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Culture and belief
StartVietnamese festival calendar
Holidays and festivals all year, where they happen, with maps.
Banh Chung and Banh Tet: Origins and Cultural Significance of Tet
Banh Chung and Banh Tet trace back to the Lang Liêu legend of the Hung King era, symbolizing heaven, earth and prosperity.
Lồng Tồng Festival of the Tay People: The First Plowing Ceremony and Cultural Values
Lồng Tồng, the Tay people's first plowing festival of spring, features rites to the Agriculture God and folk games wishing for a good year.
Li xi: where the word comes from, what the red envelope means, and why the amount is not the point
Li xi is the Vietnamese New Year custom of giving lucky money in red envelopes. This article explains the origin of the term and its true meaning.
Calligraphy for the New Year at the Temple of Literature: the beautiful cultural tradition of the calligrapher during Tet
Asking for calligraphy at the Temple of Literature is a beautiful Vietnamese Tet custom, showing respect for knowledge and sending new year wishes.
Christmas in Vietnam: the Christmas Eve vigil on December 24 and the main Mass on December 25, the nativity grotto, the Christmas tree, and why Noel has become a shared occasion for non-Catholics too
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.
Why Does Vietnamese Tet Sometimes Differ from Chinese New Year by a Day or Even a Whole Month?
Vietnamese and Chinese Tet differ because the new moon is calculated in different time zones and leap months follow different rules.
Does the year-end offering include burning votive paper, and should it be indoors or outdoors?
Many families burn a little votive paper after the year-end offering; the hóa vàng send-off comes on Tet days 3 to 7. The tray can go indoors or outdoors.
Tet in Hue: How Do Hue Locals Prepare for and Celebrate Tet?
Tết in Huế runs from the twelfth lunar month to the seventh of the first: the Thướng tiêu rite, đạp đất, vegetarian offerings and many cakes and preserves.
The Origin and Meaning Behind the Name "Tết Nguyên Đán"
The name "Tết Nguyên Đán" comes from "Tiết," a marker in the agricultural calendar, and "Nguyên Đán," meaning the first morning of the new year.
Which ethnic groups in Vietnam celebrate their own New Year separately from Tết Nguyên Đán?
Which peoples in Vietnam keep their own New Year apart from Tết Nguyên Đán? The Mông, Hà Nhì, Khmer, Chăm and others, as reported in the press.
What does 'First day Tet for father, second day Tet for mother, third day Tet for teacher' mean?
The Vietnamese saying about the first three days of Tet: day one for the father's side, day two for the mother's side, day three for one's teachers.
Southern Bánh Tét: a Tet offering wrapping up the wish for family reunion
Southern bánh tét is a signature Tet offering that symbolizes prosperity and family reunion. See its origins, meaning and traditional wrapping methods.
Saigon Tet: flower markets, flower street and the Tet customs of Saigon people
Tết in Sài Gòn: the Nguyễn Huệ flower market from 1960 and flower street from 2004, the flower boats of Bình Đông wharf, and how families keep Tết.
How Does Lunar New Year for the Ethnic Chinese in Chợ Lớn Differ from Vietnamese Tet?
How Lunar New Year among the Hoa of Chợ Lớn differs from Vietnamese Tết: Kitchen God send-off, offerings, bánh tổ, assembly halls, visiting order.
Tet during the subsidy period: ration coupons, Tet food bags, and the queues for candied fruit
What was Tet like in Vietnam's subsidy era? Ration coupons, the Tet food bag, pre-dawn queues and shared bánh chưng pots, as remembered in the press.
Tet Markets of Three Regions: What the Year-End Market Sells and Why People Go to the Tet Market?
Tết markets in the North, Centre and South: what the year-end markets sell and why people go, from old accounts and present-day reports.
Tet cakes of Vietnam's three regions: banh chung, banh tet, and cakes found in only one region
Tet cakes differ across Vietnam's three regions: the North has banh chung and banh phu the, the Center has banh to and banh in, the South has banh tet.
Xíp Xí Festival - the Children's Tet of the White Thai People
The Xíp Xí Tet of the White Thai people in Vietnam's Northwest is a festival for children, with rituals to worship spirits and ward off disease.
Traditional Tet customs of the Dao Quần Chẹt people in Phú Thọ
Tet customs of the Dao Quần Chẹt people in Phú Thọ include making chung and day cakes, ancestor worship, and community rituals that mark the new year.
Tết Rites in Southern Vietnam: Welcoming the Ancestors, the Giao Thừa Offering, Tết Nhà on the Third and the Farewell
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.
How to Prepare the New Year's Eve Offering Tray (Tet) According to Customs
A guide to preparing New Year's Eve offerings, arranging the outdoor and indoor trays by Vietnamese custom, with safety notes and regional differences.
Where Do Tet Couplets Come From and Where Did People Hang Them?
Where Tet couplets come from, where Vietnamese families pasted them (door, pillars, ancestor altar), and the basic rules of parallelism for writing one.
Đào Nhật Tân and Hanoi's Tet Flower Market: What Makes Them Special? Peach Varieties, Growing Craft, and the Tet Peach Tradition
Đào Nhật Tân is prized for its thick-petaled đào bích and đào phai. Learn the varieties, Nhật Tân growing craft, and Hanoi's Tet peach tradition.
Hue Tet Feast: Echoes of Royal Cuisine in the Lunar New Year Meal
The Hue Tet feast blends royal essence with folk culture, shaped by a philosophy of frugality, elegance, harmony and transformation.
What Festivals and Tet Occasions Are There in Vietnam Throughout the Year?
Vietnam's year of festivals and Tet occasions, from Lunar New Year and the first full moon to Mid-Autumn, plus ethnic Tet traditions.
Traditional Tet Taboos and Customs for Good Luck
Explore traditional Vietnamese Tet taboos: avoiding sweeping, giving fire, breaking things... and the spiritual meanings behind these customs.
How Does Tet Jam Differ Across the Three Regions of Vietnam?
Tết preserves across Vietnam: lotus-seed and kumquat mứt in Hà Nội, Kim Long ginger mứt in Huế, bánh tổ in Quảng, coconut mứt in the South.
What Northern Vietnamese Tet Celebrations Include: Offering Trays, Peach Blossoms and Three Days of Family Reunion
Tết in northern Vietnam: the feast tray, Nhật Tân peach blossom, the Hàng Lược flower market and three days of family reunion, with origins and meaning.
The Unique Early Tet Custom of the Si La People
The Si La people in Lai Châu celebrate Tet early, timing it to the harvest and peach blossoms, with black pig rituals and double chung cakes.
How Have Hanoians Celebrated Tet from the Early 20th Century to Today?
How did Hanoians celebrate Tết from the early 20th century to today? From Hàng Lược flower market and offering trays to ration coupons and the market now.
Comparing Tet Feast Trays Across Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam
Tet feast trays in Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam differ in ingredients and meaning, from banh chung in the North to banh tet in the South.
Meanings of Each Fruit in the Five-Fruit Tray for Tet
The five-fruit tray for Tet carries wishes through bananas, pomelos, papayas and mangoes, with regional differences between North and South Vietnam.
Tet flowers and plants: peach blossom, apricot blossom, kumquat and what each means
Tết flowers and plants: peach, apricot blossom, kumquat, chrysanthemum, marigold and gerbera. Where each comes from, how to choose it and what it means.
How Do Lion, Unicorn and Dragon Dances Differ Between Tet and Grand Openings?
How lân dance at Tet differs from a grand opening: timing, the hanging prize and formation-breaking, plus Ông Địa and the old troupes of Chợ Lớn.
Rằm Tháng Giêng (Tết Nguyên Tiêu): The First Full Moon and Temple-Going Traditions
Rằm Tháng Giêng, the lunar year's first full moon, brings temple visits and star-releasing rites, with the saying "a year of offerings cannot match this one.
Detailed guide on arranging the five-fruit tray for Tet in three regions
A practical guide to choosing and arranging the five-fruit tray for Tet in the North, Central and South, with meanings and step-by-step instructions.
Why Southerners Avoid Bananas on Tet: The Mekong Delta's Five-Fruit Tray
In the Mekong Delta, bananas are avoided on Tet because 'chuoi' sounds like 'chui', or to plunge. The five-fruit tray instead follows 'Cầu Vừa Đủ Xài'.
Tet Nhay (Pút Tồng) - The Bàn Vương Worship Ritual of the Red Dao People
Tet Nhay (Pút Tồng) is the key Bàn Vương worship ritual of the Red Dao in Lào Cai, tied to migration legends and performed in 11 steps with dances and music.
How to Arrange the Worship Tray for Tết Đoan Ngọ (5th day of 5th lunar month)
Tết Đoan Ngọ worship tray guide: offerings like fermented rice and tro cakes, step-by-step arrangement following regional customs, plus safety notes.
Tet Flower Villages of Sa Đéc, Cái Mơn, Mỹ Tho and An Nhơn: What They Grow and How They Prepare
What the Tet flower villages of Sa Đéc, Cái Mơn, Mỹ Tho and An Nhơn grow, when apricot leaves are stripped, and why Sa Đéc grows on racks.
Tet Doi: The Festival of Inviting the Rice Goddesses Back to the Village of the Muong People in Phú Thọ
Tet Doi is a festival of the Muong people in Thu Cúc commune, Phú Thọ, to invite the 'rice maidens' back to the village.
Erecting the Tet Neu Pole and Lowering It on the Seventh Day: Origins, Meaning, and Practice
The Neu pole is raised on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and lowered on the 7th of the first month, closing Tet. Its origins, meaning.
How Do Families in Vietnam's Three Regions Hold the Year-End Ancestor-Welcoming Ceremony on the 30th of Tet?
The rite on the afternoon of the 30th of Tet invites ancestors home for the New Year. North, Central and South differ mainly in the feast and the fruit tray.
The 15th Day of the Tenth Lunar Month - Tết Hạ Nguyên: The Rice Harvest Thanksgiving Festival Few Still Remember
Tết Hạ Nguyên on the 15th day of the tenth lunar month is one of Vietnam's four major traditional festivals, a time to thank heaven and earth.
Tết Đoan Ngọ: The 5th Day of the 5th Lunar Month "Killing Summer Bugs" Festival
Tết Đoan Ngọ falls at noon on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, when folk belief says yang energy peaks. The bug-killing custom and ancestor worship.
Why We Avoid the Belongings of the Dead and Seek New Year's Luck: Contagious Magic in the Modern Mind
Contagious magic rests on two laws: contact transfers properties, and similarity means shared essence. Rozin's 1986 experiments show they still shape us.
First-Footer & New Year Card 2027
Who should first-foot your home this Tết, plus a New Year card.
Vietnamese festivals, seasonal feasts and public holidays
Vietnamese folk festivals, seasonal feasts and public holidays, each with its fixed lunar or solar date.
Types of Vietnamese offering rites
155 types of Vietnamese offering rites in 15 groups, from ancestor and death-anniversary rites, Tết and the festivals of the year to funerals, communal houses and temples, and the rites of ethnic communities; each with alternative names, timing, recipients, a short description, classification axes (cycle, social setting, beings worshipped, tradition, ethnic group, cultural region), a structured date and sourced passages on its customs. It is the key table for Nhật Nguyệt's datasets on offering prayers and rite customs.