, only bring a sense of reassurance and hope.
How did xông đất differ in the memory of old Hà Nội and old Sài Gòn?
In old Hà Nội, xông đất was never a noisy affair. It was a soft footstep, entering the new year as if afraid to disturb the heavens and earth just waking up. On the first day's morning, the streets were still drowsy, a thin mist clung to dark brown roof tiles, and the scent of agarwood drifted through wooden doors already darkened by time. The person chosen for xông đất usually came very early, their clothes still carrying the winter night's chill, their voice low and gentle, bringing a few wishes warm enough for a whole long year.
Children pressed behind a half-opened door, watching the first adult of the year step into the house. No one spoke loudly, no one hurried. A cup of hot tea was poured, a few old stories were retold as if to make time pass more slowly. Xông đất then was not merely a custom, but the way Hà Nội people kept a slow rhythm of life and a quiet faith in good things.
In the evacuation years, amid hardship and bombs, xông đất was even simpler: a neighbour dropped by, bringing a sweet potato, a pot of tea, a few words wishing peace. There was no lavish tray, only the fragile but warm belief that the new year had come and we still had each other.
In Sài Gòn and in Ho Chi Minh City today, where the new year arrives in dazzling lights, with ceaseless traffic and a pace of life that waits for no one, xông đất has become lighter, quicker, sometimes just a handshake, a brief visit, a phone call, a quick knock at the door, or even no one left to perform it at all. Many families perform xông đất for themselves by stepping out into the street at the start of the year, finding an early coffee, a slower breath amid the fast city.
Xông đất services: where there is demand there is supply, but what is worth discussing?
Worries and misgivings about clashing ages and incompatibility make many people afraid to go and perform xông đất, and many families search in vain for someone to perform xông đất for their home. Today, xông đất services have appeared because where there is demand there is supply, yet looked at comprehensively there are many issues worth discussing.
In terms of calculating the combination of yin and yang, the five elements, the sexagenary cycle, the three harmonies and the four clashing directions, it is almost impossible to choose anyone whose age is ideal for xông đất. That person may be compatible in age with the household, yet this Tết may be a clashing year or an unlucky month for them personally, or they may not know whether there is anything to avoid this year, for example a family recently in mourning, difficulties of their own, or, in folk terms, being heavy in fortune.
In practical terms, even if a relatively compatible person is found, that person is a stranger, someone providing a service, someone with only one parameter, a compatible year of birth, while other personal information such as temperament, life history and individual qualities is entirely unknown to the household. Inviting such a stranger into one's home at the important moment at the start of the year almost goes against the xông đất custom and the taboos of traditional Vietnamese culture.
This should also be distinguished from the Santa Claus gift service. That is a service that has arisen recently through integration with Western culture, as a bit of fun for children at Christmas, and the essential meaning of Santa's gift-giving is different from xông đất. People do not blame Santa Claus if a child has a poor year at school or falls ill, but people very much hope that they and their family will meet good luck through a good first visitor at the start of the year.
There are also tragicomic stories around xông đất and mở hàng (the first customer of the year), such as a stray cat, or a neighbourhood boy who happens to run over to play, being counted as xông đất or as mở hàng, leaving the household anxious or deeply disappointed. Not to mention that an identity card may not show the first visitor's true age, for historical reasons, lost original papers, late birth registration, or ages counted by the solar calendar differing from the lunar one. On the other hand, traffic jams and travel problems making the first visitor late are very likely at giao thừa, and no amount of compensation money can lessen the household's inner worry about a whole unlucky year.
What forms is the xông đất custom turning into today?
Today, many families have simplified the custom in a few directions. The household performs xông đất itself by stepping out of the house and back in after giao thừa. They choose the dearest person, perhaps children or grandchildren, or close friends. They perform xông đất with wishes by phone call, message or video call at the start of the year. Or they perform xông đất with themselves: waking early and doing the first good deed of the year.
A new form has also appeared: xông đất online. The first message, the first video call, the first status update after giao thừa. People choose fine wishes, avoid arguments, avoid bad news, hoping that the early-year energy in digital space will spread just like the footsteps of former days on old brick floors.
Every family can absolutely create its own Tết rituals, including xông đất, suited to its circumstances, health, habits and preferences, and without causing any impact or having to rely on or depend on anyone else. Researcher Nguyễn Phúc Giác Hải once said: if you want to choose a good first visitor for yourself, that person should be someone you feel delighted to welcome, whatever their age.
How should the xông đất custom be understood properly?
The form may fade one day, but the spirit of xông đất has never been lost. The core does not lie in age or destiny, but in the life energy the first visitor brings: a smile, a wish, a light footstep opening the new year. That is how the Vietnamese of old held a dialogue with the invisible, asking for a peaceful beginning for the family and for themselves.
This article presents the xông đất custom according to the folk conventions common in the North and in the large cities, where the reading of ages and the choosing of the person are most recorded in cultural materials. Other regions may have variations in timing, in the gender of the first visitor, or in how strictly ages are observed. From a scientific perspective, this is a symbolic and psychological custom, not a tool for predicting fate. Readers should see it as a beautiful piece of culture to preserve, and not turn it into pressure or a basis for judging the year's luck.
Perhaps the most important thing about xông đất is not who steps in first, but the frame of mind with which we enter the new year. If the heart is still kind, the words still warm, and the faith still there, then whether the door opens on an old wooden latch or on a WiFi signal, the new year can still begin with a peaceful step.
