Vietnam's 'tam linh' shifted from 20th-century dictionary meanings, and researchers now define 'spiritual tourism' through the post-Doi Moi religious market.
Outdoor and indoor New Year's Eve offerings differ in who is invited, where the rite is held and the prayer text. Each region has its own symbolic dishes.
Tet rites in southern Vietnam: welcoming the ancestors on the 30th, giao thừa offerings outdoors and indoors, Tết nhà on the third, farewell on the fourth.
What goes on a southern Vietnamese giỗ tray and how a Mekong Delta death anniversary is held: the dishes, the two days, and the portions guests take home.
Cau Ngu festival at Cửa Đại lets fishermen honor the Nam Hải whale god and pray for good weather and a bountiful season, with rituals and folk performances.
Updated 13 Sept 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Vietnamese commemorative days
Buddhist meditation covers both meditative concentration and the Zen school, arriving in Vietnam from the early Common Era and thriving under the Lý and Trần.
Southern and northern Tết Eve worship differ in the outdoor Heaven altar, the indoor tray and offerings, with origins, meaning and how to prepare each.
The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path are the foundation of Buddhism, analyzed through Pali scriptures, philosophy, and levels of practice.
The grave-opening ceremony about three days after burial in southern Vietnam: the offerings, the folk meaning of chick, ladder and sugarcane, a Buddhist view.
How is a death anniversary kept in Central Vietnam? The tiên thường and chính kỵ rites, the joint 7th-month giỗ in Quảng Nam, and Hue dishes on the tray.
Kathina, the Khmer Theravada robe offering after the three-month rain retreat, runs from the 16th of the ninth lunar month to the full moon of the tenth.
In Việt Nam phong tục, tế ngu counts from burial: sơ ngu on the burial day, tam ngu on the third. The 49th, 100th day and first anniversary count from death.
A guide to preparing New Year's Eve offerings, arranging the outdoor and indoor trays by Vietnamese custom, with safety notes and regional differences.
Nhật Quang and Nguyệt Quang Bodhisattvas are the two attendants flanking Medicine Buddha, symbolizing the light of the Sun and Moon shining on all beings.
Christmas in Vietnam centers on the December 24 vigil and the December 25 main Mass, with the nativity grotto and tree, now shared by non-Catholics too.
Explore the journey from the Cham goddess Po Inư Nagar to Thien Y A Na in Vietnamese belief, through the lens of the Po Nagar Tower festival in Nha Trang.