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Vietnam festivals and events
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The festivals and events are
calendared in Lunar month. Normally, a lunar month stay later than
western month of around 30 days.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY
January and February are the
most interesting festival months in the year. in Vietnam. Plenty of
the festivals and special events would be organized throughout
Vietnam.
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 or early February (depend on Lunar Calendar ) and 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 flavours 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.
The Tet of the New Year is, above all,
is an opportunity for the household genies to meet, those who have
helped during the year, namely the Craft Creator, the Land Genie and
the Kitchen God. Tet is also an opportunity to invite and welcome
deceased ancestors back for a family reunion with their descendants
to join the family's Tet celebrations. Finally, Tet is a good
opportunity for family members to meet. This custom has become
sacred and secular and, therefore, no matter where they are or
whatever the circumstances, family members find ways to come back to
meet their loved ones, gather for a dinner of traditional foods like
bánh chưng (a square cake made of sticky rice stuffed with beans
and pork), măng (a soup of boiled bamboo shoots and flied pork) and
xôi gấc (orange sticky rice). This is followed by a visit to the
local pagodas
Everyone is in a rush to get a
haircut, buy new clothes, spruce up their homes, visit friends,
settle outstanding debts, and stock up on traditional Tet
delicacies. Businesses hang festive red banners which read "Chuc
Mung Nam Moi" (Happy New Year) and city streets are festooned. With
colored lights. Stalls spring up all over town to sell mut (candied
fruits and jams), traditional cakes, and fresh fruit and flowers.
Certain markets sell nothing but cone-shaped kumquat bushes. Others
sell flowering peach trees, symbols of life and good fortune which
people bring into their homes to celebrate the coming of spring. As
vendors pour into the City with peach trees strapped to their
bicycles, the streets look like moving pink forests.
The "Mam Ngu Qua"
The "five-fruit tray" on the ancestral
altar during the Tet Holidays symbolizes the admiration and
gratitude of the Vietnamese to Heaven and Earth and their
ancestors, and demonstrates their aspiration for a life of plenty.
Legend said abot of theories but in a simpler way, the five
fruits represent the quintessence that Heaven and Earth bless
humans. This is one of the general perceptions of life of the
Vietnamese, which is "When taking fruit, you should think of the
grower".
Dao, Mai, Quat
(the Peach, Apricot and Kumquat)
Coming to Vietnam during the season of
the Tet festival, the visitor is engulfed in an ocean of colourful
flowers. Visiting flower shows, contemplating the buds and blooms,
and purchasing blossoms represents one of the distinct Vietnamese
cultural characteristics. The peach ( in the North ) and the apricot
blossoms (in the South) are symbols of the Vietnamese Tet. The warm
pink of the peach could very well match the dry cold of the North,
but the hot South seems to be flourishing in the riot of the yellow
of the apricot. The mandarin is symbolic of good fortune and,
therefore, people tend to choose the little plants laden with fruit,
big and orange, and verdant leaves for a longer display.
The Giao Thua ( New Year's eve )
The Giao Thua is the most sacred
point of time, the passage from the old to the new year. It is
popularly believed that in Heaven there are twelve Highnesses in
charge of monitoring and controlling the affairs on earth, each of
them taking charge of one year. The giao thua is the moment of
seeing off the old chieftain upon the conclusion of his term and
welcoming in the new one upon his assumption of office. For this
reason, every home makes offerings in the open air to pray for a
good new year.
After the giao thua is the start of
the new year with many customs and practices, amusements and
entertainment, all of a distinct Vietnamese folk culture. If you
have an opportunity to visit Vietnam during the Tet Holidays and to
welcome the Tet Festivities, together with the Vietnamese people,
you will surely be profoundly impressed by the distinct traditional
culture that is rich in national identity.
Food specialties for
TET
On the last day of the old year, the
preparation of food to offer to the ancestors is of special
significance. Dishes to offer to the ancestors differ in the
Northern, Central and Southern parts of the country, depending on
their respective weather conditions at the time and on different
local agricultural products available. What is common in all regions
of the country during Tet holidays are the varieties of soups,
fried, boiled, or stewed dishes, meat, fish, vegetable... The foods
that the Vietnamese eat at Tet are varied and diverse What they have
in common is that the people throughout the country all want to have
the best and the most beautiful looking food on this occasion to
offer their ancestors and to treat their friends and guests.
Starting Dates in Western
Calendar
14 Feb 2010,
3 Feb 2011,
23 Jan 2012
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 are male and female farmers who sing different types of songs
in the pagodas, on the hills, and in 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.
The Lim Festival is a special cultural activity in the North. The
festival celebrates the "Quan Ho" folk song which has become a part
of the national culture and a typical folk song that is well loved
in the Red River Delta region.
The Lim Festival is also
celebrated with traditional temple games. In one game, teenage girls
must mind a stranger's baby, chew pieces of sugar cane in order to
create fuel with which to start and maintain a fire, cook rice, and
prevent a frog from jumping out of a circle marked on the ground. If
the baby cries, the fire goes out or the frog escapes, the girl is
disqualified.
Starting Dates in Western
Calendar
26 Feb 2010,
15 Feb 2011,
4 Feb 2012
CAU NGU FESTIVAL
This
festival of lower Thai Duong Village in Huong Hai
Commune of Huong Dien District 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 how
to fish, and trade junks.
On the eve of the festival, the entire village begins making
offerings. Both parts of the village, the upper and lower
parts,worship to Truong Quy Cong. Late at night, the "fish
worshipping ceremony " occurs, where people pray for peace and the
future abundance of fish. Every three years, games representing
sea fishing activities are organized, such as the "fish catching"
game and "net-casting" game. After these games, people tend to go
watch the rowing skiffs.
The "net-casting" performance is a form of entertainment that is
characterized by rituals to commemorate the merits of the village
tutelary genie.
Starting Dates in Western
Calendar
25 Feb 2010 ,
14 Feb 2011,
6 Feb 2012
NUI BA FESTIVAL
If you go to Tay Ninh, you should visit Nui Ba, a beautiful
mountain located in the middle of the Mekong Delta, 11km from
downtown Tay Ninh.
Nui Ba (Ba Mountain) is often called Ms. Den Mountain. According
to a legend, the mountain was named after a young woman called
Denh, 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 honour as the Linh Son Thanh Mau ( Saint Linh
Son).
During the spring until the afternoon of the 30th day of the 1st
lunar month, and especially on the day of the full moon of the
first month, tourists from Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of
the south pilgrimage to worship and sightsee. Starting at the
bottom of the mountain, tourists climb one half of the mountain to
Saint Linh Son's communal house and then follow a path that leads
to a pagoda. This pagoda offers vegetarian meals. Tourists can eat
as much as they want, but should donate some money to the pagoda;
the amount of the donation depending on the budget of the tourist.
Starting Dates in Western
Calendar
28 Feb 2010,
17 Feb 2011,
06 Feb 2012
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