Skip to content

Year-end nêu pole raising ceremony

Also called: Thướng tiêu, Thượng tiêu, Thượng nêu, Lên nêu, Trồng nêu

  • Lunar New Year (Tết)

Culture and belief A record of custom.

By custom, a bamboo nêu pole is raised in front of the house yard and pagoda yard in the last days of the year to announce the coming of Tết and to keep the house peaceful while Ông Công and Ông Táo (the Earth God and the Kitchen Gods) return to heaven. In Huế, the Thượng Tiêu ceremony of the Nguyễn dynasty is reenacted in the Đại Nội; the Mường people raise a large nêu pole at the main door and small nêu poles at the other doors and livestock pens.

At a glance

When it is held
Kinh people: the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month; Mường people: from the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month; Tày and Nùng people: the afternoon of the 30th of the twelfth lunar month; nêu pole taken down on the 7th of the first lunar month
For whom
Heaven and Earth, deities, Thổ Công (Earth God of the house) and ancestors are worshipped before raising the nêu pole

Each family and each region may do it differently.

The offering tray

Region:

Nationwide

When
Kinh people raise the nêu pole on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, after the ceremony to see off Ông Táo; the pole is taken down on the 7th of the first lunar month
Where the offerings are set
In front of the house yard; at the communal place of the village, mainly at the village pagoda
Who makes the offering
The family; the pagoda
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Incense, lamps, candles
Incense, flowers, wine, betel leaves and areca nuts, cakes and sweetsVegetarianOffering tray when raising the nêu pole, according to some guides
Objects
Objects hung on the nêu pole: paper talismans, flags or five-colour cloth strips, a khánh (sonorous stone) or wind chimes, a bag of rice and salt, a paper carp figureVaries by place

North

Red River Delta, Folk practice

When
The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month
Where the offerings are set
House yards and village pagodas in the Bắc Bộ delta region
OfferingNotes
Objects
Powdered limeSprinkled on the yard in the shape of a bow and arrow; some households draw a crossbow or a chessboard
A ceramic khánh (sonorous stone) and a bundle of votive paper hung on the top of the nêu poleAt the pagoda there is also a phướn (vertical banner); the nêu pole of households does not have a phướn

Northwest, Mường, Hòa Bình, Folk practice

When
From the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month onward, each household chooses a day and hour to fetch the tree and raise it
Where the offerings are set
A large nêu pole at the main gate; small nêu poles at the entrances, at the livestock pens, and where farming tools are kept
Who makes the offering
The Mường family
OfferingVegetarian or notNotes
Meat and savoury dishes
A tray of boiled pork; the pig has however many parts, and the tray must have a piece for eachMeat or fishRequired. A tray of offerings to sacrifice to heaven and earth
Other
Rice and soup
Vegetarian dishes
A tray of vegetarian offeringsVegetarian
Objects
Quả còn in many shapes and patterns, hung on the nêu pole

Northeast, Tày, Nùng, Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang, Cao Bằng, Folk practice

When
Afternoon of the 30th of the twelfth lunar month

Central

Huế, Đại Nội Huế, Nguyễn court ritual (re-enacted)

When
Morning of the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month at Thế Tổ Miếu and Triệu Tổ Miếu; from the 28th of the twelfth lunar month to the 30th of Tết at other relic sites; nêu pole taken down on the 7th of the first lunar month
Where the offerings are set
The yard of Hiển Lâm Các in front of Thế Tổ Miếu, and Triệu Tổ Miếu, in the Đại Nội
Who makes the offering
The Huế Monuments Conservation Centre reenacts the Thượng Tiêu ceremony of the Nguyễn dynasty (since 2015)
OfferingNotes
Objects
A straight bamboo nêu pole, more than 15 metres longRequired
Incense table and tray of traditional offerings
Seal, couplets, red cloth phướn (vertical banner) hung at the top of the nêu poleBy the Nguyễn court ritual; some accounts record that the top of the nêu pole hung a seal, a tally, and the four treasures of the study, symbolising the sealing of offices so that the court could rest for Tết

Steps of the rite

Used across Vietnam, Folk practice

  1. Choose a tall, straight bamboo or trúc (bamboo) pole
  2. Arrange the offering tray, pray to ancestors and deities for permission to raise the nêu pole
  3. Tie the hanging objects to the top, then raise the nêu pole in front of the yard
  4. On the 7th of the first lunar month, perform the khai hạ ceremony, worship Heaven and Earth in the yard, then take down the nêu pole (belongs to the khai-xuan category of ceremonies)

Red River Delta, Folk practice

  1. The village pagoda raises a nêu pole with a phướn (vertical banner) at the top, hangs a ceramic khánh and a bundle of votive paper, and sprinkles powdered lime in the shape of a bow and arrow
  2. Households raise the nêu pole in the yard and sprinkle powdered lime in the shape of a bow and arrow as at the pagoda

Northwest, Mường, Hòa Bình, Folk practice

  1. Choose a day and hour to go and fetch the tree
  2. First make offerings to the deities, Thổ Công, Thổ Địa and the ancestors
  3. Perform the rite of raising the nêu pole and hang the quả còn
  4. Raise additional small nêu poles at the entrances and at the pens, by the belief that all things celebrate Tết along with people

Northeast, Tày, Nùng, Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang, Cao Bằng, Folk practice

  1. The Tày and Nùng plant the nêu pole on the afternoon of the 30th of the twelfth lunar month, not on the 23rd as the Kinh do

Huế, Đại Nội Huế, Nguyễn court ritual (re-enacted)

  1. The nêu pole is carried in procession from Hiển Nhơn gate into the Imperial City to Thế Miếu gate, with guard soldiers carrying it and court ritual music
  2. An incense table and offerings are set out; the Đại nhạc ensemble and the bồi tự officiants perform the rite
  3. Dig the earth and pull the ropes to raise the nêu pole
  4. On the 7th of the first lunar month, the Hạ Tiêu rite (lowering the nêu pole) is held, the seal is opened, and calligraphy is given as a New Year gift

Where the sources differ

  • Date of raising the nêu pole at court: the present-day re-enactment is held on the morning of the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month (Báo Pháp luật Việt Nam, Báo Văn Hóa); an article in Tạp chí Luật sư Việt Nam citing the Nguyễn dynasty Châu bản says the Thượng tiêu rite was performed on the 30th day of Tết.

Communities and regions

Sources

  • Cây nêu ngày Tết trong văn hóa dân gian Việt Nam (lsvn.vn)
  • Cây nêu ngày Tết là gì? Sự tích, ý nghĩa và nghi thức dựng cây nêu (fptshop.com.vn)
  • Tái hiện Lễ dựng cây nêu của người Mường (daibieunhandan.vn)
  • Tái hiện lễ Thướng Tiêu và chuỗi hoạt động Tết Huế cùng di sản (baophapluat.vn)
  • Dựng nêu đón Tết ở khu di sản Huế (baovanhoa.vn)

Part of the open datasets Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.

More ritesDeath anniversaries, Tết, the home, business, the life cycle, village and ethnic rites.