🇻🇳 Vietnam – Full Cultural Events Guide (Super-Deep, One-Page Version)
Tết Dương Lịch – Gregorian New Year’s Day (Jan 1)
Tết Dương Lịch marks the start of the international New Year in Vietnam. While not as culturally foundational as Lunar New Year, it has grown significantly in urban life since the late 20th century, especially after the Đổi Mới reforms and Vietnam’s increasing integration into global culture. Major cities like Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng, and Hồ Chí Minh City host large countdown festivals, fireworks shows, and live music events on pedestrian streets such as Hồ Gươm and Nguyễn Huệ.
Families may treat this day as a “warm-up” for Lunar New Year by tidying the home, arranging fresh flowers (lily, chrysanthemum), and writing early wishes. Although not tied to Vietnamese folk rituals, it symbolizes modernity, optimism, and global connection. Workplaces and schools close, and the day is associated with rest, reunions, and a hopeful start to the year.
Tết Nguyên Đán – Lunar New Year (Year of the Snake)
Tết Nguyên Đán is Vietnam’s most important cultural celebration, marking the 1st day of the lunar calendar. It is both a family reunion and a spiritual reset of the household, ancestors, and cosmic order.
Preparations begin weeks earlier with altar cleaning, paying debts, and polishing ancestral items. The Kitchen Gods (Ông Công Ông Táo) are honored as they return to Heaven to report the family’s behavior.
New Year’s Eve (Giao thừa) involves offerings to ancestors, incense ceremonies, the first writing of the year (khai bút), temple visits, and hái lộc—bringing home symbolic branches of luck.
Mồng 1 to 3 involve visiting relatives, with paternal relatives traditionally visited first. Children receive lì xì (red envelopes), and families exchange blessings.
Symbolic foods include bánh chưng/bánh tét, pickled onions, caramelized pork with eggs, candied fruits, and festive trays (mâm ngũ quả).
Floral symbols differ by region: peach blossoms (đào) in the North, yellow apricot blossoms (mai) in the South, and kumquat trees symbolizing abundance.
Tết blends morality, ancestral reverence, and national identity—renewing the Vietnamese spiritual universe each year.
Tết Nguyên Tiêu – Lantern Festival / First Full Moon (Rằm tháng Giêng)
Falling on the full moon of the first lunar month, Tết Nguyên Tiêu concludes the spiritual arc of Lunar New Year. The saying “Cúng rằm tháng Giêng hơn cúng cả năm” expresses its importance: a well-performed offering brings blessings for the entire year.
Families visit pagodas for chanting and prayer, offering fruits, vegetarian dishes, and lighting candles or lotus lanterns. In Chinese-Vietnamese communities, lantern parades, lion dances, and Taoist rituals fill the streets.
Foods such as chè trôi nước represent harmony and completeness. Modern interpretations include charity events, blood donation drives, and community festivals promoting both devotion and civic values.
Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương – Hùng Kings’ Temple Festival (April 02 in 2025)
This festival honors the legendary Hùng Kings, founders of the Vietnamese nation. Taking place at Đền Hùng in Phú Thọ Province, the day features massive processions, bronze drum performances, palanquin rituals, and offerings of bánh chưng and bánh dày—recalling the myth of Lang Liêu and the creation of these foods.
Schools nationwide teach origin stories, and families light incense to express gratitude to ancestors. Recognized as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, this festival strengthens national pride and the principle of “Uống nước nhớ nguồn”—gratitude to origins.
Ngày Giải phóng miền Nam – Reunification Day (April 30)
Commemorating the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, this day marks national reunification. It is one of Vietnam’s largest public holidays.
Cities hold parades, exhibitions, and documentary screenings. The Independence Palace in Hồ Chí Minh City becomes a central attraction.
Many Vietnamese use the long break (April 30 + May 1) to travel, visit beaches, or return home.
Reunification Day symbolizes peace, healing, and the nation’s journey toward modernization and stability.
Ngày Quốc tế Lao động – International Labor Day (May 1)
Labor Day honors the contributions of workers and promotes labor rights. In Vietnam, the day is part of a major holiday window.
Trade unions organize rallies, cultural performances, and workplace safety campaigns.
Many citizens travel during this long break, boosting domestic tourism and hospitality sectors.
Tết Đoan Ngọ – Mid-Year Festival (Mùng 5 tháng 5)
Tết Đoan Ngọ is one of Vietnam’s oldest folk-medicine-related festivals. Taking place on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, it focuses on eliminating parasites, illness, and negative energy that accumulate during the early summer.
Families start the morning by eating rượu nếp (fermented sticky rice), believed to “kill pests” inside the body. Other symbolic foods include bánh tro, bánh ú, plums, apricots, and sour fruits that promote cooling and balance.
Herbal baths with mugwort, pomelo leaves, or lemongrass are practiced in some regions.
In the South and Central regions, the festival includes fruit trays with local produce.
Modern society embraces Đoan Ngọ as both a wellness tradition and a cherished cultural habit, reconnecting people to rural origins and seasonal rhythms.
Ngày Quốc Khánh – National Day (September 2)
This holiday commemorates President Hồ Chí Minh’s declaration of independence on September 2, 1945, at Ba Đình Square.
Government ceremonies, patriotic concerts, and flag displays dominate the day, with major events broadcast nationwide. Urban centers become adorned in red and gold colors, while parks and boulevards host music and cultural shows.
Families use the holiday for travel, relaxation, and community gatherings.
National Day reflects Vietnam’s pride, sovereignty, and hopes for continued development.
Tết Trung Thu – Mid-Autumn Festival / Children’s Festival (October 6 in 2025)
One of Vietnam’s most magical festivals, celebrating children, family harmony, and the full moon.
Kids carry brightly colored lanterns—star-shaped, carp-shaped, rotating drum lanterns—and enjoy lion and unicorn dances in neighborhoods.
Traditional foods include bánh trung thu (mooncakes), made with lotus, green beans, pomelo zest, durian, and salted egg yolks.
Families prepare mâm cỗ trông trăng, decorative trays of fruit arranged into animals.
Chinatown districts in major cities (especially Chợ Lớn) host elaborate lantern streets. Hội An lights thousands of lanterns along the river.
The festival embodies joy, creativity, and cultural continuity.
Day of Memory – Local Observance (November 4)
A flexible remembrance observance that differs by province or community.
Used to honor fallen heroes, disaster victims, or local historical events.
Ceremonies may include incense lighting, flowers at memorials, charity activities, and community gatherings.
This day emphasizes gratitude, reflection, and compassion.
Ideal for apps or calendars to mark as an editable “custom remembrance event” for localized meaning.
Đông Chí – Winter Solstice (December 21)
Đông Chí marks the shortest day and longest night of the year, one of the 24 traditional tiết khí in East Asian agricultural cosmology.
Historically, farmers used Đông Chí to adjust diets, tools, livestock care, and winter preparations.
Families may prepare warm dishes such as chè trôi nước or black sesame soup, symbolizing unity and yang energy returning.
Meditation, herbal remedies, and seasonal tonics fit the theme of nurturing vitality during winter.
Today, Đông Chí remains both a cultural and wellness milestone, blending ancient practices with modern astronomy.