Vietnamese have many festivals in year, of which Lunar New Year Festival (Tet Nguyen dan) is the biggest festival, besides numerous other unique festivals.  Lunar New Year Festival (Tet Nguyen dan) Tet Nguyen dan is the biggest and most sacred festival. Tet falls on a time when the old year is over and the New Year comes by lunar calendar (from the eve of the last lunar month to the 3rd day of the first lunar month). This is also the time when the cycle of the universe finishes: winter ends and spring, the season of birth of all living things, comes. Tet is an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. It is a time when Vietnamese pay respect to ancestors and grandparents, everyone sends each other best wishes for a new year, stops thinking about unhappy things and says good things about each other. There are various customs practiced during Tet such as ancestral worshipping, visiting a person’s house on the first day of the new year,...

Spring flower market and festival are specific features of Vietnamese traditional Lunar New Year Festival (Tet). Spring flower market and festival often take place on the last days of lunar year when all families prepare to do shopping and decorate their house to welcome Lunar New Year.    Vietnamese people go to the flower markets to not only choose and buy beautiful branches of peach or apricot flowers, but also find relaxed moments and hope for a warm spring and a prosperous new year. The spring flower festivals usually take place from the 23rd day of the last lunar month to the 5th day of the first lunar month in parks, flower gardens in towns, cities or communal houses in rural areas. Each locality also organizes the own spring flower festivals to welcome New Year, of which the spring flower festivals in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City are typical.                         Ho Chi Minh City Spring Flower...

The worship of Hung Kings originates from Hung Kings dynasty and had strongly developed for a long time before officially honored in Post Le Dynasty (1428 – 1788). The later dynasties and Vietnamese Government always pay attention and encourage people to maintain the worship of Hung Kings.  Every year, on the 10th day of the third lunar month, Hung Kings Ancestral Anniversary day is held at Hung Kings temples nationwide, of which biggest one takes place in Hung Kings Temple Relic Site (Phu Tho Province). In Phu Tho, each village selects a Festival Organizing Board (Ban Khanh Tiet) of 6-9 mature, knowledgeable individuals of good conducts who lead and manage the rituals. The Board appoints suitably expert temple guardians to tend worship sites, instruct devotees and offer incense to Hung Kings year round. The offerings for the ceremonies (opening, procession, closing) are carefully prepared including sticky rice, fruit, wine, rice, salt, boiled chicken, raw pork (black...