Tet

Vietnam's lunisolar New Year brings family reunion, ancestor remembrance, traditional foods and renewal; its date must follow Vietnam's own calendar.

Tết Nguyên Đán is Vietnam's most important traditional holiday, welcoming the first day of the new year in the Vietnamese lunisolar calendar. Families travel home, honour ancestors at household altars and prepare for a fresh beginning. Before the holiday, homes are cleaned, outstanding obligations are settled where possible, and flowering branches or trees are brought inside. Northern households often favour peach blossoms, while southern homes commonly display yellow apricot blossoms. Bánh chưng, the square sticky-rice cake wrapped in leaves, is associated with northern traditions; southern families also prepare cylindrical bánh tét.

A cherished custom is xông đất, the first visit to a home after the new year begins. Some families invite a person whose arrival is considered auspicious. Elders receive greetings and children may receive lì xì, lucky money in red envelopes. Ancestor remembrance, visiting relatives and sharing food express continuity between generations. Stories connecting traditional rice cakes with the legendary prince Lang Liêu are cultural legends, not independently established historical events.

Tết shares many seasonal features with neighbouring Lunar New Year celebrations but follows Vietnam's own calendar calculations. Time-zone and astronomical differences can sometimes produce a different Gregorian date from Chinese New Year. The festival lasts beyond a single midnight, and regional and family customs vary; it should not be reduced to a generic Chinese celebration.

The Vietnamese lunar calendar and the Chinese lunisolar calendar are closely related but not identical in their local astronomical reckoning. Vietnam uses its own civil time zone and festival calendar; occasionally the first day of the new lunar year falls on a different Gregorian date. For an international calendar app, Tết must therefore be computed or imported from a Vietnamese calendar authority rather than copied automatically from a Chinese New Year entry. Official holiday periods may include additional days beyond the festival's first day.

Vietnamese new year centred on ancestor remembrance, family reunion, renewal and wishes for good fortune.

Clean and decorate homes, honour ancestors, prepare bánh chưng or bánh tét, exchange greetings and lì xì, and observe xông đất first-footing.

Vietnam and its diaspora; northern peach blossoms and bánh chưng, southern apricot blossoms and bánh tét. Vietnamese lunar dates may differ from Chinese dates.