15 traditional customs during the traditional Vietnamese New Year

Tet Nguyen Dan is the most important holiday in Vietnam, fully expressing the national identity of the Vietnamese people with typical Tet customs such as gathering together, visiting relatives, giving lucky money, going to the temple to pray for luck at the beginning of the year. Let's learn about the beautiful customs of Vietnamese people during Tet Nguyen Dan.

1. Worshiping the Kitchen Gods

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Traditionally, Ong Cong and Ong Tao Day is the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month. On this day, Vietnamese families will clean the kitchen, buy goldfish, prepare offerings to send Ong Cong and Ong Tao to heaven to report everything in the house to the Jade Emperor. The ceremony to worship Ong Cong and Ong Tao must be completed before 12 noon because according to the concept, Noon is the time when Ong Cong and Ong Tao will fly to heaven.

2. Wrapping banh chung

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Banh chung is a traditional dish from the Hung King period. And until today, banh chung is an indispensable dish during Tet holidays of Vietnamese people, representing the harmony of heaven and earth, expressing everyone's dream of a new year of prosperity, peace and happiness.

Families usually wrap banh chung on the 27th, 28th, and 29th of Tet. In the North, people often wrap square banh chung, while in the South, they often wrap long banh chung or banh tet, although the ingredients are the same.

3. Playing with flowers on Tet holiday

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Flowers symbolize beauty and the hobby of growing flowers is a beautiful feature of Vietnamese Lunar New Year.

During Tet, people often choose flowers that symbolize good things to pray for a fulfilling new year. Flowers often chosen to display during Tet of Vietnamese people include apricot blossoms symbolizing strong, powerful and pure vitality; peach blossoms symbolizing fertility, prosperity and wealth; chrysanthemums associated with longevity, filial piety and nobility.

4. Fruit tray

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The five-fruit tray placed on the ancestral altar is an indispensable custom during Vietnamese New Year to pray for a new year of peace, luck, happiness, well-being and prosperity.

The five-fruit tray is a tray of five different types of fruit, but this cultural tradition in the North, Central and South has different characteristics. Please refer to the article How to display the five-fruit tray to know the meaning of the five-fruit tray in the three regions and how to display it specifically.

5. House cleaning

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Families in Vietnam clean their houses and belongings at the end of the year with the meaning of rearranging things that are not comfortable, removing bad things of the old year, preparing to welcome the new year with lots of fortune and luck.

See more: Burning incense: Effects and meanings of a beautiful custom on Tet holiday

6. Visiting ancestors' graves

Children and grandchildren in the family will visit and clean the resting place of their ancestors and relatives together. This is a common custom of the Vietnamese people, showing filial piety and respect for their parents and deceased ancestors.

7. Year-end worship

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Families in Vietnam often prepare a tray of food to burn incense and invite gods and ancestors to celebrate Tet with their family on the afternoon of the 30th of Tet, at the same time to end the old year and prepare to welcome the new year.

8. New Year's Eve

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New Year's Eve is the transition between the old year and the new year, an important time when heaven and earth are in harmony. The New Year's Eve ceremony, also known as the New Year's Eve ceremony, takes place at the last minute of the year with the meaning of removing all the bad things of the old year to welcome the good things of the new year. The New Year's Eve ceremony is performed outdoors.

9. Picking luck

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Picking lucky branches at the beginning of spring is a beautiful traditional custom of Vietnamese people in the new year. Picking lucky branches is usually done on New Year's Eve or early morning of the first day of Tet to pray for luck and bring fortune into the house.

10. First Visit of the New Year

Xong dat, also known as dap dat, truc nha, is a traditional custom of Vietnamese people during the traditional Lunar New Year to pray for good luck and favorable things for family members.

According to traditional beliefs, the first person to enter the homeowner's house after New Year's Eve with New Year's greetings is the first person to enter the house. Homeowners often choose a male who is compatible with their age, successful, has a happy family, and is good-natured… with the belief that on the first day of Tet, if someone with good fortune comes to enter the house, everything will be lucky and smooth all year.

11. Request for calligraphy

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For many generations, Vietnamese people have had the habit of asking for calligraphy on the first days of the new year. The words that are often asked for are Heart, Happiness, Virtue, Peace, Prosperity, Longevity, and Development. This is a custom with many cultural meanings, showing the respect for knowledge of Vietnamese people and also praying for luck, fortune, and longevity in the new year.

In recent years, asking for calligraphy at the beginning of the year has been popular among young people and is often done on the second day of Tet. In addition to asking for calligraphy, people also like to ask for parallel sentences about Tet.

12. The custom of erecting a pole on Tet holiday

Setting up a Tet pole is a traditional custom in many localities during the traditional Tet holiday. A bamboo pole about 5 to 6 meters high with votive paper, talismans, western flags, red cloth, paper carp figures, etc. hung on the top is erected to celebrate the coming New Year and at the same time ward off evil spirits or bad luck.

The pole is usually erected on the 23rd of December - the day the Kitchen Gods return to heaven - and is taken down on the 7th day of Tet.

13. Happy New Year and lucky money

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Vietnamese people have the custom of visiting relatives and friends during Tet. Usually on the morning of the first day of Tet, children and grandchildren will come to wish longevity and lucky money to their grandparents and parents. After that, the children and grandchildren receive new money in red envelopes from their grandparents and parents for good luck, along with wishes for their children and grandchildren to grow up quickly, study well, and be happy and joyful in the new year. The amount of lucky money is not important, but the meaning.

14. Departure

On the first day of Lunar New Year, Vietnamese people often choose a good time and direction suitable for their age to go out with the hope of having good luck every time they leave the house.

15. Going to the temple at the beginning of the year

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The custom of going to pagodas in the first days of the new year is a beautiful spiritual cultural feature in the life of every Vietnamese person. Going to pagodas at the beginning of the year is not only to pray for a lucky and prosperous new year but also to show respect to Buddha and ancestors.

Happy New Year to you all!

David Pac

Update 22 January 2025