Lunar New Year (Tet)

Tet - Vietnamese and Chinese Lunar New Year- is the most important Festival of Vietnamese people. This scared Festival sometime between late January and early February (depend on Lunar Calendar). Moreover, Tet has become so familiar to the Vietnamese that when spring arrives, the Vietnamese, wherever they may be, are all thrilled and excited with the advent of Tet, and they feel an immense nostalgia, wishing to come back to their homeland for a family reunion and a taste of the particular flavors of the Vietnamese festivities. Although officially a three-day affair, festivities may continue for a week or more with every effort made to indulge in eating, drinking, and enjoyable social activities. It is also a time for family reunions, and for paying respect to ancestors and the elders. Gifts of food are made to friends, neighbors and relatives in the days before Tet. 

Lim Festival

The Lim Festival, organized in Lim village located 18 km from Hanoi, where Quan Ho, the special folk songs performed. It takes place every year on 13th day of the 1st lunar month. Tens of thousands of visitors come here to enjoy the dialogues performances between “lien anh" (male singers) and "lien chi" (female singers), the country's most skilled Quan Ho singers. These male and female farmers sing different types of songs in the pagodas, on the hills, or on the boats. Besides this, visitors can come to the Lim Festival to enjoy the weaving competition of the Noi Due girls. They weave and sing Quan Ho songs at the same time. Like other religious festivals, the Lim Festival goes through all the ritual stages, from the procession to the worshipping ceremony, and includes other activities.

Cau Ngu Festival

This festival of lower Thai Duong Village in Huong Hai Commune of Huong Dien District, Hue is organized annually on the 12th day of the 1st lunar month in memory of the village tutelary genie Truong Quy Cong. His alias is Truong Thieu, and he was a native of the North who came to the village to settle, teach the locals the way to fish and trade junks.    

Nui Ba Festival

Nui Ba (Ba Mountain) is often called Ms. Den Mountain. According to a legend, the mountain was named after a young woman called Den, but who was referred to as Den. She was the devout daughter of a guard officer of the Mien ethnic minority group. Den left her house to enter a monastery in the mountains. She became a nun due to family pressure to marry a guard officer's son from the Trang Bang Area. She remained at the monastery until she died. After her death, the Nguyen Dynasty ordered that a mould of her be cast in black bronze in her honor as the Linh Son Thanh Mau (Saint Linh Son).

Perfume Pagoda Festival

The Perfume Pagoda (Huong Tich), At My Duc, 69km south of Hanoi, without doubt, is the most famous Buddhist pilgrimage site in northern Vietnam. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims travel to this sacred cave to pray for happiness and prosperity in the coming year. Pilgrims board boats, usually rowed by young women, which carry them along the Yen Stream through a stunning landscape of blazing green rice paddles studded with jagged limestone mounts to the base of Huong Mountain. From the riverbank, pilgrims proceed on foot, past various ancient pagodas, monasteries and shrines, up hundreds of stone steps and a switchback trail, all worn smooth by the passage of countless feet. The Perfume Pagoda consists of a group of caves and is an impressive architectural ensemble of both human and natural endeavor.

Cow Racing Festival

Each year on the last day of the Khmer calendar, the Khmer, an ethnic minority group living in the Mekong delta province of An Giang, hold a festival to honor their ancestors. The festival begins with a visit to the pagoda, where Khmer families invite the souls of their ancestors to dine with the living. Should any visitors appear during the festival they will be warmly received since the Khmer believe that guests who arrive around New Year are messengers that sent by their ancestors.

Hung Temple Festival

Hung Temple is located on Nghia Linh Mountain, Hy Lang Commune, Phong Chau District, Phu Tho Province. Every year, this national festival is held to worship the Hung Kings, who were instrumental in founding the nation. The festival lasts for 3 days from the 9th to the 11th of the 3rd lunar month. The worship service is held on the 10th day and commences with a flower ceremony with the participation of state representatives. Held in Thuong Temple, where the Hung Kings used to worship deities with full rituals, the ceremony consists of a lavish five-fruit feast. Cakes and glutinous rice dumpling are also served to remind people of the Lang Lieu Legend (the 18th Hung King who invented these cakes), and the merit of the Hung Kings who taught people to grow rice.

Chu Dong Tu Festival

This festival occurs for three days from the 10th - 12th of the third lunar month in Chu Dong Tu Temple in Du Hoa Village, Chau Giang District, Hung Yen province, some 20 km from Hanoi. Saint Chu Dong Tu was one of the "four immortal heroes" at the centre of Vietnamese society. Chu Dong Tu was a cultural hero and the founder of agriculture because he conquered the marsh and developed agriculture and trade.

Le Mat Snake Village Festival

Le Mat Village belongs to the Viet Hung Commune, Gia Lam District, Hanoi. The Le Mat Village Festival is held annually on the 23rd of the 3rd lunar month. In the early morning on the 23rd day of the 3rd month, representatives of the 13 camps to the west of the Ancient Capital of Thang Long carry 13 trays of food over their heads from the capital to the Le Mat Village.

Elephant Race Festival

This festival is held in the spring, around the 3rd month of the lunar calendar. It is usually held in Don Village or in forests near the Sevepoi River (Daclak). The racetrack is on even ground where there are only has a few big trees. The width of the track is large enough for 10 elephants to stand in a line at the same time and the length of the track runs 1-2 km.

Ba Chua Xu Festival

The festival of Ba Chua Xu (also called the Via Ba Ceremony) is held annually from the 23rd night to the 27th day of the 4th lunar month. To get there head along Road No.10 from Long Xuyen to Chau Doc. Sam Mountain is 5 kilometers away from Chau Doc. In addition, one can take the waterway from Can Tho to Soc Trang, or from Saigon directly.

Summer Solstice day (Tet Doan Ngo)

Held on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, when offerings are made to the spirit world and to ward off pestilence and disease. Tet Doan Ngo is also called Parasite-Killing Festival. This is a mid-year festival to enhance the prevention of evils and illnesses, and the memory of the ancestors.

Giong Festival

The Giong Festival is held annually in Phu Dong Village, Soc Son District, Hanoi. This large festival is held on the 9th day of the 4th month of the lunar calendar. The date commemorates Saint Giong who defeated the An invaders. In order to show their gratitude to the hero of Giong Village who sacrificed his life to fight invaders, the people proclaimed him Saint Giong.

Tra Co Village Festival

This festival is held in Quang Ninh Province, in memory of the establishment of the ancient fishing village, which founded 600 years ago.

Hon Chen Temple Festival

The Hon Chen Temple Festival is organized twice every year in the 3rd and the 7th lunar months. The festival takes place at the Hon Chen temple, 10 km west of Hue. It starts with a procession referred to as the God Welcoming ceremony, said to bring all the worshipped Gods from the village temples and shrines to the communal house where various rituals are performed, including the procession in honor of Saint Mother Thien Y A Na. The procession takes place at night on the Perfume River, which shines with a myriad of lights. The procession involves a long line of boats bound together into bigger rafts. 

Do Son buffalo fighting Festival

Keo Pagoda Festival

Keo Pagoda is located in Vu Nhat commune, Thai Binh province. The Keo Pagoda festival is annually held for three days, from 13th to 15th of the 9th lunar month to worship Buddhist Duong Khong Lo. He died on the 3rd of the sixth month, the festival of Keo Pagoda starts on the 13 of the 9th month, 100 days after his death. The 14th of the 9th lunar month is his birthday. The festival lasts one more day, through the 15th because it is the day in the middle of the lunar month, usually marked by Buddhists. 

Oc Om Boc Festival

The Oc Om Boc Festival is a religious service to worship the moon god of the Kho Me minority group. The festival is usually held on December 15th of the Buddhist Calendar, or in October following the Gregorian calendar. At this religious festival, people thank the moon god who brings about good crops, provides abundant fish in the rivers, and maintains the health of human beings.

Kate Festival

The Kate Festival is held annually by the Cham ethnic group who inhabit the An Phuoc District of Ninh Thuan Province. The Kate Festival is held on the first ten days of the seventh month of the Cham Calendar (this corresponds with September or October). The Kate Festival is an occasion for the Cham people to express their venerability to their god. This god is considered the creator of the universe and is thought of as a national hero. During this festival, people go on a pilgrimage to the holy land of My Son and visit their friends and family.

Ghe Ngo Festival

According to the Khmer people, the 15th day of the tenth lunar month marks the end of their year. Khmer people in Vietnam's southern Mekong Delta celebrate this event with ceremonies, feasts and Ngo boat races. On the Khmer New Year's Eve, villagers gather in the grounds of their local pagoda, in a treeless area. The moon is invited to watch the ceremonies, which begin with the construction of a bamboo archway, decorated with leaves and flowers. Beneath this arch stands a table on which villagers place offerings of bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes, cassava and, most importantly, new sticky rice.